Rebel Sports

[KalgoorlieRed]

Over the weekend I was down in Perth from Kal on a business trip and as part of the bit of spare time I had, I thought I'd stop and find what NRL are for sale in RS at Midland first, then the Carousel!

Neither had any in! They had rows of AFL, rah rah (and big promotions of the Wannabies jersey which I wiped my nose on) and soccer, but no RL jersey, not even SOO in sight, yet they are a major sponsor on the NRL!

I even asked a staff member at their Caraousel store on Saturday, the response was " we can't sell them", yet they had all these bl**dy union ones, even NZ Super 14 sides!
WTF is going on?

Anyway I emailed RS last night about my disgust and got this response (my email is below the reply).

Dear Lee,

Thank you for your email. I am sorry to hear that you were unsatisfied with your visit to our Carousel and Midland stores. It is never our intention to inconvenience any of our customers.

Unfortunately the commercial reality of the situation is such that we can not afford to carry Rugby League jerseys in our WA stores. Although we tried it last year the market did not respond to a level which would justify us maintaining a presence for NRL product in WA based stores on an ongoing basis. The sad fact is we can sell 10x more product out of an extra rack of West Coast Eagles or Freo product, and at the end of the day we are running a business and must maximise the turnover from our available floor space. As you know Perth has no NRL team but does have a strong Rugby Union following (many South Africans are based there too) hence our strong offer for S14 and the Wallabies but not League.

We do however offer a "jersey guarantee" that if we do not have the jersey you want in stock, we will get it in for you within the week. You can also get our full range of NRL jerseys and a selection of other NRL product available for purchase online at our website: www.rebelsport.com.au For the month of June we are also giving away free shipping on all licensed jersey orders (we will likely do this again in the future if you miss out today).

Rebel Sport continues to support the game of Rugby League at all levels and we are still the NRL's official retail partner, however I can not pretend that the stock situation in WA stores will change until there is either an NRL team placed in the WA region, or we see a significant uplift in the demand for NRL product in general from our WA store base. At the end of the day we aren't silly, and will always aim to stock the products we receive the most demand for in our stores.

I hope I have answered your queries satisfactorily, however if there is anything else I can do to help please don't hesitate to contact me directly.

Regards,

Callum Wright
Product Manager - Licensed
Ph: (02) 8866-6504
Fax: (02) 8866 6685
Mob: 0414 888 203
Email: callumwright@rebelsport.com.au

Mailing Address
PO Box 286
Regents Park NSW 2143

Rebel Sport Limited
Unit A, 75 Carnarvon Street,
Silverwater, NSW, 2128.
Phone: (02) 8866 6500
Fax: (02) 8866 6685

------------------------------------------

Dear Sir/Madam,

I wish to register a complaint and express my disappointment regarding two of your Perth stores.

I travelled from my home in Kalgoorlie, 600kms to Perth this weekend, and part of the trip was to purchase NRL jerseys from the stores I am familiar with, which is Carousel, Cannington and the store at Midland.

I walked around the entire store more than once in hope to find at least one rugby league/NRL jersey and I did not see a thing!

Last year there was a huge selection of jerseys when I purchased them then.

I approached one of the staff to ask, why no NRL jersey yet heaps of rugby union jerseys (Wallabies, Western Force, even NZ Super 14 teams!) and he responded "we can't sell them" (which is no wonder when the catalogue and adverts in the press are promoting the Wallabies union jersey!) There was yet not a zilch of the nations second biggest sport, yet you sponsor the NRL and Wests Magpies!

Can somebody explain please why this and how I wasted my time and expense in travelling to the stores in vain? Sorry but ii is very poor considering you are normally very pro-RL! I have also Cc'd in the respective governing bodies of RL so they can see the situation maybe disscuss with the relevant parties who sponsor the game.

Regards,

Lee ______

Any thoughts?

I know Rugby Scene sells them, but I couldn't get into the city because I was driving my truck and didnt have the time, but sure a major and national retailer cannot sell any merchandise of the nations 2nd biggest sport stinks!

I also sent this response to Geoff Baldwin at the WARL.

This is the typical kind of b/s we are up against!

 

[Lockyer4President!]

Pretty piss poor effort from Rebel Sport.

They can stock NZ S14 jerseys because there a lot of South Africans over there (??) but they can't stock Origin, Kangaroos or NRL jerseys even with the numbers of Queenslanders and New South Welshmen who've moved over there?

 

[Avenger]

In relation to RL, WA sucks major arse. That is one of the reasons I cannot wait to leave here.

 

[Perth Red]

Fair reply really. They tried and there isn't enough interest. At least they tried (and I do remember seeing some NRL gear last year). At the end of the day RL has virtually zero profile in WA, that's not Rebel sports fault, it's the NRL's! Having said that I was in Sydney recently and could only find one sports shop in the whole city centre that had NRL gear in it, a pi55 poor profile isn't just a WA problem!

Stores will only stock what they think they will sell. As they said if the NRl ever gets its thumb out of its backside and gets a team here then things will change, until then it is the city store or Canterbury sports which often have SOO and Melbourne gear in.

 

[b0rt]

Fair reply really. They tried and there isn't enough interest. At least they tried (and I do remember seeing some NRL gear last year). At the end of the day RL has virtually zero profile in WA, that's not Rebel sports fault, it's the NRL's! Having said that I was in Sydney recently and could only find one sports shop in the whole city centre that had NRL gear in it, a pi55 poor profile isn't just a WA problem!

Stores will only stock what they think they will sell. As they said if the NRl ever gets its thumb out of its backside and gets a team here then things will change, until then it is the city store or Canterbury sports which often have SOO and Melbourne gear in.

i was in Sydney last year and i saw heaps of NRL gear

 

[KalgoorlieRed]

I've asked Geoff Baldwin to send it on to Gallop!

