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Football Australia mourns the loss of Ulises Davila’s wife

On the 30th of May, Official A-League and Macarthur FC pages used social media to share their condolences online to Ulises Davila and his family following the death of his wife.

The news was picked up by many online sources such as ABC, 9 Entertainment and 7 News.

The news came as a shock as many fans and clubs rallied behind Davila and offered condolences.

It comes at a time of celebration amongst the league after a week where the A-League All-Stars team faced off against Barcelona and the A-League Grand Final was played.

There’s an element of shock and emotion, which appeals to fans of rival clubs and even non soccer following Australians.

Overall, this is an effective use of PR as it showcases the personal side of athletes, it allows fans to engage with the clubs and feel involved in an emotional sense. It has major reach as the Mexican was signed as a marquee player for Macarthur.

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Mets strengthen Japanese Partnership

A Press Release statement on May 25th was released by MLB team, the New York Mets.

The statement was to announce that Ambassador Mikio Mori, Consul General of Japan in New York, Mr. Sandy Alderson, President of the New York Mets, and Mr. Koji Sato, President of the Japanese American Association of New York met to discuss the future partnership between the New York Mets and the Japanese community in New York.

Ambassador Mori, President Alderson and President Sato discussed the ways to further strengthen the friendship between Japan and the U.S. through baseball and agreed to work on an event during the 2022 season at Citi Field to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the introduction of baseball to Japan. 

This statement can be found on The New York Mets website under the page title Press Releases, this wasn’t publicly posted on any form of social media and was only picked up by one news source.

It does actively engage fans but does show the effort and continuation of engaging Japanese culture in New York. It’s a successful PR release even though it doesn’t attract a large audience.

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Archie Meets Archie

On the 28th of May the Essendon Football Club welcomed NAB Auskicker of the year nominee Archie Stockdale for a tour of their facilities.

Stockdale became viral on social media after having NAB Auskick Interviewer Hamish McLachlan in stiches.

Essendon posted a video on their social media sites as well as a webpage article. I came across these posts on tiktok. However other social media platforms such as Twitter, Instagram and Facebook were used. A photo with Archie’s favourite player, Archie Perkins became the face of the stunt.

The fan reaction to this use of PR was incredibly positive, people congratulating Essendon for their fan interactive approach.

Overall, this was a brilliant PR stunt by Essendon who were under fire for on-field performances, this created a friendly response online, and gained positive press for fans to interact with

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Melbourne changes name to Narrm for Sir Doug Nicolls Round

The Melbourne Football Club announced its rebranding to aboriginal name ‘Narrm’ as they prepared for the AFL’s Sir Doug Nicolls Indigenous Round. Melbourne announced so through their media team via the clubs website and reinforced the significance of understanding aboriginal culture on the Gus and Gawny podcast made on May 26th. I first came across the movement on Channel 7 news, however after research I found it was reported among many news sources.

The episode where Gus (Angus Brayshaw) and Gawny (Melbourne’s Premiership Captain, Max Gawn) discuss the name change features Melbourne’s Indigenous officer Mark Whelan, and he explains the significance of the name change.

The news became a popular story on FoxSports, News.com and 9 Entertainment and Melbourne was shown as the catalyst for aboriginal reconciliation.

The AFL and other media broadcasters adopted the rebranding for the two Indigenous arounds as Narrm was shown on Ladders, and other official AFL data.

The name change of Melbourne to Narrm was effective in creating positive PR around Indigenous round and reconciliation. Although there were fans who didn’t like the idea labelling it ‘woke’, many fans adopted to the change and on news sources it was branded as a new and positive campaign.

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North Melbourne - Departures of recruiting staff

On the 24/05/22 North Melbourne released a statement on their webpage announcing the moving on of two recruiters.

Recruiting manager Mark Flannigan and head of player personal Glen Luff resigned effective immediately.

Flannigan had been at the club since 2006 working in the recruiting department, where as Luff had been at the club since 2018.

Flannigan and Luff were referred to as valued employees on the web article.

The news however was also broken on Twitter by respected journalist Sam Edmund.

Sam chooses to highlight the frustration and the significance of a recruiting department walkouts.

The North Melbourne article uses quotes from Brady Rawlings talking about the hardworking qualities they showed. This shows the care and time put into the club from Flannigan and Luff.

Edmund’s tweet however shows how angry and concerned the recruiting department is with the management of the club.  

This was an unsuccessful use of PR by the North Melbourne Football Club as the news was already broken by Sam Edmund.

