HOKBALL. It became the buzzword of the 2024 AFL season. It meant both everything and nothing at the same time. It became a craze, an intangible force behind Hawthorn’s wildest of rides up the AFL ladder.
But what began as a bunch of Gen Z-ers celebrating all things brown and gold became grey behind the scenes as commercial lawyers sought answers on who had legal rights to access the potentially lucrative dollars attached to Hokball and all its spinoffs.
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Cult players Jack Ginnivan and Nick Watson wanted, and initially got, some of that money through a privately run online business selling t-shirts and hoodies.
Their side hustle, though, caused angst for their club, the AFL and the AFLPA, and in late August and early September a frenzy of questions was asked of the players and their representatives, as lawyers and executives sought to protect the AFL industry’s merchandise/licensing deals.
It wasn’t Ginnivan’s first rodeo into the confusing licensing landscape of the AFL. After playing for Collingwood in its 2023 premiership win, he, along with Bobby Hill, found himself involved in promoting the sale of products deemed outside the AFL boundary.
On both occasions, he escaped sanction. The Hok merchandise episode was officially written off by those who investigated it as a “mistake” and a “lack of understanding” of the AFL industry’s merchandise licensing system.
Ginnivan is certainly not on his own when it comes to AFL players being approached by unauthorised groups seeking to make dollars off AFL names, images and likenesses. Brisbane premiership player Cam Rayner has in recent days received similar querying from the AFL and the AFLPA over products being marketed to celebrate the Lions’ 2024 flag.
Off-field, Ginnivan is the most US-style of athlete the AFL has seen. I love it. He is entrepreneurially wired and business savvy. He uses social media in that “I simply don’t care” way. He knows the value of his own brand and would like to be able to use it in ways the AFL system doesn’t allow.
In agreeing to play in the AFL, players effectively hand over their name and image to the AFLPA, which effectively bundles up all listed players into the one merchandise licensing deal. The licences themselves are procured and run by the AFL. In turn, those companies which are granted the officially sanctioned licences have control over club colours and players’ images.
The players collectively receive a minimum $3 million a year from the AFL under this arrangement, on an “as used” arrangement, meaning the bulk of dollars goes to those with the highest of marketing profiles.
A major problem in this AFL-AFLPA deal are the innumerable unauthorised companies seeking to sell AFL and AFL player-related merchandise. Players, sometimes without realising it, are being exploited in these arrangements, which ultimately dilute and cannibalise the market.
As part of the behind-scenes manoeuvrings in late August and September, the Hawthorn Football Club moved to trademark the phrase 'Hok Ball' via IP Australia.
All products being offered in the Ginnivan-Watson Hok catalogue quickly "sold out". This duo, Ginni and Wizard, in 2024 helped make brown and gold sexy. With big business, everyone wants a piece of it. As always, follow the money.