In 1975 Australia experienced a political storm the likes of which it had never seen. The then Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam, was sacked like an underperforming football manager by the Governor-General, John Kerr. Until this point the position of Governor General was commonly thought of simply as a ceremonial position - a nod to history and the existence of the Commonwealth, someone without any true power. As Whitlam was fated to find out, that was not the case. The reaction of Whitlam, the governing Labor party, and a good portion of Australia's populace was one of incredulous anger. The dismissed Prime Minister's famous speech on the steps of parliament - "We may well say 'God save the Queen'... Because nothing will save the Governor-General!" is replayed to this day. It also provided the lead in to Labor's campaign slogan for the newly announced election. That slogan? Maintain The Rage.

History shows that Australia didn't maintain the rage - the Liberal party swept to power, and Whitlam was never returned to office - but nevertheless, this is exactly the campaign that Perth Glory's marketing department should look to following the announcement of the fixtures for the new A-League season. A dream round one match up sees Glory with the ultimate grudge match; Brisbane Roar visiting the West Australian side at Subiaco Oval in Perth. Not only will the unusual stadium choice add a novelty factor (nib stadium is undergoing a facelift that will see capacity reduced to 9000 this season) but bringing Glory's grand final conquerors to town provides ample opportunity for a huge buzz to be built up in Perth in the lead up to the game. The manner of Perth's loss still angers Glory supporters, and even AFL and rugby fans have vented their fury at how their hometown side was 'cheated' on that night at Suncorp Stadium. In fact, the only thing that would make this game even better would be the presence of Grand Final referee Jarred Gillett. Surely the FFA would be remiss to not have their best referee at such a high-profile fixture?

Whether Gillett makes an appearance or not, Glory's work to promote the match must start now. Already there have been reminders of the grand final pushed out through the club's various social media channels - but now they need to start thinking about how they'll grip the wider public's attention closer to the date. There are a few ways they could do this; some of which I will outline here.

Painful Reminders
To remind people of just how hard that loss was to take, put together a TV advert showing the dying moments of the grand final. Once you've got the audience captured, have the voiceover (or even better, one of the players) urge fans to come along and see Perth turn the tables on Brisbane. Finish with images of Subiaco Oval how it once was - packed to the brim for Glory's NSL finals. The reason for doing this is twofold - first, you want to attract people to the game for the budding rivalry between the two teams, and the atmosphere that a big game offers. Secondly - and just as important - you want to make Subiaco look good because it is a simply awful place to watch sports played on a rectangular field. It doesn't matter if it's the Wallabies or the A-League, you can't get much worse when it comes to viewing angles and containing atmosphere (NSL finals excluded). So Glory really need to go all out to ensure that as many people as possible are encouraged to come along to the home of AFL in WA.

Mass Market
To achieve this aim, Glory need to get this message to as many people as possible. The only way to do that in my mind is to aim for free to air television. Foxtel simply doesn't cut it - the people who watch Fox already know that Glory and the A-League exist. It's the people that watch Channel Seven, eager to learn their next bit of information about Ben Cousins and why he is still a hero, who need to be reminded about why they should go and watch the A-League season opener in their home state. Now, the club has protested in the past about just how expensive free to air advertising is - and that is very true. However, given how important it will be to pack Subi with as many people as possible, both to kickstart Glory's season and avoid a GCU-like atmosphere, surely it warrants splashing the cash. 

Relax A Little
If Glory are to achieve their aim of cramming people into Subiaco for a much-hyped clash with the reigning champs, then you would think that their passionate supporter base would have a part to play. Given the nature of the grand final loss, this game will stir emotions like few others for Perth's active support, and may encourage the creation of banners, flags, and pullovers for this rematch alone. Therefore the club needs to ensure that they don't come across as the much feared ‘fun police’ when it comes to judging fan made banners. In the past, Glory have refused to give approval to allow certain banners through the gates of nib stadium, citing a willingness to uphold a family friendly image. One of those items not allowed in? A purple flag with a skull and crossbones - if memory serves me right, apparently it evoked connotations of death which didn't suit the family friendly nature of Glory games. Now given that Subiaco is already an inferior place to watch football compared to nib, it is important that Glory don't do anything else to discourage passionate fans from attending - barriers to entry and all that. So while I'm not advocating that the administration let in pullovers that read 'LYNCH BERISHA', I would suggest that not going gung-ho on the PC side of things first round of the season would be a good idea. A tap on the shoulder from an overzealous FFA, or one or two ‘I was so disappointed to see…’ emails is vastly preferable to getting your core fans offside before a ball is kicked in a new season.

