"The Loovers."Four Americans vacationing in Australia have been signed up as instant life members of the Richmond Football Club. The recruitment, labelled by industry insiders as a “marketing miracle”, now guarantees the self confessed ice hockey ‘nuts’ ties at Tigerland for the rest of their remaining days on earth.
Merchandise was also given to the quartet for a photo opportunity but was later returned in a series of unconventional marketing ploys the Tigers were looking to invest in next year. The plan, which has snowballed after the tourists had a chance meeting with a stranger baring gifts, is to attract supporters, sponsors and eventually players.
Henry Loover, a resident of Buffalo, NY, told I-Footy of how he was approached late Thursday night in a convenience store where he was shopping for snacks with his wife Marcia. It is believed a stranger offered the Loovers four lifetime memberships at Punt Road in exchange for a frozen chicken roll.
“It hadn’t even been zapped in the microwave” Loover said. “We were still jet-lagged at the time. It all happened so fast.”
The stranger was later identified as Richmond assistant coach Brian Royal. Royal, who had been missing since Richmond’s loss to North Melbourne four days prior to the meeting, has refused to comment to the media about the incident.
“He looked like he hadn’t slept all week” Brian Hoover, 57, recalled. “He didn’t smell real great either.”
The news compelled Richmond coach, Terry Wallace to immediately contact the club's marketing department. Despite the inherent financial discrepancy of the exchange Wallace quickly seized the opportunity to turn it into a positive for the club believing it has paved the way to employ virile marketing now as a legitimate tool to attract supporters.
“We cracked the 30,000 mark for members” Wallace said. “It’s our best year ever.”
The Tigers who have a win and a draw in the bank balance after fourteen rounds this year has seen a recent drop in crowd attendances in spite of their growing membership base. The falling numbers are significant for the club which is known as one of the 'big four' in Victoria but has struggled for over a quarter century. Richmond currently sits in 16th position on the AFL ladder two games behind nearest team Melbourne. There are 16 teams in the league.
The tourists who hope to enjoy some fly-fishing in Australia weren’t certain they would attend Richmond’s clash on the weekend.
“It will depend on whether we can score any weed” Marcia Loover said. “We’re not in town long and there’s so much fishing to do in the rain.”
The Americans who are here with another couple from Ottawa are devout ice hockey fans. Although neither of the Loovers, who have been married 18 months, were prepared to discuss the matter.
Loover, who owns a successful chain of imported furniture stores in the United States, said he had first become aware of Australian Rules while traveling overseas on business during the late ‘80s.
“In some sections of London that’s all they talk about” he said. Loover added, “Seriously that’s all they talk about.”
His recollections of the games he saw on TV are fond if somewhat vague.
“The only thing I can recall is when some Irish clown ran over the mark to make his team miss a grand final” he said. “The name Gary Buckenara still cracks me up to this day.”
Loover admitted to not having seen Richmond’s proposed centreline for the weekend.
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