Opinion Bring Back the Anchor

[Freo16]

The chevrons is a great looking jumper but it's also bland and soulless compared to the anchor. Any team can wear the chevrons (and many sports teams do) but the anchor will always be uniquely Fremantle Dockers.

I've linked an Instagram post below that shows my 'pitch' for how the club should bring back the anchor full time, including a set of 5 anchor based guernseys and the symbolism and significance of the players wearing the anchor on their chest into battle every week.

 

[anchor man]

ZZZZZzzzzzzz

 

[freo84]

The chevrons is a great looking jumper but it's also bland and soulless compared to the anchor. Any team can wear the chevrons (and many sports teams do) but the anchor will always be uniquely Fremantle Dockers.

I've linked an Instagram post below that shows my 'pitch' for how the club should bring back the anchor full time, including a set of 5 anchor based guernseys and the symbolism and significance of the players wearing the anchor on their chest into battle every week.

They look decent mate.

I love the stealth one.

 

[Bigger]

Purple Haze still our best guernsey by a country mile.

 

[ubiquitous226]

Hard no from me, love having the old jumpers and colours to bring back now and then but I love the look of the simple purple and white chevrons.

EDIT: I don't mind the look of the proposed jumpers, except the horrendous clash one

 

[mightymouse75]

Purple anchor on white & the Tri colour 2000s were peak for me

 

[serial_thrilla]

Nostalgia is a hell of a drug.

 

[JunglistPosse]

After looking at your designs im onboard Well done!

 

[E Shed]

No.

 

[Kram]

Anchor = bad fengshui

 

[Alfonz]

I thought this thread was going to be about wheeling the giant anchor around the ground for the pre-match entertainment.

Anyway, we ditched the anchor as part of a deal with Levi's to resolve a trademark dispute. The problem was mainly with the word Dockers, but the agreement reached and subsequent rebranding gave us a chance to move on from the anchor which was synonymous with abject failure and Freo being a laughing stock. There's no good reason to go back apart from retro rounds.

I wouldn't call the chevrons bland. It's simple and classic. That's what makes the best jumpers alongside the basic stripes, sashes, etc. Unique doesn't mean good. The GWS and GC jumpers are garbage.

And I wouldn't call it soulless when the design is based on the original Fremantle Football Club in the 1880s's/1890's (before splitting into South and East Freo). Pavlich going god-mode in a heritage round wearing a white/red version is one of my fondest memories. I remember thinking how good those jumpers looked and then a while later we thankfully adopted the design permanently.

 

[worsemim]

Unlike Alfonz, I'm a huge fan of the anchor and think the simple contrast anchor is a very clean, crisp jersey. An anchor for the "Dockers" is completely intuitive; if you're defending the chevrons, you have to launch into a history lesson. However, Alfonz is completely correct that the anchor jersey is legally not on the cards. (Similar to the Tassie Devils having to tread very cautiously with their logo not at all looking like a Disney-infringing cartoon character—that's why their logo/mascot is so heavily stylised.)

I really hope at some point, post-premiership when the superstitious cobwebs have been blown off, we gently re-open this dispute and try to reach some sort of compromise with Levis. Until then, fan discontent isn't going to affect any changes.

 

[Freo16]

I thought this thread was going to be about wheeling the giant anchor around the ground for the pre-match entertainment.

Anyway, we ditched the anchor as part of a deal with Levi's to resolve a trademark dispute. The problem was mainly with the word Dockers, but the agreement reached and subsequent rebranding gave us a chance to move on from the anchor which was synonymous with abject failure and Freo being a laughing stock. There's no good reason to go back apart from retro rounds.

I wouldn't call the chevrons bland. It's simple and classic. That's what makes the best jumpers alongside the basic stripes, sashes, etc. Unique doesn't mean good. The GWS and GC jumpers are garbage.

And I wouldn't call it soulless when the design is based on the original Fremantle Football Club in the 1880s's/1890's (before splitting into South and East Freo). Pavlich going god-mode in a heritage round wearing a white/red version is one of my fondest memories. I remember thinking how good those jumpers looked and then a while later we thankfully adopted the design permanently.

The problem with this is that we’ve had almost as many bad years in the chevrons as we did with the anchor (No finals from 95-03 in the anchor, No finals from 16-23 in the chevrons).

The connection to the original Fremantle football club has nothing to do with the dockers though, if we had adopted the chevrons from day one in 95 then maybe it would be a nice historical connection but the Freo Dockers carved out their own history in the anchor.

 

[The Lobbster]

The problem with this is that we’ve had almost as many bad years in the chevrons as we did with the anchor (No finals from 95-03 in the anchor, No finals from 16-23 in the chevrons).

The connection to the original Fremantle football club has nothing to do with the dockers though, if we had adopted the chevrons from day one in 95 then maybe it would be a nice historical connection but the Freo Dockers carved out their own history in the anchor.

