Shirt Sales

Club Brand supplier 2011-12 Brand supplier 2012-13 Expiry of current deal Estimated replica shirt sales 2011-12(Ave Home Gate)*
Bath Puma Puma 2013 6,000 (11,757)
Exeter Samurai Samurai 2014 6,000 (8,322)
Gloucester Kooga Kooga 2015 8,000 (13,579)
Harlequins O’Neills O’Neills 2015 10,000 (12,555)
Leicester Cotton Traders CCC 2015 18,000 (20,661)
London Irish ISC ISC 2015 7,000 (11,207)
London Wasps CCC Kukri 2016 4,000 (6,746)
London Welsh Samurai Samurai 2013 <1,000 (1,270)
Northampton Burrda Burrda 2016 5,000 (13,241)
Sale Cotton Traders CCC 2017 2,000 (7,900)
Saracens Nike Nike n/a 5,000 (6,844)
Worcester Cotton Traders Kooga 2016 5,000 (10,205)
Connacht Rugby Tech Rugby Tech n/a 6,500 (4,653)
Leinster CCC CCC n/a 18,000 (14,452)
Munster Adidas Adidas 2014 25,000 (12,098)
Ulster Kukri Kukri 2014 15,000 (8,115)
Edinburgh Macron Macron 2017 1,500 (4,277)
Glasgow CCC CCC 2013 2,000 (4,019)
Blues CCC CCC n/a 5,000 (7,326)
Dragons Gilbert Gilbert 2013 2,500 (6,097)
Ospreys Kooga Kooga n/a 22,000 (7,881)
Scarlets Burrda Burrda 2014 4,000 (9,006)

Interesting 3 of the top 5 Irish and I am completely confident that the Ulster sales have gone through the roof this year (more than doubled I reckon)

Connaught higher than 8 of the Aviva sides

What do most clubs do regarding changing shirts? I know that Exe promise to alternate changing their home and away shirts, but will equally change their European/LV= shirt every year - is that fairly common practice?

Can only talk about the figures of my own club - they would be adversely affected by the move to a new stadium, the lack of a merchandise shop till the new stadium, playing at Vicarage Road for about 5 games when there was virtually no interest.

aslongasbut100ofus I think most teams change shirts every season.

Incredible that so many bought Ospreys tops and yet only a third of that (more or less) attend games on average.

Dragons generally mix and match. Sometimes we have kept a shirt for more than one season, other times we change all shirts every season. This season we brought three new ones out, in part due to a new headline sponsor and also a special change strip to mark ten years of regional rugby.

Are these your estimations? What does the * mean? And what does n/a mean by the year?

geoff998rugby wrote:Connaught higher than 8 of the Aviva sides

Let's hope they got the spelling right on the shirts

Cyril wrote:

geoff998rugby wrote:Connaught higher than 8 of the Aviva sides

Let's hope they got the spelling right on the shirts

You need to learn some Irish my friend - that is a perfectly correct way to spell the name of our western Province

geoff998rugby wrote:

Cyril wrote:

geoff998rugby wrote:Connaught higher than 8 of the Aviva sides

Let's hope they got the spelling right on the shirts

You need to learn some Irish my friend - that is a perfectly correct way to spell the name of our western Province

It's not the spelling of Connacht Rugby though is it?

Perfectly happy to be proved wrong on this!

Risca Rev wrote:Incredible that so many bought Ospreys tops and yet only a third of that (more or less) attend games on average.

Dragons generally mix and match. Sometimes we have kept a shirt for more than one season, other times we change all shirts every season. This season we brought three new ones out, in part due to a new headline sponsor and also a special change strip to mark ten years of regional rugby.

Teams with more shirt sales than match attendees = bandwagon fans. How many Connacht shirts were sold after the win in Toulouse? I'm betting quite a few.

Also, as per beshocked and talking about my own team (Wasps), when the club released the black and gold hooped 'classic' shirt about 5 seasons ago, thousands of them were sold.

They were so popular that many supporters (myself included) never bothered buying another replica shirt. They wouldn't count as replica shirt sales though.

Anyway, fair play to the teams whose shirt sales exceed attendees. Good marketing and it's all money put into the clubs.

