Grand Final away strip a boon for Tigerland coffersJeff Whalley,
Herald Sun
October 7, 2017 RICHMOND legend Kevin Bartlett was furious that the Tiges had to play in their away strip, saying they should tell the AFL to “get stuffed”.
Dimma said they weren’t fussed and would play in the “hessian bag”.
But it appears the coffers down at Tigerland could be the big winner from the great 2017 jumper fiasco.
The mail is that the away strip can’t be printed fast enough for success-hungry Tiger fans to snap up.
One figure we heard is that 4000 were printed and they have all been sold.
Of course German sporting apparel giant Puma was brought on as Richmond’s apparel company at the end of last year when BLK went broke. What timing!
And one sports industry insider made the point that the Tigers’ reticence to fight to wear the traditional strip makes sense.
Fans will now most likely buy the Grand Final-winning strip AND the traditional strip!
One conspiracy theory doing the rounds is that Punt Road asked KB to keep quiet as the club knew how many extra sales it would make.
The Tigers accounts for the year are closed off at the end of October and include merch — last year raking in $16.6 million from “stadium contributions and consumer products”.
We bet that figure leaps this year!
Vintage Tiger crop on and off the fieldIT COULD be the best way to savour a Tigers victory, but you will be waiting until autumn.
True Tiger fans know all about Grand Final winning defender Dylan Grimes and his partner Elisha Rodriguez in October last year buying the Mount Macedon Winery.
(The winery has a colourful history once being owned by Olivia Newton John and was associated with her Koala Blue label.)
As Elisha told Page 13 yesterday, it was the one-year anniversary of the purchase this week.
But the big question for Tigers fans (and Page 13) is when the 2017 vintage is out?
Elisha said both pinot noir and chardonnay should be out at the end of summer or the start of autumn next year.
The couple are working with Matt Harrop from Werribee’s Shadowfax, which is bottling the grapes under the Mount Macedon label. The couple are finalising the design of their bottle label.
The cellar door is open weekends and has a restaurant — but you might have to call ahead as it is wedding season and the place is pretty solidly booked for events.
“Dylan and I are very conscious of not biting off more than we can chew, all of our projections have been pretty reserved,” Elisha said.
“To have as much business and the opportunities we have had this year is almost overwhelming, just in terms of how much support we have had and how many people have found us.”
And for true Tiger fans wanting a bottle of the Grimes wine you will have to make the trek out to Mt Macedon as there are plans to keep sales all very low key from the cellar door.
Tiger dreams saved, now for economyDAMIEN Hardwick and the boys have saved the dreams of thousands and thousands of Tigers fans — but can they save the Victorian economy? Yes, seems to be the tongue in cheek answer from the business community.
Page 13 was chatting with good mate Tim Piper of the Victorian chapter of the Australian Industry Group.
The thesis is that the best type of final to fire up spending is with either Adelaide or Perth clubs (apparently Sydney and Queensland clubs are not as enthused to spend down here) against a Melbourne powerhouse club.
“Melbourne won the double — we got Adelaide and Richmond won ... so there is that feel good thing in loosening the purse strings.”
He did have one mischievous suggestion for the government though: “Make the public holiday on Monday for the celebrating fans!”
Bachar goes from MCG to Cherry LakeBACHAR Houli’s blistering performance was critical to the Tiges taking out the Premiership cup.
But on Tuesday his performance was also critical in keeping the barbecue firing at Altona’s Cherry Lake where he was celebrating the victory with about 100 friends and family.
Bachar has been fielding plenty of calls and texts since the GF performance — voted by Herald Sun readers as best on field — including from Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.
To be fair Turnbull is a long-term fan of Bachar and earlier this year funded the Tiger’s programs aimed at engaging young folk from Muslim backgrounds through footy to the tune of $625,000.
Asked on Seven for his reply to the PM’s texts, Houli quipped, “just get the next grant ready”.
Touche!
We contacted the PM’s office to see when the next round of funding was coming.
Last time we checked our inquiry was “under consideration”. (A response Sir Humphrey Appleby translated as “we’ve lost the file”).
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/entertainment/confidential/grand-final-away-strip-a-boon-for-tigerland-coffers/news-story/b7b11cd40415050baddda9f8a7b4f631