Think Outside The Box
The best chants, banners and tifo displays aren't the ones that curse and swear every second word, or the ones that promise to kill you - in my mind at least, the best shows of support apart from sheer weight of numbers are the ones that are clever, and make you think or laugh. Personal favourites are those Mario tifo from the MLS, or the bus of Aston Villa fans who turned up to City of Manchester stadium dressed as smurfs when I watched my first ever EPL game. The Glory fanbase should be able to come up with something witty easily enough - but perhaps the marketing department can provide a few ideas. The most obvious idea that occurs to me is to play on Besart Berisha's fall in the penalty box that won Brisbane their grand final in normal time. A poster, internet video or TV advertisement along the lines of "People are falling over themselves to watch Perth Glory" should do the trick. Those more clever with Photoshop than I should be able to come up with something suitable; perhaps a video parody of the Olympics, with the Albanian diving team and the German gymnast who just keeps falling off that pesky bar.

Those same people might also like the next idea - imply that Brisbane is a team of cheats and divers, and that the honest and hard-working Glory are out to teach them a lesson. Now while there are one or two Brisbane players who go down with the ease of - well, you know what - even I can see that Berisha didn't dive so much as take an air swing on that fateful night. But why let the truth get in the way of a good marketing campaign? The A-League never has, after all. So go nuts - mock Berisha and Broich in advertisements, have club sources make suggestive remarks about their questionable practices, hell - hand out free snorkels and goggles at the gates of Subiaco Oval (or at the very least, supply a downloadable PDF mask of one). Do whatever it takes to create the impression that they are a bunch of dirty, stinking, no-good cheats that your Perth is going to take to task. Because that's the problem with stock standard advertising - saying "I'm Robbie Fowler, come watch the Glory" is all well and good, but you're not really selling why you should be watching. When Fowler leaves, or gets injured, why should I still keep attending? Well, because we're taking on Cheating Kittens FC, that's why! By jove, we're going to show those dirty council workers a thing or two! Well - there's less jingoism involved, but I trust you know what I mean.

It's these sorts of clashes - ones with genuine taste, a real reason for happening, games with passion that is felt by both players and fans alike - that the A-League and its marketing campaigns can be built on. You won't get more people to a Perth-Wellington match just because the FFA declares it's rivalry round; but you might if Perth Glory say entry is free to anyone who comes dressed as a sheep (at the very least, you'll create publicity). And you will get more people to Perth v Brisbane if you remind the general public just why we hate the opposition that bit more than we do Melbourne Heart or Newcastle. If it is successful, Perth turns out in force, perhaps display some banners or stunts that mock the Brisbane players and populace in general, it then annoys Brisbane's own supporters. "Those Perth dogs", they'll say. "Look at them with their Scottish players and their Scottish coach and their brand of football where they occasionally hit a long diagonal ball which results in a goal. They're primitives! We, Brisbane, Barcelona of Asia, we'll show them!". Again, less jingo-ism, but the point is you start something. You get a real rivalry happening; and those are the ones which do your marketing for you. Do you honestly think the Western Derby in the AFL needs to be advertised? Of course not. It's a guaranteed sell-out. Entire loungerooms are booked across the state to ensure that their team beats the noisy neighbours across the road. Passion breeds its own PR - it just needs a spark to light the fire.

Perth Glory – Brisbane Roar can be one such fire. After the events of last year, everything is set up to create perhaps Perth’s first genuine rivalry in the A-League. It is something the club desperately needs, especially in the years ahead when they don’t make the grand final. So it is up to the club to spend a little bit of cash and exercise the mental muscle required to come up with a good campaign that gets the fire burning, and doesn’t leave it to fizzle out into a non-event. A decent attendance at Subiaco, with a performance to match, could lead to a series of sellouts at nib stadium while construction is undertaken. A lockout at nib? Something that would have seemed ridiculous to suggest a few seasons ago. So hopefully the marketing department can get their message right, and the club can achieve what Whitlam’s Labor couldn’t back in 1975.

Maintain the rage, Perth Glory. Maintain the rage.