They used people from within the club and focused on the work they had done rather then the reason they had left.

As a result fans were left unhappy with how the situation was handled, although they were happy to see Luff and Flannigan move on.

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MCG New Hospitality Partner

The MCG has announced new hospitality venues inside the stadium for 2022.

The news was posted in traditional media forms such as print and TV. This was done because many old people enjoy fine dining and the average MCC member is older than 50.

I first saw the news on Channel 7 news with further research being done by viewing article/statements on the MCC website and Herald Sun online.

The articles contain details about the chef, the changes, and new expectations when dining in the reserve.

I believe this is a successful use of PR, the MCC actively used useful means of PR to communicate with the trends of their audience and provided a wide array of information.

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Taylor Walker’s Return - Adelaide Crows

The Adelaide Crows took to social media (twitter) to announce the return of ex-captain and star forward Taylor Walker. The publication was posted on Twitter after Taylor Walker had served a lengthy ban from racially vilifying North Adelaide’s Robbie Young in a SANFL game in 2020.

The situation has been questioned by the AFL media as Taylor formally apologised on TV to Robbie Young but was called ‘gutless’ and ‘cowardly’. I originally came across this publication when it was reviewed on Channel 9’s Footy Classified.

I don’t follow the Adelaide Crows social media channels but that was where most people viewed it.

The post copped a lot of backlash online, with many fans questioning the integrity of Adelaide celebrating the return of a player banned because of racism.

Adelaide’s Coach Matthew Nicks even referred to the post in a press conference saying they had made a mistake on this post.

I believe this is an unsuccessful attempt at PR, although it is newsworthy having a player of Walker’s ability returning, the tone and wording, even releasing it on social media, completely misread the room, and views of supporters.

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Bailey Smith - Cotton On Brand Ambassador

In January 2022 Western Bulldogs midfielder Bailey Smith was announced as the first brand ambassador of Cotton On Men’s.

The information was posted on Bailey Smith’s Instagram where he is the most followed AFL player with 365,000 followers. Bailey has amassed a large following due to his long mullet, quirky fashion sense and his ability in AFL.

I originally first saw the campaign on posters at Flinders Street Station, I later saw the poster at many other stations on my trip (North Melbourne, Footscray and Southern Cross) These are the most heavily used stations which means a large number of people see them. This is PR broken by a player and company away from the club.They have also been put up on billboards and on social media adverts. This appeals to both an older audience and a younger audience, which is better suited to Bailey’s influential power. 

Bailey fits the brand model of cotton on and so many men are going buy the product after seeing Bailey wearing it. Bailey fits the role of an ambassador due to his own personal brand outside of footy attracting people to follow him.

I believe this is a successful campaign for cotton On and Bailey Smith. It follows the trend of an athlete following the trend of creating their own PR and was reported on in online celebrity webpages such as DailyMail and Herald Sun. It created positive PR as the reaction online was positive and supported the crossover.

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Collingwood - Do Better Report

Feb 1, 2021, 4:13pm

The Collingwood ‘Do Better’ Report was an investigative report released on The Collingwood FC website after 2010 ex-premiership player Heritier Lumumba made racism claims against Coach Nathan Buckley, CEO Eddie McGuire and players and staff involved during his tenure at the club. There was an official statement released via The AFL Players Association twitter and website accompanied by an online article on the Collingwood website. I chose to look at the website due it being a direct link to a club and it’s fans.

The article was posted on the Collingwood website to keep fans updated with the findings of the report. The article details the findings of Lumumba’s treatment at the club and intends to appropriately challenge racist behaviours in the past.

The article states that the culture of the Collingwood Football Club has evolved over time. Collingwood acknowledges that in the past they have been unable to “recognize and combat structural racism.”

Collingwood then lists people involved in the do better report and list member of aboriginal communities and integrity officers. They do this to create a sense of achievement from the report.

Collingwood lists the community work with aboriginal communities that they do but fail to name any policy or procedure changes coming from the investigation.

The reactions online were mixed with many backing Eddie McGuire and others condemning the behaviour.

I have mixed feelings about this release from Collingwood, I think a club investigation was the right approach to take, and the personal involved was appropriate. While actions such as CEO Eddie McGuire stood down from his role, I don’t think they particularly achieved anything though. There was no change to policy and procedures.

Since the reports was released indigenous or multicultural players from that premiership era, Leon Davis, Heritier Lumumba and Andrew Krakouer have cut dies with the club demanding that more could have been done or achieved.