Hound of Harrow wrote:

Risca Rev wrote:Incredible that so many bought Ospreys tops and yet only a third of that (more or less) attend games on average.

Dragons generally mix and match. Sometimes we have kept a shirt for more than one season, other times we change all shirts every season. This season we brought three new ones out, in part due to a new headline sponsor and also a special change strip to mark ten years of regional rugby.

Teams with more shirt sales than match attendees = bandwagon fans. How many Connacht shirts were sold after the win in Toulouse? I'm betting quite a few.

In a completely non-ironic move, I'll hop in to defend the bandwagon fans. 

There are plenty of people who support rugby teams who are not located within travelling distance to attend games.  It is a great gift for someone who has had to go to Canada/Australia and further afield to have a jersey for their home province and keep a bit of that connection to home.

There are also plenty of kids and adults who would love to attend games but can only afford to see their team once or twice a year however might buy a jersey every couple of years and be avid supporters of a team.

Us true bandwagon fans are probably the ones who show up to games with no club/provincial colours to be seen, spend the game asking those around who these players are, being completely off key in all of the fan chants and songs and generally being an arse.  Those people are my people    

Looking at the Bath stats there, Puma made a pretty ugly shirt that wasn't popular. At the same time a 'heritage' classic striped one was available from the club shop and indeed the current home shirt is also a classic design. I would think that a lot of people would/have bought one of those and probably won't bother to buy any future funky change strip designs.

Having said that,10,000 Quins shirts were sold, and that design doesn't really change.

thebandwagonsociety wrote:

Hound of Harrow wrote:

Risca Rev wrote:Incredible that so many bought Ospreys tops and yet only a third of that (more or less) attend games on average.

Dragons generally mix and match. Sometimes we have kept a shirt for more than one season, other times we change all shirts every season. This season we brought three new ones out, in part due to a new headline sponsor and also a special change strip to mark ten years of regional rugby.

Teams with more shirt sales than match attendees = bandwagon fans. How many Connacht shirts were sold after the win in Toulouse? I'm betting quite a few.

In a completely non-ironic move, I'll hop in to defend the bandwagon fans. 

There are plenty of people who support rugby teams who are not located within travelling distance to attend games.  It is a great gift for someone who has had to go to Canada/Australia and further afield to have a jersey for their home province and keep a bit of that connection to home.

There are also plenty of kids and adults who would love to attend games but can only afford to see their team once or twice a year however might buy a jersey every couple of years and be avid supporters of a team.

Us true bandwagon fans are probably the ones who show up to games with no club/provincial colours to be seen, spend the game asking those around who these players are, being completely off key in all of the fan chants and songs and generally being an arse.  Those people are my people    

Sure, I'm just on the wum - see my second post.

In my local high st. (Wealdstone) you see lots of people wearing replica GAA shirts.

Hound of Harrow wrote:

Risca Rev wrote:Incredible that so many bought Ospreys tops and yet only a third of that (more or less) attend games on average.

Dragons generally mix and match. Sometimes we have kept a shirt for more than one season, other times we change all shirts every season. This season we brought three new ones out, in part due to a new headline sponsor and also a special change strip to mark ten years of regional rugby.

Teams with more shirt sales than match attendees = bandwagon fans. How many Connacht shirts were sold after the win in Toulouse? I'm betting quite a few.

We don't know yet, those figures are pre beating Toulouse  (11-12 season)  

Imagine, Connacht sell more jerseys than Saracens   (Probably get more tv viewers as well   )

Munster 25,000
Ospreys 22,000
Leinster 18,000
Ulster 15,000
Connacht 6,500
Blues 5,000
Scarlets 4,000
Dragons 2,500
Glasgow 2,000
Edinburgh 1,500

Any relation between shirt sales and league position? (no Italians)




another point of interest is O’Neills (known for making GAA gear) make Harlequins shirts but not for an Irish province yet, maybe LI will change to build that Irish connection more?

The figure that sticks out is Ospreys. So many shirt sales but attendances don't match. I checked the Rabo site (for this season admittedly) but they have only broken 10000 fans once against Ulster. 

