Hawthorn’s push to be fun and exciting to watch on the field is delivering huge dividends off the field as membership and merchandise sales reach record levels.
The AFL made Hawthorn the Night Hawks when it released the fixture last week, giving them nine night and two twilight matches in their first tranche of 14 games, recognising the appeal of the resurgent team.
Jack Ginnivan, Nick Watson and Connor Macdonald encapsulate the spirit of Hawthorn’s form surge in 2024.Credit: AFL Photos via Getty Images
Social media platform TikTok ran a competition from April to November getting AFL clubs to post content. Hawthorn finished first with 85 million video views from 82,000 unique users. Collingwood were second with 56 million from 44,000 users.
The club’s guernsey sales were up 25 per cent on the year before, with the most popular guernsey numbers belonging to members of the precocious “rascal pack” – Nick Watson, Jack Ginnivan, Connor MacDonald and Will Day – while Mabior Chol’s No.18 was also a good seller. Ginnivan badges outsold all other players.
Football’s financial year has only just started (November 1), but the club is already up 75 per cent in apparel sales year-on-year. From an era where their players were almost anonymous and had little cut-through outside their own fan base, Hawthorn and their young players have now achieved league-wide recognition.
The club’s membership is already 7000 ahead of this time last year when the Hawks were a lowly team and only their most optimistic fans envisaged they were poised to return to the finals. But last year also ended up being a record membership year of 82,823, a number the club expects to easily surpass this year.
Now there is a waiting list for the premium membership that guarantees grand final access. In some categories of membership the Hawks are up 50 per cent on last year.
Next year is the 100th anniversary of Hawthorn’s entry into the VFL/AFL, a milestone they will mark in round eight against Richmond, a nod to the fact their first VFL game was against Richmond at Glenferrie Oval in front of a crowd of 20,000.
Starting the season with five straight losses limited the financial gains the Hawks were able to make in 2024, but they now expect to surpass last year’s million-dollar profit.
The Hawks will move out of Waverley and into the new Kennedy Centre facility at Dingley midway through next year.
Veteran Luke Breust is one of just four Hawks players aged over 30. Credit: AFL Photos via Getty Images
“We were seen as an older demographic, but the take-up in the last year has particularly been younger. The fans at games are younger because they are energised by the team, and seeing it as fun,” Hawthorn chief executive Ash Klein said
“We are creating fun out there on the field, and that has been really important for us connecting with our fans. Yes, the winning is important but the way we were doing it was fun and connecting with people.
“For us, it was always going to be about growth through youth and through development, and we were determined to try and take the fans through that journey with us on the field and off the field.
“The playing list is still young, we only have four players over 30 (Jack Gunston, Luke Breust, James Sicily and Sam Frost).
“A massive focus for us was on our members. We wanted to open up the club, but it was also about what we wanted to stand for on the field, and both teams (AFL and AFLW) play attacking footy that we hope is good to watch and fun to watch.”
That style of football drew its own name, “Hokball”, a play on Hawkball, a name that became as popular with Hawks fans as the game style.
It also prompted Ginnivan and Watson to produce their own merchandise through the finals, selling apparel with “Hok” printed on it, a move that prompted questions over whether they breached AFL licensing. The website selling the shirts and hoodies has since closed.
The club, which has endured a troubling period with the legal action from Indigenous former players, has tried harder to reconnect with its past players. Lance Franklin returned to the club this year, Jarryd Roughead is now in list management after working at St Kilda, while premiership defender Andy Collins is one of the assistant coaches.
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