Imagine the Essendon Bombers fashioning a green stripe on their jersey, or St George-Illawarra Dragons shifting their identity to the ‘Yellow V’, or even Sydney FC marching onto the ground as the sky pinks. This type of transformation is essentially what has happened to a newly promoted team in England’s second division. Cardiff City, a Welsh club, secured first place in the npower Championship this season, and as a consequence play in the Premier League for the first time in its long history.
Founded in 1899, Cardiff proudly plays under the nickname Bluebirds. This term is connected to a play named ‘The Blue Bird’ and was used as a symbol of happiness. The Bluebird has been a prominent feature on the club’s badge that adorns the breast of a predominantly blue strip. Just like blue is the colour that ignites pride and passion into a New South Welshman at State of Origin rugby league here in Australia, the same can be said for Cardiff City fans. However, this was about to change as commercial influences within English football took precedence over tradition and fan loyalty.
Private ownership of football clubs is routine in the English Premier League. International business figures have become increasingly influential. To that extent, when a consortium of Malaysian businessman purchased Cardiff City in 2010 this was not an unusual development. The wealthiest of these men is Vincent Tan; he is said to be worth £800 million. The owners arrived in the UK in time to see Cardiff City lose in the Play-off final, dashing their hopes to gain promotion. Luck seemed to evade Cardiff as they also failed via the play-off system in the 2 subsequent seasons. In the wake of this hat trick of play-off losses, Vincent Tan took the unprecedented measure of changing the club’s identity. Prior to the 2012/2013 season, Mr Tan decided to alter the colour of the team’s strip and logo to red. The central figure on this logo also changed, with the bluebird now minimised and displaced below the new addition, a red dragon. According to Tan, ‘red is the colour of joy, red is the colour of festivities and of celebration. In Chinese culture, blue is the colour of mourning.’ There was, however, symbolic confluence in the choice of a dragon: the decision to associate Cardiff city with that symbol brought it in common with the Welsh nation, as the dragon is one of the country’s emblems.
Vincent Tan was quoted as saying that this decision will bring ‘good tidings to Cardiff City Football Club’. Notwithstanding these sentiments, these changes to Cardiff’s colours and emblem were intended to be a marketing tool for both a Welsh national audience and an Asian international audience. The owners struggled to gain significant support from their fans even after providing 23 thousand free red scarves at a home match during the season. With what might be seen as another attempt to appease the supporters, the club have opened a poll for the Cardiff City members to choose the colour of their playing short for the upcoming season. Their efforts however, did not provide the expected response, with one supporter claiming that these decisions have caused ‘the blues to realise they have got to stand up and be counted’. This attitude was echoed by a new supporter group Bluebirds Unite, who recently rallied to have their ‘blue colours back’ for next season. In a 10 day period, Bluebirds Unite acquired nearly 5 and a half thousand signatures on their petition. This figure equates to nearly one quarter of Cardiff’s average attendance from last season.
On-field success may continue to mask the supporter unrest occurring beneath that level towards the demands of the new owners. Football – like any sport – features good and bad spells. When the latter occurs, the owners might just see their club’s true colours re-emerge.
Image: cardiffcityfc.co.uk