I CAN REMEMBER remember wearing my duffle coat with the No.2 on the back, sitting in the Southern Stand (as it was known then) watching Robbie Flower strut his stuff on the wings on the MCG.
Robbie Flower seemed to do things on the footy field that players of his frail stature just shouldn’t be able to do. He would mark like a big forward; run like a gazelle and he was fearless - sometimes too much so. But I’m getting distracted. I wanted to reminisce about the ubiquitous duffle coat.
It was our way of showing our colors while providing armor against the wintry elements, all rolled into one. (Save for mum’s knitted red and blue scarf of course). If your mum didn’t have the foresight to buy your duffle coat a few sizes too big you would end up with the sleeves quickly ‘shrinking’ to your elbows!
If you were really keen you might adorn the arms with a number of your favorite player’s buttons.
Anyone who is over 40 years of age can probably recall such a time and perhaps even fondly, despite our seemingly perennial position at the bottom of the VFL ladder.
To say that things have changed would be an extreme understatement. (Now I’m really starting to feel old!)
Today you can show your support by buying everything from a coffee mug to a food bowl for your dog and all of it purchased on line. (I note that the duffle coat has also made a small comeback. It’s obviously part of the “retro” look that’s very fashionable for the moment.)
The merchandise department is now big business turning over $3m at some AFL clubs. At Melbourne we are not quite at that level but our performance in this area has improved dramatically in recent months with the advent of our new emblem.
Nevertheless our ability to fully meet the needs of our supporter base is still largely beyond our control and that comes down to the centralized business model that operates in the AFL.
The model targets the mass market and therefore focuses largely on the lower to middle price points. As a consequence ‘product quality’ is correspondingly low to medium.
In a practical sense it means that the current business model encourages licensees away from the premium and fashion end which by definition also means it is unable to adequately service the needs of our supporter base.
The current business model has been inexistence since the mid 80’s and while it has generally served the AFL well, everyone now acknowledges that it’s time for a new model and one which more appropriately reflects all the needs of our supporters.
The club is currently working with the AFL to fine-tune the model with the aim of rolling it out by the end of the year.
In the meantime I hope you’ve noticed some pleasant changes in our product offering and rest assured there is plenty more to come. In particular we’ll be looking at developing specific ranges for our female and youth segments.
By the time the ubiquitous duffle coat is fashionable once again we’ll hopefully have a merchandise department that will be leading the rest of the AFL both in terms of quality and turnover, at least that’s the very ambitious plan.