I still think it wouldn't take too much for them to get that figure up though.

Interesting post Geoff. I am quite impressed by all of the Irish provinces numbers. There used to be a bit of a stigma attached to the Ulster shirt in Northern Ireland, and perhaps the efforts of the Union is paying off in changing perception. I hope so - I have never worn an Ulster shirt in Northern Ireland - although I own several. I saved them for the away games, or when I travel.

I always felt - living in the same part of the world as yourself Geoff - that it was the equivalent of walking through Downpatrick wearing a flag. Not any more - I have spotted 2 Irish shirts in Ardglass recently, and I don't think either of them was you!

Good work on the part of the Union.

As always though - respect to our Munster friends - they turn out in Red!

Hound of Harrow wrote:

Risca Rev wrote:Incredible that so many bought Ospreys tops and yet only a third of that (more or less) attend games on average.

Dragons generally mix and match. Sometimes we have kept a shirt for more than one season, other times we change all shirts every season. This season we brought three new ones out, in part due to a new headline sponsor and also a special change strip to mark ten years of regional rugby.

Teams with more shirt sales than match attendees = bandwagon fans. How many Connacht shirts were sold after the win in Toulouse? I'm betting quite a few.

What sort of bandwagon are the Ospreys fans on? The "losing, getting dumped out of Europe by Christmas, losing their players and wheels falling off" bandwagon?!    And the welsh regions get criticised for their marketing! Give those merchandising officers a badge I say!

I own 2 Ulster tops and I've never even been to Ulster. Folk like us swell your numbers and make you look good!

  

2bFair wrote:Interesting post Geoff. I am quite impressed by all of the Irish provinces numbers. There used to be a bit of a stigma attached to the Ulster shirt in Northern Ireland, and perhaps the efforts of the Union is paying off in changing perception. I hope so - I have never worn an Ulster shirt in Northern Ireland - although I own several. I saved them for the away games, or when I travel.

I always felt - living in the same part of the world as yourself Geoff - that it was the equivalent of walking through Downpatrick wearing a flag. Not any more - I have spotted 2 Irish shirts in Ardglass recently, and I don't think either of them was you!

Good work on the part of the Union.

As always though - respect to our Munster friends - they turn out in Red!

Quiet forget you too have an association with Ardglass.
Will be there from the 26th to 29th Dec - already book my seat infront of my sister-in-laws TV to watch the Leisnter match on RTE   

Agree re wearing shirt not a big deal now.
My daughter goes to school on the Falls and has lots of friends in the Glen Road area - not a problem wearing the shirt

Likewise on the Leinster match:-)

I do think that all of the sporting bodies are doing great work in uniting the province. I think it was in the summer (or perhaps last summer) Ulster ran training session in Donegal if I remembering correctly?

Improving times - and a great new stadium, with a proper shop. Lets see how these sales numbers stack up next year!

Sin é wrote:

Hound of Harrow wrote:

Risca Rev wrote:Incredible that so many bought Ospreys tops and yet only a third of that (more or less) attend games on average.

Dragons generally mix and match. Sometimes we have kept a shirt for more than one season, other times we change all shirts every season. This season we brought three new ones out, in part due to a new headline sponsor and also a special change strip to mark ten years of regional rugby.

Teams with more shirt sales than match attendees = bandwagon fans. How many Connacht shirts were sold after the win in Toulouse? I'm betting quite a few.

We don't know yet, those figures are pre beating Toulouse  (11-12 season)  

Imagine, Connacht sell more jerseys than Saracens   (Probably get more tv viewers as well   )

Sin E what were the viewing figures for the Connacht vs Toulouse matches?

Not a fair comparison as the Connacht games v Toulose were on the red button and the one of Saturday was on the same time as Leinster's game.

LeinsterFan4life wrote:Not a fair comparison as the Connacht games v Toulose were on the red button and the one of Saturday was on the same time as Leinster's game.

Ha ha excuses excuses.  If it's on the red button it tells you how important they are perceived to be.

