Merchandise : Mon Jul 25, 2011 7:25 am  

I was in a shop in Windsor (NSW) at the weekend and was stunned at the range of NRL merchandise.

Scarfs, flags, car flags, varieties of wigs, key fobs, badges, replica shirts, retro shirts, T-shirts, polo shirts, trainers, dinner plates, mugs, glasses, shorts, socks, babywear, stickers, bibs, baby dinner sets, beer fridges, stationary sets, pens, pencils, hoodies, alarm clocks, beenies, watches, wine bottle bags, stickers for wheelie bins, cufflinks, lanyards, belt buckles, yo-yo's, stubby holders, hats, wine bottle coolers, whiskey decanters, underwear, shot glasses, number plates, bottle openers, car floor mats, car seat covers, duvet covers, fluffy car dice, pendants, boxer shorts, figurines, etc, etc......

The list goes on and on. The only thing I didnt see was club branded toilet paper. I would happily buy a 12 pack of Bulls branded bog roll and put it to good use by the way.

Anyway, all this stuff is not only club branded, but official NRL merchandise. When you look closely at much of it, its all the same just with a different crest. Great idea and the stuff was selling by the bucket load.

Sooooo, why dont Championship clubs band together and do the same? Not wishing to encourage Starbug, but I think he too has long suggested such a principle. With interest waning and revenues down in the Championship it makes sense, it just needs one forward thinking club to take the initiative (Mike?). That is assuming the RFL havnt banned them from doing it of course, which I have to say wouldnt surprise me in the least.

Re: Merchandise : Mon Jul 25, 2011 7:43 am  

I don`t think our Club would be allowed by X Blades to do this as they do all the merchandise now . I thought the Club missed a trick for Blackpool as well people were crying out for the cheap junky throw away stuff and ended up buying it at Blackpool. I can understand the problem they have and if X Blades had been producing things like that then no you don`t want other people selling them . But if you arn`t producing the tatt for people you may as well allow someone to take a couple of quid off everyone and get some merchandise out it`s money the Club could use.Leigh had this right people came up with their own ideas and sold them in aid of LISA. I liked the knotted hanky idea and would have liked to have done that for us but you have to be careful as I do believe there is a considerable investment in the Club by X Blades for merchandise etc and you don`t want to upset them.
The shirts were good but sometimes people want a bit of fun as well that they can wear but never mind the £1 shops at Blackpool did well out of us I suppose.

Re: Merchandise : Mon Jul 25, 2011 11:13 am  

By the way, this post wasnt a dig at the club for the cup final merchandise, just observation as to the power of bulk buying. Surely the XBlades contract doesnt cover some of the other stuff (mugs, flags, shot glasses, etc, etc) which provides an opening but only if in conjunction with other clubs you can order minimum quantities.

Re: Merchandise : Mon Jul 25, 2011 11:31 am  

I don`t think anyone thought you were having a dig at the Club and neither was I just makeing an observation. As I suppose to get the good deal we got from X Blades and then still want to make money on other merchandise is a bit like "having your cake and eating it" but whichever way you look at it as long as the revenue is going to the Club and not elsewhere I don`t see the harm really.

Re: Merchandise : Mon Jul 25, 2011 11:37 am  

Quite simply it is plain stupidity for the championship clubs not to collaberate on merchandise , none of them are big enough to get any sort of decent deal , but because they are all stupid they will continue to cut their own little deals and make sod all out of it

Re: Merchandise : Mon Jul 25, 2011 7:42 pm  

the x blades products are not very good at all.they are a tiny company and it shows,

Re: Merchandise : Mon Jul 25, 2011 7:46 pm  

ron ryan's jockstrap wrote:

the x blades products are not very good at all.they are a tiny company and it shows,

I would've agreed until yesterday when I bought an Xblades Halifax RLFC rugby ball. Not many things turn me on more than a Fax branded rugby ball