 

[Nuke]

The Rebel Sport store at Galleria sells a few NRL jerseys and footies. I bought an Australian jersey from them in late 2006 or early 2007.

There's also a store in the Centro Warwick shopping centre (I forget it's name ... Balls and something-or-other) that sells NRL gear too. It's next to the pet shop just opposite the food hall.

 

[b0rt]

Balls and Bumpers or something
i didnt know that sells NRL gear, might have to venture in for a look
i did recently see coles selling NRL shopping bags

 

[NthKnight]

I was in Sydney recently and could only find one sports shop in the whole city centre that had NRL gear in it

What the?! I could name at least 3 shops in the Pitt St mall area alone that have NRL gear. How hard did you look?

 

[KalgoorlieRed]

The response from the manager at the Carousel store:

Dear Mr....

My name is Matthew Millhouse , I am the store manager of the Carousel Rebel . I am very sorry to hear of your disapointing experience with one of my staff in regards to a enquiry / purchase of a rugby league/NRL jersey.

Unfortuantly we if ever only stock a very small amount of NRL supporter gear in the store as we dont have a large enough market in WA to sustain stock for this particular code of football.

Fortuantly we are the leading sporting retailer in the country ,we are more
than happy to source stock from the east to ensure our WA supporters have access to purchase goods from Perth stores.

Please let me know the team , size & any other details of the product you require . I would be very happy to organise stock from another store to be sent over to us.

I apologise that my staff did not offer this service to you. Customer
servise is something we take pride in and something I personally feel very stronly about.

Please give me a call or you can supply me with your contact number so we can organise a jersey for you. Also feel free to reply via email if that suits you .

Unfortuantly I am away from the store over the next few days so I will be unable to check my email . If you wish to contact the store

Rebel Sport Carousel
(08) 9451 2693
Angela Balnaves or Matthew Hamilton will be here in my absense so please feel free to contact them .

I look forward to your reply

Kindest Regards

Matthew Millhouse
Store Manager
Rebel Sport Carousel
(08) 9451 2693
MatthewHMillhouse@rebelsport.com.au

 

[b0rt]

shame he doesnt feel as stronly about spelling

 

[Nuke]

Haha!
And yes Bort, Balls and Bumpers I think may be it's name, and yes, they have NRL gear. Not much perhaps, but they do. On the left hand wall as you walk in I think ... or it may be a bit further back. They have the 2008 State Of Origin jerseys there for $160 which is unfortunately pretty well standard for a footy jersey these days. I was contemplating buying a 2008 NSW jersey, but have decided to wait until I'm in Newcastle/Sydney in September. They may have them a tad cheaper by then (I'm hoping anyway!!!).

 

[joondalup_giant]

i think its pretty good they've replied twice to your e-mail and have given you the option of ordering what you want through them

 

[Brownie.Kougari]

Quite good service I reckon, & it's fair enough them not stocking it if they can't sell it (though you'd think there'd be some origin jerseys this time of year!).

Bet you can't wait till 2013!!

 

[joondalup_giant]

and tbh with u i wouldnt buy a jersey from them anyway, theres always better deals in RLW!!

 

[KalgoorlieRed]

and tbh with u i wouldnt buy a jersey from them anyway, theres always better deals in RLW!!

In the past 2 years I bought a NZ Warriors and a Wests Tigers WCC jersey from the Carousel.

 

[Nuke]

I have heard they're having a sale on Origin jerseys this week. Jerseys are like $90 or something like that ... I would suggest they're only on sale in NSW and QLD though. You could order them through the WA stores, but I'm guessing they'd be full price (about $160).

 

[KalgoorlieRed]

Its a shame we miss out over here. Until the powers that be give WA a chance again, nothing will change.

 

[Alehana]

fair enough, if they r losing $$ as a result then i cant blame them, just as long as they can get u a jersey quickly then i dont mind,

i was in harbour town in city the other week, and there was no league gear in any stores, this drove me insane, so what i did is i went to all the sports store and asked them if they had 'footy gear', the SOX shop had an egales scarf in the door, so i went to the lady and asked her the question and the responce i got was 'eagles or dockers?" my reply, ahhh who? (i'm the type of person who can not show any emotions in my face, plus i was wearing my NZ jacket and my accent helped my cause as well) she was stunned, couldn't believe it, she said "ahh the footy team in perth" "Oh the western reds" "No, afl team" "Whats that?" "You said footy?" "Yeah footy, australias number 1 game, toughest sport on the planet" she waws shcoked, my mates left the store cause they were laughing so hard, it was classic, anytime your at harbour town, go to all the sports stores and asked for footy gear (as in nrl gear) it will piss them off.

 

[KalgoorlieRed]

fair enough, if they r losing $$ as a result then i cant blame them, just as long as they can get u a jersey quickly then i dont mind,

i was in harbour town in city the other week, and there was no league gear in any stores, this drove me insane, so what i did is i went to all the sports store and asked them if they had 'footy gear', the SOX shop had an egales scarf in the door, so i went to the lady and asked her the question and the responce i got was 'eagles or dockers?" my reply, ahhh who? (i'm the type of person who can not show any emotions in my face, plus i was wearing my NZ jacket and my accent helped my cause as well) she was stunned, couldn't believe it, she said "ahh the footy team in perth" "Oh the western reds" "No, afl team" "Whats that?" "You said footy?" "Yeah footy, australias number 1 game, toughest sport on the planet" she waws shcoked, my mates left the store cause they were laughing so hard, it was classic, anytime your at harbour town, go to all the sports stores and asked for footy gear (as in nrl gear) it will piss them off.

Good on ya Alehana! Wish I was there, keep it up!

In fact, we would liek to hear of stories like these folks.