A WIN FOR FANATICS AND FADDISTS ALIKE
Crystal Palace are not owned by a Hollywood actor, nor possess a player like Messi who can trigger massive sales. But the club have been canny enough to recognise that, if the mood is right and the product sufficiently exciting, you might be able to shift club merch to buyers beyond the traditional fan.
My daughter couldn’t define a free kick if her life depended on it, but she has still amassed a fine collection of vintage shirts. According to brand agency Hatch Group, Google searches for “classic football shirt” have risen 32 per cent in the past year, while UK #footballshirt posts have had 17 million views on TikTok in the past four months alone.
Is this an overspill of the long-running trend for sportswear, the associated interest in the FIFA Women’s World Cup now underway or simply part of a cycle that routinely appropriates the football terrace for ideas? Or is there something deeper in our psyche that finds us, at a time of fractiousness and partisanship, seeking out, however nebulous, our “team”?
Certainly the new era of sport merchandising is banking on the idea that wearing a club’s kit is less a sign of season-ticket waving, religious fervour, and more a nod to the idea that the game represents a collective, feel-good mood. And from what I can see of Annan-Jonathan’s profile, he knows how to make things cool.
The refashioning of football, with fly-by-night supporters drifting in to buy a hoodie without having experienced the bitter chill of winter fixtures, will no doubt be looked on by sporting purists with disdain.
But if it brings money into clubs in lower divisions and stimulates a broader interest, it’s surely a win for fanatics and faddists alike. Besides, the traditionalists needn’t worry – it won’t be long before the cycle shifts and the real fans can reclaim the game for themselves.
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