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Thread: FORCE SIGNS JAPANESE FLYER, AKIHITO YAMADA

  1. #16
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    It exposes Japan to the Force. Bigger audience, more fans, good link with the players, wider exposure.
    It's all win win.
    Westies man, Lacey will be there. Give him another 2 seasons of development, creating a solid, unbreakable player giving him a long and largely injury free career.
    I agree with you, he is a good prospect, and he is from Durban...must be good guy!

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  2. #17
    Immortal GIGS20's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by westies man View Post
    Ok I'm all for looking outside the square but after watching the clip it is only the Japanese league and the opposition defensive technique was bloody woeful.
    I get where you're going, but it's pretty much a free contract. Limited to a Japanese player, and we're in need of an outside back. If the clips are consistent with his routine playing style (ie not covering up massive issues) then I'd say we've got one of the better ones out of that pool. He might not be a genuine s15 starter, but he doesn't cost anybody a spot, so no harm, no foul
    Quote Originally Posted by westies man View Post
    I would be more in favour of whacking in a guy like Brad Lacey.
    I thought Brad had a contract, am I wrong?

    If he is in the playing group, he has just as much chance as Yamada to press a claim for game time....that will happen at training, where they will be compared to known quantities.

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  3. #18
    Veteran chibi's Avatar
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    If Akihito AND the Force are a further success, I wonder what sort of sponsorship money could be garnered? It's interesting to note that Emirates are actually sponsoring the Lions now; a team who have arguably been more of a calamity than us.

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    Japan and the Pacific Islands for Aussie Super 9's!

    Let's have one of these in WA! Click this link: Saitama Super Arena - New Perth Stadium?

  4. #19
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    Quote Originally Posted by chibi View Post
    If Akihito AND the Force are a further success, I wonder what sort of sponsorship money could be garnered? It's interesting to note that Emirates are actually sponsoring the Lions now; a team who have arguably been more of a calamity than us.
    Good comment Chibi, I was about to post something about the amount of Merch that would be sold in Japan, but then remembered that we'd be competing with the other Aussie provinces for that market, not to mention the fact that they already know that a Japanese team is entering the competition soon.

    Now I'm no expert on Japanese culture, but I think they might be a pretty parochial bunch and unlikely to sign up with a foreign mob if a local mob is just around the corner.

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  5. #20
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    It really just depends. You'll find that if he's successful, they'll support him. They did the same thing with Ichiro Suzuki and Hideki Matsui. Also, being one of their players, the Panasonic fans could jump on board straight away as the Force adopted the same colour scheme, they might see the Force as having a "sister-club" relationship. While the Force may have a slightly "hokey" branding for the Australian market, it conversely fits well with the Japanese one.

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    Last edited by chibi; 21-12-14 at 01:09.


    Japan and the Pacific Islands for Aussie Super 9's!

    Let's have one of these in WA! Click this link: Saitama Super Arena - New Perth Stadium?

  6. #21
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    But Honeybadger didn't go to Panasonic, would that be an issue?

    I've always thought of the Japanese as a loyal, team based culture, wouldn't the club-swapping atmosphere of Ausie rugby be seen as mercenary by their standards?

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  7. #22
    Veteran chibi's Avatar
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    Oh sorry, what I meant was, that Yamada came from Panasonic.

    That's an interesting point you raised about the club-swapping atmosphere of Aussie rugby. Yeah, they are loyal to a certain degree, but in sport I've noticed that that loyalty is a lot greater when relating to university rugby or the all-encompassing supra-regional nature of Nippon Pro-Baseball. It seems when it comes to pro-teams who can transfer players every year, they prefer the J-League soccer geographic model (clubs based on places), rather than company-based model. The companies used to be viewed as something akin to a zaibatsu, that is, they were like samurai houses who hired for life; since the economic bubble burst, companies started to downsize, this was a major jolt to Japanese community culture, something that had never happened before. People started to realise that "the company" wasn't an integral part of a person's identity anymore. The company's "amateur" rugby teams were once viewed as representative of a loyal company and their loyal community. That's changed now, and with players being transferred left, right and centre, plus new superstar overseas imports being involved every season, the cultural identity of company rugby, based on lifetime loyalty, took a big hit. Add to that, the company clubs didn't have a definite geographical base or even a definite home ground as part of their identities either; fans lost interest, and started turning back to university rugby and J-League soccer. (Your old alma mater or your hometown being an inalienable part of your identity) A good example was the Kobe Steel team. For a while they were Kobe Seiko, so where's the company identity there? Plus, people couldn't identify if they were a Kobe team or an Osaka team, which compounded the issue further.

    I suppose it all depends on how well Yamada does when he's here. One thing we have in our favour is that we have some geography in the team name and from most of the Japanese I met, they equate Perth with Monkey Mia. So it might be a good promotional exercise to do some media with Akihito and his new team-mates, maybe someone unique-looking like Sam Wykes and his guitar, going up there and messing around with the dolphins and so on. They could tie it in with the Honey-Badger talking about his old team, making an in-joke about how the countries are doing a "wingers-exchange" programme or something like that. Flash some team merchandise in the feature, etc. We do have a logo and branding which would work well in the Japanese market.


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    Japan and the Pacific Islands for Aussie Super 9's!

    Let's have one of these in WA! Click this link: Saitama Super Arena - New Perth Stadium?

  8. #23
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    That's a really in-depth answer child, thanks.

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