Shirts n' Stuff

[Dai Perk]

Hey folks,

I'm curious what y'all think. Everyone talks about rugby's financial difficulties. Obviously, clubs would love to have more revenue coming in.

As a new fan, last year, I was happy to discover a player who I really liked, without having heard of him ahead of time. I'd watched Damian McKenzie and thought, "Hey, this guy's great - I'd love to buy a Damian McKenzie jersey!" But then I realized, there is no such thing.

Because rugby is about the number, and because players often play different positions, there isn't really an option for selling named jerseys. But my god, that money would be huge! Look at an NFL game, and you'll see 70,000 fans all wearing some sort of expensive gear. The revenue must be mind-boggling!

The other odd thing (for me) is that, the reason they can get away with no commercials during the game is because of the advertising on the jerseys. I get that, and believe me, I MUCH prefer this to the endless ad fest that is an NFL game. However, once I figured out the no name thing, I started looking for just general team jerseys (I particularly like Gloucester's kit, for instance). But those same ads then become the thing that prevents me from buying the jersey. In other words, I don't mind paying money to support a team like Gloucester, but I do mind paying to advertise for "F3 Group" and whatever else.

I wonder if there's some middle ground? Here, sometimes teams will market player-specific shirts, like this one for the newest Free Jacks signing:
https://shop.freejacks.com/shop/pre-order-kensuke-hatakeyama-free-jacks-supporters-t-shirt

I don't know, it seems like gear and merch could be a much bigger source of revenue, but I don't know the answer of how to get there...

 

[RedruthRFC]

Given the number of casual followers who watch internationals on terrestrial TV, it surprises me that test jerseys don't have names as well as numbers on them. Maybe there's a degree of traditionalism / snobbery stopping this from happening.

I'm not sure it would be a money spinner though. I wouldn't imagine that rugby shirts sell in sufficient volume for stockists to want to replace one jersey with fifteen different ones.

 

[Which Tyler]

Plenty of places will add the name to the shirt as well, typically about a fiver

 

[TRF_heineken]

I like the fact that the players names aren't on the jersey. Kinda takes away that individualism of a player making a number his own.

But as mentioned above, you do get a lot of jerseys with the names printed on them. The thing is that the teams and their clubs/franchise doesn't own the jerseys, the sponsor who makes the jerseys own them. And therefore, the teams get a very small cut of the amount of jerseys being sold.

I have a Springbok Jersey with a number 9 on it that has "Joost" written on it above the number which I bought at a dinner auction a long time ago. But if you look at the material, it is clear that the name wasn't part of the original printing of the jersey and was only later on "ironed" in.

 

[The Seeker]

I'm old school and like jerseys without any corporate sponsor on them (other than the maker of the product like a little Nike swoosh logo in the corner for example). And I don't like players names on the back. But I realize those days are long gone since the teams need that extra revenue to help pay their bills and to attract better talent to their rosters and that players deserve their cut too. I miss the days of uncluttered jerseys in all sports, they're walking billboards now. Nascar is the worst, it's wall to wall ads on their cars and drivers equipment. It used to bother me a little, but I've accepted it. Marketing is BIG busine$$.

 

[Kiwiwomble]

I'm old school and like jerseys without any corporate sponsor on them (other than the maker of the product like a little Nike swoosh logo in the corner for example). And I don't like players names on the back. But I realize those days are long gone since the teams need that extra revenue to help pay their bills and to attract better talent to their rosters and that players deserve their cut too. I miss the days of uncluttered jerseys in all sports, they're walking billboards now. Nascar is the worst, it's wall to wall ads on their cars and drivers equipment. It used to bother me a little, but I've accepted it. Marketing is BIG busine$$.

I've often wondered if some kit suppliers have considered buy the the sponsorship too and then just not putting across the front, lots of people wold like to see jerseys without a big sponsor across the front and so i wonder if sales would increase

you'd think they would also get some good press

 

[Which Tyler]

I've often wondered if some kit suppliers have considered buy the the sponsorship too and then just not putting across the front, lots of people wold like to see jerseys without a big sponsor across the front and so i wonder if sales would increase

you'd think they would also get some good press

Plenty of clubs do this on occasion, typically a "classic" version of the home shirt