Today may officially be May the 4th, the sci-fi themed celebration of all things Star Wars, but the Australian Football League has been engaged in festivities since Friday. Perhaps the most humorous aside to come out of it all is the story of fresh Bulldogs recruit “S. Trooper”, whose kicking action must be Force-enhanced, despite being a lowly foot solider in the Empire’s army.
This post was originally published on Gizmodo Australia.
Unfortunately, the AFL doesn’t seem to have mastered the arcane art of embedded video, so you’ll have to hit up the Bulldogs’ site directly to see it.
I’m sure having a storm trooper out on the field is good for morale (?), but taking Griffen out of the side? That’s a bit stiff.
The AFL, obviously not wanting to miss an merchandising opportunity, has also sorted out two Star Wars-flavoured guernseys for each club — one featuring a pill-holding storm trooper with the club’s name followed by the word “Empire” ($40); and a “youth” shirt with a bunch of celebrating storm troopers in the side’s colours ($35).
Examples of each from the Essendon Bombers and Geelong Cats, respectively:
I actually like the look of the first shirt, which goes particularly well with the Bombers’ red and black colours.
Stormtrooper invades the kennel [Western Bulldogs / AFL Shop]
Comments
5 responses to “The AFL Is Drafting Force-Wielding Stormtroopers”
Unfortunately, the AFL does seem to have mastered the arcane art of shameless merchandising.
Meh, I’m okay with that. Better than the slight variations in tshirt design from season to season.
I don’t know if having a Stormtrooper on your side is the best idea. Their disposal efficiency must be close to 0%.
Considering the empire always loses, great job!
They had to have won sometime to become the Empire, no?
Not a real Stormtrooper- threaded the goal posts every time! Now Travis Cloke, he’s a Stormtrooper…