In the midst of a governance crisis, Football Federation Australia has announced it has teamed up with Walt Disney for a Star Wars round, to kick off on 8 December. The round is timed to lead into the release of Star Wars: the Last Jedi in cinemas in Australia on 14 December.
According to the FFA, the round will include “character appearances, big screen content, themed activities and giveaways”. The unlikely bedfellows have also worked together to produce a co-branded video which draws on themes of light and dark, good and evil by interspersing footage from this football season with the new film.
A limited edition supporter ball in the form of the droid character BB-8 will also be available for purchase, while Western Sydney Wanderers and Melbourne City will suffer the indignity of having a range of club-specific, co-branded merchandise for sale.
A-League teams leapt on the concept with as much enthusiasm as they could muster.
A new force awakens! Choose your path as Star Wars & the @ALeague team up in round 10: https://t.co/vsBQlFakXs#BRIvWEL tickets: https://t.co/uT8WfYTQBX pic.twitter.com/UAlvU9PoI3
— Brisbane Roar (@brisbaneroar) November 28, 2017
Connecting the A-League to Star Wars might seem like a stretch, but chief executive David Gallop did his best to bridge the gap.
“Star Wars is one of the world’s most powerful brands and football is the world’s biggest sport,” Gallop said in a statement. “Like football, Star Wars has super fans that span the globe [and] it’s a hugely successful franchise.”
Kylie Watson-Wheeler, the managing director of the Walt Disney Company in Australia and New Zealand, said the round had been conceived because “competitive sport can produce some of the most enthralling storylines, much like the acclaimed suite of Star Wars films”.
Gallop said the round was a way to “engage with new audiences and expand the football family” – perhaps hinting that while football worldwide might have the audience of the Star Wars franchise, the A-League does not.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the announcement appeared to alienate members of the existing A-League family, with many ridiculing the concept on social media.
Goalkeepers should be forced to dress as Chewbacca and any one under 175cm should be an ewok for #StarwarsRound
— Rob (@RobskiNew) November 28, 2017
VAR VAR Binks #starwarsround https://t.co/OQGcJ0SsFa
— Clint Bolton (@bootsa22) November 28, 2017
So with more Star Wars films on the horizon, and possibilities with MCU tie-ins, Maybe Disney sponsor the whole league? Then it would actually be a Mickey Mouse league. pic.twitter.com/KFBsUlZ133
— Chris McDonald (@ChrisRMcDonald) November 28, 2017
This isn’t the first time Australian sport has turned to blockbuster American franchises to sell their product (or merchandise), with the NRL this year having run a third version of its ISC Marvel Heroes round. This iteration also featured a promotional video targeted at children, with nine clubs suiting up in superhero-themed jerseys.