Toulouse vs Saracens - round 5 I expect will get decent viewership just like the round 2 irrespective of whether it's on a Friday,Saturday or Sunday.

geoff998rugby wrote:Club Brand supplier 2011-12 Brand supplier 2012-13 Expiry of current deal Estimated replica shirt sales 2011-12(Ave Home Gate)*
Bath Puma Puma 2013 6,000 (11,757)
Exeter Samurai Samurai 2014 6,000 (8,322)
Gloucester Kooga Kooga 2015 8,000 (13,579)
Harlequins O’Neills O’Neills 2015 10,000 (12,555)
Leicester Cotton Traders CCC 2015 18,000 (20,661)
London Irish ISC ISC 2015 7,000 (11,207)
London Wasps CCC Kukri 2016 4,000 (6,746)
London Welsh Samurai Samurai 2013 <1,000 (1,270)
Northampton Burrda Burrda 2016 5,000 (13,241)
Sale Cotton Traders CCC 2017 2,000 (7,900)
Saracens Nike Nike n/a 5,000 (6,844)
Worcester Cotton Traders Kooga 2016 5,000 (10,205)
Connacht Rugby Tech Rugby Tech n/a 6,500 (4,653)
Leinster CCC CCC n/a 18,000 (14,452)
Munster Adidas Adidas 2014 25,000 (12,098)
Ulster Kukri Kukri 2014 15,000 (8,115)
Edinburgh Macron Macron 2017 1,500 (4,277)
Glasgow CCC CCC 2013 2,000 (4,019)
Blues CCC CCC n/a 5,000 (7,326)
Dragons Gilbert Gilbert 2013 2,500 (6,097)
Ospreys Kooga Kooga n/a 22,000 (7,881)
Scarlets Burrda Burrda 2014 4,000 (9,006)

Interesting 3 of the top 5 Irish and I am completely confident that the Ulster sales have gone through the roof this year (more than doubled I reckon)

Connaught higher than 8 of the Aviva sides

Where are the sales stats from?

Come from a site called Running Rugby. You have to register to get access to the content.

Interesting that Munster sold 90,000 years the first year they won the Heineken Cup in 2006. According to that website, it seems that Munster is everyone's 2nd team and sells a lot of jerseys in the Leicester/Northampton area.

“It appears that for a rugby fan in the UK, Munster are their second-favourite team. Whether that’s because everybody loves a trier and we’ve been there or thereabouts in the past few years I don’t know. We get a lot of business from the rugby regions like Leicester and Northampton.”

http://runningrugby.com/marketing-and-sponsorship/the-munster-story/

Munster were everyone's second favourite team years ago. Then they had the temerity to actually win the HC twice and everyone started to hate them. Connacht and Exeter seem to be the most lovable at the moment.

That site is boll@cks. Like those stats.

Stats are close to accurate mate.

Feckless Rogue wrote:Munster were everyone's second favourite team years ago. Then they had the temerity to actually win the HC twice and everyone started to hate them. Connacht and Exeter seem to be the most lovable at the moment.

Look, I saw a bit of crime watch the other night, and they showed a guy who was caught on camera robbing a shop wearing a Munster jersey.    To balance that out, Rachel Allen (celebrity chef) was feeding her kids and one of them was wearing a Munster jersey. Munster jersey is as popular as any of the soccer shirts in Munster. Munster were still topping the best sellers even though they would not have been doing particularly well. Wait until Munster start winning again!

Welsh Magician wrote:Stats are close to accurate mate.

Ok, that's ok then.

Toast wrote:That site is boll@cks. Like those stats.

The troll start again.

It will freeze in hell before Toast makes a useful contribution here

geoff999rugby wrote:

Toast wrote:That site is boll@cks. Like those stats.

The troll start again.

It will freeze in hell before Toast makes a useful contribution here

Mods are on Christmas leave now, hence why banned users can start their wums again.

Ospreys shirts are everywhere. I can walk down my village road at probably see half a dozen people wearing them during the evening, I'm from the Bridgend area.

I have even gone to Nandos in Nantgarw which is on the outskirts of Cardiff and seen 4 people in there wearing them, myself included.

Even at Premiership games it's very common to see fans wearing Ospreys shirts instead of their local club colors. The shirts are reduced to as little as £20 towards the end of the season and are available in most local Tescos as well.

