News ‘Put us on the map’: Bulldogs’ groundbreaking jersey idea … and why it may face roadblocks

Why not be the only team if they want to? It’s bad enough all the websites are identical.

Smart move to do it for the USA market. Even if 1% of the crowd is locals they’ll be able to spot the names of the players. Maybe Burton gets a mega deal for NFL from it :p
Goes to show that advertising money is more important to the NRL than its fans.
 
Names on jerseys is a must.
NRLOL Is the narcisstic mother living vicariously through the kids and will be scared of marketing the player rather than the NRL the blinded fools.

Just gotta look at successes elsewhere, Nike, soccer, NFL to name a few
 
Names on jerseys is a must.
NRLOL Is the narcisstic mother living vicariously through the kids and will be scared of marketing the player rather than the NRL the blinded fools.

Just gotta look at successes elsewhere, Nike, soccer, NFL to name a few

I agree but the biggest change for it to work would be to scrap the traditional positional numbers. The players name/brand would need to be aligned with a player number.

Example
mohamed salah at Liverpool has 11 as his player number. Nobody else whilst he is at the club ever plays in the number 11. Michael Jordan had 23 as his number and so on.

if you are going to market players with their names on the back. The players also need a fixed number associated with them.
 
Goes to show that advertising money is more important to the NRL than its fans.
Sad but true. Which is why the next tv deal could kill the game if a paramount or someone with no market stake takes over. Much like epl. Not many have Optus sports and not everyone can rock up to the casino at 3am for a game.
 
Sad but true. Which is why the next tv deal could kill the game if a paramount or someone with no market stake takes over. Much like epl. Not many have Optus sports and not everyone can rock up to the casino at 3am for a game.
Yep. Union and the A league were in a bad spot and are in a worse place now due to these type of deals
 
I agree but the biggest change for it to work would be to scrap the traditional positional numbers. The players name/brand would need to be aligned with a player number.

Example
mohamed salah at Liverpool has 11 as his player number. Nobody else whilst he is at the club ever plays in the number 11. Michael Jordan had 23 as his number and so on.

if you are going to market players with their names on the back. The players also need a fixed number associated with them.
It's not really just 'marketing players' , just an identifier, there's no real need for a player to occupy a number and prevent a second 7 Sexton. As long as it's not a costly process to add names on gameday (shouldn't be) and as long as it's not hard to do last minute updates away matches (easier if home team provides pressing machine to away team unless there's a portable device travelling teams can travel with).

The marketing seems justifiably comparable that the sponsor will get more attention than before with a name rather than being an irrelevant space with just a number and sponsor.

I'd rather numbers being used as they have been, easier to understand and less messy than dedicated squad numbers. I'm ok with multiple 7's for example, not a big deal
 
I agree but the biggest change for it to work would be to scrap the traditional positional numbers. The players name/brand would need to be aligned with a player number.

Example
mohamed salah at Liverpool has 11 as his player number. Nobody else whilst he is at the club ever plays in the number 11. Michael Jordan had 23 as his number and so on.

if you are going to market players with their names on the back. The players also need a fixed number associated with them.
But if we move to fixed player numbers then many, especially casual, spectators won't know what position they are playing. Plus if they move clubs then they may have to change their number if someone else already has it. Is that an issue?

Basketball doesn't have numbers per position, centres are not always #1, or point guards #10 etc. Netball doesn't even have numbers on their uniforms, they have positions, C, WA etc.

I know Michael Jordan retained his #23 when he went to Miami, but he did use #45 when he played baseball due to his history there. Plus LeBron who also wears #23 didn't at Miami, he wore #6, because Mimi retired #23.

Players retaining numbers gets complicated, before we even get into clubs wanting to retire the numbers of their famous players.


Team Work
 
It's not really just 'marketing players' , just an identifier, there's no real need for a player to occupy a number and prevent a second 7 Sexton. As long as it's not a costly process to add names on gameday (shouldn't be) and as long as it's not hard to do last minute updates away matches (easier if home team provides pressing machine to away team unless there's a portable device travelling teams can travel with).

The marketing seems justifiably comparable that the sponsor will get more attention than before with a name rather than being an irrelevant space with just a number and sponsor.

I'd rather numbers being used as they have been, easier to understand and less messy than dedicated squad numbers. I'm ok with multiple 7's for example, not a big deal

Agree to disagree

My take is it actually has very little to do with the player wearing their name on their back on game day. It’s a marketing plan. It’s when a kid has his jersey with their favourite players name on the back and it is the same as what their favourite player runs out in. The idea is around selling merchandise.

Cost and logistics would be significantly cheaper with a squad number. Everything could be prepared and done on mass. Not taking a pressing machine around from game to game.
 
I don’t agree with it. And I’ll use my nephew as an example. The kid idolised Fox. Absolutely loved him, say my sister spends $140 on a kids jersey for him. Does he wear it this year? No because Fox plays for Parra. That’s my issue with it. Imagine a kid buying a Mam jersey as well. Would you want your kid wearing that now?
 
I don’t agree with it. And I’ll use my nephew as an example. The kid idolised Fox. Absolutely loved him, say my sister spends $140 on a kids jersey for him. Does he wear it this year? No because Fox plays for Parra. That’s my issue with it. Imagine a kid buying a Mam jersey as well. Would you want your kid wearing that now?
I must have missed the part wear having names on the back of player jerseys made it compulsory fans to only buy jerseys with players' names on them.

I have a confession. The last jersey I bought never had a number on the back. :fearscream: I know! Someone call the NRL.
 
That may prove difficult sometimes. Say Sexton gets injured or falls ill an hour before the game. Do you have a way to print this on the jersey at the last minute? Especially on away games this could be hard.

I'd think they could either carry a few variations. And it wouldn't be that difficult to write w name on a jersey with a stencil and paint.
 
Thinking of getting a new jersey for first time since 2015. The 80 year away jersey was the last one. Might get the 90 year one as well i think. I prefer the away ones. I have a few home jerseys with all the white, and i have no luck keeping the white, well, white. The away strip is more forgiving for marks and stains. the 2015 one has no white. This one has some but should be ok. Think the V looks better on the away one too.

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I must have missed the part wear having names on the back of player jerseys made it compulsory fans to only buy jerseys with players' names on them.

I have a confession. The last jersey I bought never had a number on the back. :fearscream: I know! Someone call the NRL.

I don’t ever get a number on my Jerseys either. That doesn’t escape the fact that this proposal has sweet fa to do with the player having the name on the back of their playing jersey. This is 100% marketing/financial strategy to get more Jersey sales and revenue.
 
I don’t ever get a number on my Jerseys either. That doesn’t escape the fact that this proposal has sweet fa to do with the player having the name on the back of their playing jersey. This is 100% marketing/financial strategy to get more Jersey sales and revenue.
Is there something wrong with that?
Maximising revenue for the club is Warburton's primary job function.

Team Work
 
I'm less concerned about jersey sales, they're bound to increase, but for casual viewers it makes the viewing experience much much, much more easier to watch, surely every one of us has gone through scenarios of watching origin or another sport and fellow casuals identify players right away with their names, brings more context to what's happening, familiarity with individuals. Or with myself, I realise players easier when watching the champions league, watching a German team v Spanish team when I only follow the premier league. And I'd be like "oh that's Bobabc, I've heard about him, in the news, social media, my team wanted him, etc etc"

It's just something that needs to be done, and I believe back sponsorship wont lose, if anything, it adds value to the back sponsorship even if smaller placement, like Warburton mentioned.
 
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