Brown a budding fashion aficionado
By Nathan Brown
3:44 PM Tue 09 September, 2008
WE'RE INTO the second week of finals and there are 10 lists of players with what many would perceive as very little to do for the next couple of months.
A lot of players will head overseas, some will go in for surgery, others will take in as many finals as they can – either live or perhaps in groups at a teammate’s home.
Then there are people like me, who can spend a bit more time on the 'real' job we've only really been dabbling in throughout most of the year.
Current day footballers have no time for a full-time job even if they wanted one and, to be honest, what sort of business would want an employee with such little time and experience on their hands.
It's changed a bit since I first arrived at the Western Bulldogs in 1996. Back then AFL clubs still trained at 6pm on a Tuesday and Thursday night and the senior blokes, like Tony Liberatore, Scott Wynd and Matthew 'Colin' Croft, all worked full-time jobs during the day.
Although the players invest a lot more time in their footy these days, clubs still encourage all players to find something to occupy their minds outside of football.
At Richmond, it is compulsory to be doing something to better yourself or benefit others on your day off.
A lot of the guys study one day a week and take a long-term approach, but learning how to set up a business over 13 years of university isn’t my cup of tea.
Andrew Raines and Mark Coughlan work one day a week at a property development company learning the ropes and I know there are a few guys at our club and around the AFL who own pubs, bars and nightclubs.
It sounds pretty cool to have all your mates down for a beer but it's a very risky industry and one in which you need to know what you are doing.
For me, I have always had an interest in fashion. I don’t know why and I don’t know where it came from, because if you saw my old man, god love him, you would see I don’t get it from him.
When I first came into it, I had no experience at all. But I asked a lot of questions and was willing to learn and people were willing to help (that's one of the benefits of being an AFL footballer).
I've been in the industry for a while, and I now have a store in Chapel Street. The label is called Blackbyrd and if you read this column, print it out come down and get 15 per cent off.
We also sell to about 80 individual boutiques around Australia – but much of it is trial and error and learning.
It's hard work but, if you enjoy it, then you are likely to work harder to make it succeed.
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