West Coast's offseason marketing campaign heading into season 2016 is going to be huge; almost as huge as it would have been had they won the flag. I'm of the belief that West Coast will be wearing wings at home next season. Had they lifted the cup on Saturday it would've been the logical decision - four premierships in wings, not to mention the sales a premiership guernsey would pull in. I think this logic will be applied nonetheless, a change as such would be welcomed by fans as a return to tradition in a drive towards success - it's logical marketing. This being said, a win on Saturday would've assured a return to wings in 2016.
West Coast are obviously a pretty simple equation to the question I'm currently pondering. The wings are their most storied and iconic jumper, so a return has almost been on the cards for a while now... but where does this sit with teams like Hawthorn, whose clash jumper is metallic silver with ushers of gold running through? Here's a hypothetical for you; Hawthorn beats Adelaide in the 2016 Grand Final, two teams the AFL really insists on a clash jumper being worn between. Photos of Hawthorn's historic four-peat go down in history with the Hawks in silver white and gold... what would that mean for the future of the Hawthorn Football Club? What do kids like us in 2066 flicking through their 'Hawthorn 4-peat 50 year anniversary' book make of this silver get up?
How do Hawthorn handle paying tribute to this premiership jumper... one which differs hugely from their other 13 premiership jumpers... Do they keep it on in variations throughout their future, evolving the image until it's a part of the club? Do they wear it every time they play Adelaide, as an ode to the jumper? Or do they just change their shirt to lift the cup and forget about it? In this scenario, this jumper becomes more than just the change kit. this jumper becomes a premiership guernsey, every other guernsey that fits in this category is pretty recognisable.
This sort of thing isn't all that uncommon in soccer. Spain wore a black away shirt when they won the World Cup in 2010. Argentina would've been in a blue gradient had they won it in '14 - a far cry from their traditional sky blue stripes. Soccer clubs generally don't mind playing big games in second or even third kits, it's an opportunity to show off a product that is pretty heavily marketed by the likes of Nike and Adidas, they'll simply switch to their traditional kits after the final whistle when winning Cup Finals etc. This same logic isn't really applicable to the AFL. Drastically different away jumpers are a generally recent thing on the scope of the league's history, with the issue of clash jumpers still being debated by fans.
Fremantle wore their clash jumper in the 2013 Grand Final also only 2 years after completely rebranding the clubs uniforms,
St. Kilda also wore mainly white in 2010,
Collingwood wore their primarily black kit in the 2002/2003 Grand Finals only a few years after adopting it as their home jumper in favour of its mostly white jumper.
So anyway, what are your thoughts?
West Coast are obviously a pretty simple equation to the question I'm currently pondering. The wings are their most storied and iconic jumper, so a return has almost been on the cards for a while now... but where does this sit with teams like Hawthorn, whose clash jumper is metallic silver with ushers of gold running through? Here's a hypothetical for you; Hawthorn beats Adelaide in the 2016 Grand Final, two teams the AFL really insists on a clash jumper being worn between. Photos of Hawthorn's historic four-peat go down in history with the Hawks in silver white and gold... what would that mean for the future of the Hawthorn Football Club? What do kids like us in 2066 flicking through their 'Hawthorn 4-peat 50 year anniversary' book make of this silver get up?
How do Hawthorn handle paying tribute to this premiership jumper... one which differs hugely from their other 13 premiership jumpers... Do they keep it on in variations throughout their future, evolving the image until it's a part of the club? Do they wear it every time they play Adelaide, as an ode to the jumper? Or do they just change their shirt to lift the cup and forget about it? In this scenario, this jumper becomes more than just the change kit. this jumper becomes a premiership guernsey, every other guernsey that fits in this category is pretty recognisable.
This sort of thing isn't all that uncommon in soccer. Spain wore a black away shirt when they won the World Cup in 2010. Argentina would've been in a blue gradient had they won it in '14 - a far cry from their traditional sky blue stripes. Soccer clubs generally don't mind playing big games in second or even third kits, it's an opportunity to show off a product that is pretty heavily marketed by the likes of Nike and Adidas, they'll simply switch to their traditional kits after the final whistle when winning Cup Finals etc. This same logic isn't really applicable to the AFL. Drastically different away jumpers are a generally recent thing on the scope of the league's history, with the issue of clash jumpers still being debated by fans.
Fremantle wore their clash jumper in the 2013 Grand Final also only 2 years after completely rebranding the clubs uniforms,
St. Kilda also wore mainly white in 2010,
Collingwood wore their primarily black kit in the 2002/2003 Grand Finals only a few years after adopting it as their home jumper in favour of its mostly white jumper.
So anyway, what are your thoughts?
