Rugby’s silver fern may be replaced

Press, 24 January 1986, Page 4

Rugby’s silver fern may be replaced

PA Wellington The simple silver fern which has adorned the jerseys of New Zealand rugby teams from the year dot Is to be replaced as part of a big marketing exercise.

The symbol which has been part of the New Zealand sporting scene since the tour by the "originals” in 1905, is to be stylised and have the words “New Zealand All Blacks” added in future. The break with tradition will allow the rugby union to register the new logo as a trade mark and thus make it available for use in its marketing programme.

At yesterday’s presentation, the senior All Black lock forward, Andy Haden, in his role as director of Sporting Contacts, the company which has been appointed by the New Zealand Rugby Union to prepare a marketing plan, said at least five distinct versions of the silver fem had been used from 1905 onwards.

"The eventual design solution now arrived at achieves the synthesis of

traditional and modem elements without departing in spirit or form from the historically accepted All Black symbol,” he said.

Rugby was a multimillion dollar business in New Zealand but unlike most businesses more than 90 per cent of the game ran at a loss financially, said Haden. The annual outlay of the New Zealand union was more than $650,000 and a huge investment was required to ensure the future of the game, he said. “Rugby income needs to be recovered from a very small percentage of high-profile high-spectator interest games. In the past this has been possible, but not today,” he said. “There is a popular misconception that television broadcast fees for matches compensate for lost attendance. This is totally inaccurate speculation by naive commentators on the game who equate international norms with New Zealand. While many have offered criticisms, few have offered a solution."

Haden said the main objective of the marketing exercise was to maximise the financial return to the game. The three elements in the exercise were sponsorship, merchandising and the production of an official fund-raising booklet

Various "packages” would be available for sponsorship, the first three being the AustraliaNew Zealand series early this year, the All BlacksFrance series towards the end of the season and the national competition. Others would be the Ranfurly Shield series, junior Rugby and seven-a-side competitions. The new logo which was adaptable to ail teams had met with overwhelming approval from players and potential commercial interests on the other. Already a wide range of merchandise with the new logo had been produced, said Haden.

The first steps would lead to a breakthrough for New Zealand rugby and would enable the game to continue as New Zealand’s most important

sport and to allow the funding for the New Zealand game to remain amateur.

“It has been a rocky road getting here, but we are all convinced New Zealand rugby is heading in the right direction,” he said.

In a brief question-and-answer period after the lunch-time presentation, Mr Russell Thomas (Canterbury) the chairman of the union’s marketing committee agreed there could be criticism of the new logo from traditionalists, but said he was confident its use would be approved at a special general meeting of the union to be held shortly.

In answer to another question he said he was reluctant to reveal just how much the union was planning to make in the first year from the various marketing ploys. Commenting on the change, the veteran rugby writer, Terry McLean, said that rugby administrators would have to "dig bomb shelters” to escape the wrath of the public if the plan to change the motif went ahead.