Bill Mara has been working with the Cannibal cycle clothing company on the design of a new club strip. Thanks to Bill’s efforts we now have a couple of alternatives, as shown in this image:
The kit includes a short sleeve jersey and bib style knicks, for a total cost of $200. Information on sizing etc is available on the Cannibal web site.
To move on this we need to have a minimum of 25 orders, and from numbers that Billy and Nick collected last weekend that we will easily meet this. Since a large number of people would like to do this, it seems we have a strong vote in favour.
These strips both look good, and if more people are happy to wear them then that is a good thing in my opinion.
However, there are a couple of potential drawbacks, namely that we need to order a minimum of 25 at a time, and also that juniors may be at a disadvantage. We probably can’t do much about the first, but we may be able to help out with the second with a partial subsidy from the club for example.
I would like to have a meeting next week at which we can discuss this more (this will not be the only item on the agenda though – we have a few issues which need attention at the moment).
In the meantime, please feel free to comment on this matter.
Andrew Swan
I think that the Club is obviously ready for a new race uniform if at least 25 members are willing to vote with their $200.
But – and there is always a but. It has to be done with a lot of thought, because changing a Club race uniform is not as easy as getting enough people who don’t like the current shirts to throw in $200 and change outfits. If it was that easy, then what would stop the next group of new members that don’t like the proposed new outfit banding together and raising enough money to change it yet again.
While I probably do have a few issues, I think that my only real issue is continuous and easy availability of the new race uniform, as we currently have with the existing shirts. The new race uniforms will wear out, the kids will grow out of them, new members will require them and nicks can quite often wear out quicker than tops. If it becomes easier and cheaper for members to buy a white shirt and black nicks to race in State events, that is what will happen and the idea of having a good Club race uniform will fall by the wayside in a few years. Remembering the Federation allows a two-year phase-in for new race uniforms so we need to make allowance for those that have just purchased the current outfits and do not wish to outlay for a new uniform at the moment. Provision would need to make for them to purchase the new race uniform later. While I believe there is provision to purchase the new outfits individually, it would be at a 25% higher cost plus delivery.
The majority of these problems could be solved by the Club becoming a retailer. However personally I would be very much against this, as over the years the Club does not have a good record of keeping control of what we own now, let alone keeping up a supply of clothing at $5,000 a lot.
Unfortunately with Clubs a bad decision made today, usually has to be sorted out in a year or two by someone else. This is an important decision which must be carefully considered, as the impact is for many years to come. Some believe the current outfit has served its time, but the way it was set up 10 years ago has been hassle-free.