There’s still a pretty big difference in performance:

With Anchor
16 full seasons
3 finals campaigns with the furthest point reached being a Prelim
Win rate of 40%
1 wooden spoon

With Chevrons
15 full seasons
6 finals campaigns with the furthest point reached being a Grand Final
Win rate of 52%
Lowest finish is third last

I’m pretty ambivalent to picking between the Chevrons and the Anchor.

 

[largebus]

Freo: Brings back the anchor

Bigfooty in 2040*: BrINg bAcK tHE CHeVrONs!!!1!

* if nuclear war hasn't destroyed us

 

[Purple Suit]

There’s still a pretty big difference in performance:

With Anchor
16 full seasons
3 finals campaigns with the furthest point reached being a Prelim
Win rate of 40%
1 wooden spoon

With Chevrons
15 full seasons
6 finals campaigns with the furthest point reached being a Grand Final
Win rate of 52%
Lowest finish is third last

I’m pretty ambivalent to picking between the Chevrons and the Anchor.

Not sure how accurate this as I got AI to generate it but the jumper changed at the 2010 point above (2011 actually). Gives an indication of how we went and how much we got flogged at certain points. New jumper is chalk and cheese from a performance point of view.

 

[GoldbergsGold]

Surprised people don't want the anchor back, better unique design, looks stronger and more intimidating, too.

 

[purplearmy]

Keep it for retro round.

 

[TimCahillsForehead]

Unique doesn't equal good.

 

[laptop_MR]

Surely adding red and green to the chevrons is a fair enough compromise to the anchor people

I thought that looked pretty good on the indigenous jumper last year

 

[Freo16]

Surely adding red and green to the chevrons is a fair enough compromise to the anchor people

I thought that looked pretty good on the indigenous jumper last year

It’s not about the green and red, it’s what the anchor means to those supporters and the football club

 

[Big Animal]

i want to replace the chevons and anchor with a boat. Like a container ship across the middle in white. With ropes coming off it like the rays of the sun to little moorings. And each shipping container in either red or green.

That would be my ideal.

 

[Righteo]

Anchor = bad fengshui

This was the reason people cited for wanting it gone in the first place (including me) but looking back on it all these years later I think superstition is a pretty ****ing dumb reason for a brand overhaul. There was never a logical, rational basis for the jumper and song changes. I don't recall some huge grassroots movement agitating for change. I have to agree with OP that the anchor was uniquely Freo and that chevrons are bland as hell. Very much the product of an uninspired focus group

That said it was very profitable for the club with all the new merch they sold. They've milked the hell out of the "retro guernseys" too. Ultimately this is the main reason why they'll never revert back, there's no money in it.

Nostalgia is a hell of a drug.

tbh I am not sure "we need new thing because... new!" is any more compelling. New is not always better. The anchor, the colours and the song made us one of a kind. That was why so many people joined the club in the first place. We were the offbeat weirdos but we were proud of it. Now we're indistinguishable from any of the other 17 clubs. I used to make fun of the people who said this stuff years back but the older I get the more I relate to it. I think I have become a spiritual boomer.

 

[ubiquitous226]

This was the reason people cited for wanting it gone in the first place (including me) but looking back on it all these years later I think superstition is a pretty ****ing dumb reason for a brand overhaul. There was never a logical, rational basis for the jumper and song changes. I don't recall some huge grassroots movement agitating for change. I have to agree with OP that the anchor was uniquely Freo and that chevrons are bland as hell. Very much the product of an uninspired focus group

That said it was very profitable for the club with all the new merch they sold. They've milked the hell out of the "retro guernseys" too. Ultimately this is the main reason why they'll never revert back, there's no money in it.

tbh I am not sure "we need new thing because... new!" is any more compelling. New is not always better. The anchor, the colours and the song made us one of a kind. That was why so many people joined the club in the first place. We were the offbeat weirdos but we were proud of it. Now we're indistinguishable from any of the other 17 clubs. I used to make fun of the people who said this stuff years back but the older I get the more I relate to it. I think I have become a spiritual boomer.

I don't know what demographic you fit into, but it's only been old timers who have attachment to the anchor that I've met in real life.
I genuinely loved the change, looked so much simpler and better.

I still wear my knitted quad colour scarf sometime when I want to embrace the nostalgia, but it certainly doesn't look better.

 

[anchor man]

I love the heritage of the anchor. I love that the club have said that it will always be part of the club.
I loved our original guernseys, but have now realised that it wasn't a real guernsey. To me the club changed our guernsey by stealth. Showing us training guernseys ans asking which we liked best. My memory may not be the best, but I think ALL guernseys shown were chevrons, not anchors. I think we had the wool pulled over our eyes. Well mine any way.I raised the issue at the members meeting daying we had been fooled but those chairing the meeting rejected my claim we had been hijacked.
But now down the track, how ever many years now, realised that the guernsey we wear now is a real football guernsey. I love our present guernsey. I also" loved "our previous one.
There is no way now that the club would go back to what used to be.And also our colours Purple and White ,are the AFL registered colours.
We will always have the anchor as part of our history and always be part of our club