News "Get In On It"? The AFL's new promo video celebrating 160 years of Aussie Rules Footy just happens to get their own logo wrong

[Gibbsy]

Just saw this cop a fairly low-profile release on Facebook about an hour or so ago. I'm not sure if it exists anywhere else yet. That said, I quite like it as a 60-second primer for people who aren't really into footy, and I think fans of every team can probably be satisfied that they are in there somewhere.



But because this is FJGD, let's look at it from a graphic design perspective, as there are a few curios. These logos that flash up for only one frame each (seriously, I had to download a frame-by-frame video player) are interesting.

National Football League of Australia (1960s, maybe?)



I'm impressed they managed to include this. It's probably a quick and easy acknowledgement that football existed outside Victoria before the AFL, even if it is just one frame in a video supposed to represent 160 years of history.

The NFL logo looked like so in the late 1970s:



I'm sure there was a 'map of Australia' variant at some stage too, perhaps in the 1960s as I have suggested. I'm sure League Tees got their design from somewhere:




Victorian Football League (1972–1975)



I haven't seen this logo in such high quality before. Looks nice.


Victorian Football League (1976–1989)



We all know and love this logo. I maintain that the digital variant we see above and elsewhere online is slightly different to how it appeared on jumpers (thicker V, less gap between said V and the football, just a bit 'tighter' overall). But I digress.






Australian Football League (1990–1999)



A low-res stinker of a logo. Very odd that the production company didn't have anything of better quality on hand. Yet that still isn't the craziest thing in this opening sequence...


Australian Football League (c. late 1999–2001-ish)



They decided to use the metallic version of the AFL logo that hasn't been seen in anything official for a good 20+ years!! And this is the hold frame that stays up for multiple seconds!

It has genuinely astounded me that no one has noticed this glaring error considering it is an advertisement for the AFL. This variant used above is the original designwith the dark red striping, gradient running through the middle of the blue, and a silver inner ring. It can be seen on a bunch of stuff around the turn of the century and I believe is still used on the 3D outside signage of AFL House today. But otherwise, it has been nowhere to be found since about 2001!

Am I being too pedantic or is this a fairly egregious error?

 

[Gibbsy]

Anyway, that's not all. And I should add that my highlighted 'complaints' are really only things that us nerds here would recognise. But what else is this board for?



I'm still a bit confused as to why they are pushing the "160 years" point so much. Nothing of note began in 1865, footy-wise. The league celebrated 150 years of Australian Football in 1858. I guess "167 years" doesn't really roll off the tongue as much.



But if this fictional newspaper is dated September 27, 1970 (the day after the 1970 Grand Final) with a write-up on said match and a photo of Jezza's mark... then how is it celebrating "160 years of the good stuff"? That would make Australian Football as old as 1810. The little subtext also seems to be written from the present day, mentioning the AFL and such.

Harmless but stupid. I admit that the Gippsland Big Cat is a cool little non-footy inclusion on the front page, although I would have stumped for the much more famous Otway Panther instead.

 

[Gibbsy]

Credit where it's due – this frame is wonderful. Leaning into the meme while creating a faithful representation of the on-screen graphics used in the early 1990s.





I love the illustration work here, but I have no idea what the source is for the 'instructional' type video in the background. Maybe it was just mocked up for this ad?

 

[Andonis1997]

Australian Football League (c. late 1999–2001-ish)

Regarding this one, I'm not sure if the logos have been updated at all, but from the AFL 1999 brand guidelines in this Google listing:

It's still an official logo... Maybe just phased out?

 

[hazzzzaaaa]

I would assume it's intentional. Maybe trying to keep it rooted in history. because at the end its the contemporary logo. maybe something to do with brand gidelines because its being used over something thats not just a plain color?

 

[Gibbsy]

I would assume it's intentional. Maybe trying to keep it rooted in history. because at the end its the contemporary logo. maybe something to do with brand gidelines because its being used over something thats not just a plain color?

Welcome!

I mean maybe, but also those brand guidelines being shared are from 1999. I don't think the 3-colour logo has been used in an official capacity for decades. I'm probably too over the top about it all but yeah, just strange

 

[errant bounce]

Brand and style guides are dying out, half the time people have nfi what you're referring to and the other half they clearly just make it up as they go along. I genuinely blame the canva-ication of design and everybody having 'marketing' in their title now for it. and lots of people don't have any pride in their work or don't have the time to be particular.

A majority of the people responsible for that ad probably weren't even born when the current AFL logo was first released.