I was in blackwood last year and in the sports shop there the owner told me he sold more Ospreys tops than any other. This is in the Dragons region

That'll be true in the rugby shop in Cwmbran. But then the shop owners aren't dull either and position the Ospreys shirts in the windows. Most Dragons supporters would buy their merchandise direct from RP shop, though I do accept that you do get more people who think they're proper Ospreys supporters up here, on the basis of buying a shirt.

There appears to be more of an acceptance of a fan of one team sporting the jersey of another.  Does this happen within the leagues or is it the divide of having a Jeff team and a Pro12 team that people branch out with.

From my own perspective, I've found rugby jerseys far more acceptable than soccer jerseys. They usually have a smart enough collar, are hard wearing, relatively good value compared to soccer jerseys and you can get into places more easily of an evening wearing rugby jersey than if you had a soccer jersey on.  This makes rugby jerseys all the more convenient.

When I was younger I used to have each of the irish provincial jerseys along with Irish, Scottish, French, B&I Lions jerseys.  Though these days I'm only Leinster & Ireland, I still cheer on the other teams just don't sport the jerseys anymore.

It may be confirmation bias, but I think you see far more regional rugby shirts being worn around Wales than football shirts. Partly because club football shirts worn in public can cause the wearer issues (like not being allowed into some pubs)! I think people like being linked to the regional thing, even if they don’t get off their bums and watch the games. Ospreys shirts have been the most popular for the last decade for two simple reasons – 1. They’ve had most of the most recognisable stars playing for them, and 2. The shirts are typically black and typically very popular in their design. Lots of expat Welsh buy Ospreys shirts too (or at least did, when they were the “galacticos”). The Blues would probably sell about twice as many shirts if their chief colour wasn’t baby blue (not a colour that most men want to wear), while the Scarlets would sell more if they didn’t have that ridiculous green Dyfed Steels logo on the front. Scarlets shirts also suffer from being too similar to Wales shirts in colour. Dragons shirts are usually pretty nice, but suffer from being covered in cheap adverts.

As a Glasgow fan I have no intention of buying a shirt, because of 2 reasons.

1. They look awful
2. I am unhappy with the quality of the Macron products in general. I own a pair of Warriors gym shorts, their sizing makes me look like I belong in a 70's porn film and they are stating to fall apart. I also own a fleece and you could spit peas through it.

cakeordeath wrote:As a Glasgow fan I have no intention of buying a shirt, because of 2 reasons.

1. They look awful
2. I am unhappy with the quality of the Macron products in general. I own a pair of Warriors gym shorts, their sizing makes me look like I belong in a 70's porn film and they are stating to fall apart. I also own a fleece and you could spit peas through it.

Cakey, it actually sounds like you may have tried this after an evening out in Tennents?

They don't all 'em fleeces for nothing apparently.

Reading back, I'd pay extra for ad-free shirts (including the manufacturers' logo).

Especially as they are invariably made in an Asian sweat-shop and the prices charged is consequently nearly all a hefty profit for the club/retailer. I recently bought a Tigers shirt (not the match one) for £16.99 from lovell-rugby dot com or whatever. The Tigers wanted over 50 quid. I don't love them that much.

Agree with Portnoy - find it strange they don't sell ad-free shirts. They'd sell a hell of a lot more of them.

Since 1998ish - I think I have missed about 5 home games for the Wellington Lions and the Hurricanes - that is except for the 9 years that I was living overseas. Anyway have never bought a shirt for those two teams. I do have an All Blacks shirt that I bought in 1999 but that was for a special occasion.

Although an Ulster fan, I also own various other shirts including Leinster and Munster ones - I get them cheap in outlet shops as they are great for coaching/training in!
Any northern Saracens fan (if such a beast exists) can snap up a bargain in the Leeds TK Maxx who were selling Saracens tops for £20 this weekend.

I am a Quins supporter -
I own an England classic jersey
And a Sale Sharks shirt.

Simple reason - Quins don't make shirts in my size! And I'm abit too self conscious to be wearing the skin tights.

Only other Prem teams to stock the larger sizes are Tigers and Gloucester.