I think parts of the Do Better report was well-done but overall, more could have been done to accommodate the players involved in speaking up about the culture of the club during that period.

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Hawthorn Racism Alegations

Hawthorn Club Statement following Cyril Rioli’s allegations.

2/04/22

Hawthorn Football Club released a written statement following the surprise racism allegations from former premiership player Cyril Rioli against Hawthorn President Jeff Kennett.

Cyril Rioli’s claims of racism were well documented during the week by many media outlets including, The Age, The Guardian and Fox Sports. The claims were similar to that of Heritier Lumumba’s claims against Collingwood in 2021.

In the statement released by Hawthorn they begin with a statement in a bold font (different to the rest of the article) saying Racism in all shapes and forms is unacceptable. They name Cyril and his partner Sharyn detailing their sadness and disappointment at the actions that happened before Cyril’s exit from the club in 2018.

They then detail the work the club is currently pursuing and the reconciliation programs they have been following for decades.

I heard about the incident through Channel 9 and other Fox programs where broadcasters commentated the issue but found the club statement on their website where they published it.

I believe overall the statement is unsuccessful. It hasn’t followed the way Collingwood chose to, which had the President (Eddie McGuire) stand down and a full club investigation.

The club hasn’t actually achieved what the fans want who they ultimately targeted the statement at as Cyril was a fan favourite during his playing days. Reading Hawthorn fan reactions on Twitter, I found they are very angry and frustrated at the treatment of Cyril and believe there should be further actions made rather then just a statement.

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AFL This Is Us

This is Us is the 2022 promotional slogan and name of the TV Commercial for the AFL. The ad was released on March the 4th to create audience engagement and excitement around the return of crowds to footy. It was initially released on TV and the AFL.com website by the AFL.

The video portrays the key events of the seasons that fans are looking forward to, such as, walking to the games, Lance Franklin’s looming achievement of 1000 AFL goals and Junior Auskick.

The in-add promotion of the AFL shows opportunities to buy from AFL through AFL Records and The AFL merchandise shop.

The video features current players such as Joel Selwood, Tom Hawkins and Stephen Coniglio and Sam Draper. There is a clear connection to tradition as they juxtapose the resurgence of the mullet in modern and 90s times. The commercial shows iconic 90s mullet wearer Gary Ayres which engages an older audience then those that follow the current stars.

Although there is a clear sense of significance about footy returning to Melbourne stadiums, the video also engages in activities to do with footy outside of playing and watching the AFL. The ad shows groundsmen, auskickers and umpires at the grassroots level. This is due to the level of volunteers in community sport dropping or failing to return after isolation.

I originally saw the article on the TV in the Austral Hotel in Colac, I further researched the Commercial on the AFL website.

Overall, I think the commercial was effective in creating involvement around the upcoming season, it emphasises the importance of fans and cultural significance of AFL on Victoria. The video engages with spectators through relatability and emotional attachment. The political impact of the recency of Covid plays a major role, in which that is what has forced fans to miss out on their ‘normal’  footy experience.

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PUMA x NMFC

The Public Relation campaign I chose for week one is a media release by The North Melbourne Football Club. North Melbourne Football Club (NMFC) is based on Arden Street, North of Melbourne’s CBD. NMFC currently compete in the Australian Football League (AFL).

The release date of the article was October 28th, 2021, and was released in text on their webpage, and video on their personal webpage and YouTube channel which announced Puma as a lengthy kit sponsor. I originally came across the article on social media platform Instagram where they posted a link to an article and a video advertising the partnership. The announcement was teased on October 8th as NMFC posted photos of coffee art featuring the club’s mascot (kangaroo) and Puma’s logo. The article was listed in the news section on the club’s homepage. Although official home and away kits weren’t officially released the club does mention a release date on November 8th.

I believe this announcement of NMFC’s kit sponsor is effective due to the fact it created hype from North Melbourne fans around the kit releases. New Zealand company, Canterbury was the previous kit sponsor since 2015. Canterbury had come under fire for recent guernseys in the 2020-21 seasons changing the home kit from white/blue to blue/white and adding an outline to the 3 main stripes. The reason this was unsuccessful is due to the fact North Melbourne fans often refer to their heritage and history of previous successes. Puma promised to honour their historical jerseys and traditions in this release.

The fan reaction to these announcements was filled with optimism as Puma had been appreciated in sporting circles for recent kit designs for clubs such as Manchester City, AC Milan and the Silver Ferns.