Footy Fan Gimmicks | Know Your History with Shannon Gill (06.08.26)
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What are today’s fan‑engagement gimmicks and why do they matter?
In a previous generation, it was the bluebirds and elephants. Right now, it's Wharfie time and WWE-style entrances. Today's Know Your History is fan engagement gimmicks.
Here we go, he's going to get them going. It's Wharfie time. Just haven't listened to the noise they make. I've never heard anything like it from a free-on crowd. He kicks the goal. This is what they call war feet time. The bells are ringing. The crowd is generating a lot of noise. The flags are waving. Banner raised, lights off, sparklers flying, lasers going.
Welcome to the MCG. It's the Geelong Football Club.
Shannon Gill, I don't know whether you approve of this stuff or not. It's all happened before in a different way. Welcome. Morning, Gerard.
This might alienate everyone that listens to this, but I actually like this stuff. Okay. And aside from that I don't mind it on its own, what would we have to talk about in 20 years' time if we didn't have this stuff? So this makes this segment possible. When we do silly out there stuff, it makes this segment possible. So I actually really liked it. I liked last Thursday and I know that a lot of people didn't like it, but the whole idea of, you know, nightclub remixes of rock songs that I really like in with footy. That's perfect for me. That is this, my two areas that took the Venn diagram crosses over in that, in that area. So I'm a fan. Don't hate me for it. Um, I can support you on songs after goals.
I'm not big on songs after goals. Um, But this whole thing of last Thursday and the reaction to it, because I was probably surprised by the reaction because everyone's got such hard reactions on it either way, is our flirtations with fan gimmicks and knowing that we've always done these kinds of things that in the moment people think, what the hell is this? But we look back with fondness in years later.
So you are in fact wearing your Arden Street Elephant t-shirt today.
Yes. League Tees have sorted me out with the Arden Street Elephant t-shirt. So that's a good example. People actually buy these t-shirts because of the fun and laughter from what at the time was probably seen as a ridiculous thing to do. All right, so give us a sweep of the genre. So I want to just – the genre is not – and I want text in with – and we're already getting text in, which is good to see. I'm not talking about sponsorship stuff, so the Carlton Light Blue M&Ms and the Whiskers Hocking, not the sponsorship stuff because that's a whole different genre that we may do another day. Yes. But text in with those gimmicks that clubs ran, which – have been forgotten and lost to time, but in their time were, were a big deal for about five minutes.
So the successful, I'd say the Port Adelaide and the Never Terrace Apart is a successful thing that was born, um, sort of in the rebirth of Port Adelaide in a lot of ways and becomes something iconic there. There's a few that I remember, little ones that were not as well received or didn't have the same longevity. When the Western Bulldogs changed the name to Western Bulldogs, they started the woof-woof being played after each goal, if you remember that. I have this, if Hawthorne supporters tell me, I have this memory that in the late 90s, there was this flirtation with a thing called the Hawk Walk.
How did Shannon Gill first react to modern gimmicks like the ‘Wharfie’ entrance?
where if Hawthorne won a game, they would walk off arm in arm, singing the song for the crowd to get involved with. We're seeing the Carlton Hovercraft. The Carlton Hovercraft. In fact, I think there's six or seven texts already about the Carlton Hovercraft. In the late 2000s, I think it was in early 2010s, Melbourne had a trumpeteer that would play, um, at three quarter time. And when, when a game was won, um, in that era, Melbourne really won. So it was a flop. Uh, but so there's, there's lots of these things and we're, yes, we're seeing, we keep seeing it. If you liked it, you were wrong. Okay. Fair enough. I am wrong, but fan gimmicks go all the way back to 1879. Right. And this is the, so, um, the first ever night game of Australian rules football was played in 1879, August, 1879.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What are today’s fan‑engagement gimmicks and why do they matter?
0:00–3:37
2
How did Shannon Gill first react to modern gimmicks like the ‘Wharfie’ entrance?
3:37–7:19
3
Which historic fan gimmicks from the early 1900s still influence today’s games?
7:19–10:42
4
What was the story behind North Melbourne’s 1979 circus‑elephant promotion?
10:42–13:22
5
How did the controversial Carlton ‘Bluebirds’ cheer squad originate and evolve?
13:22–18:40
6
Why did the ‘Swanettes’ and later the ‘Bluebirds’ become a revenue‑driven experiment?
18:40–25:01
7
How did Fremantle’s ‘Wharfie Time’ and the purple‑haze era reshape fan culture?
25:01–28:16
8
What lessons can we learn from the rise and fall of footy fan gimmicks?
28:16–29:41
Speakers
4 identifiedMore from Whateley
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