When the Dockers were founded in 1994, the club was so short of money and facilities that they bought secondhand lockers from the nearby high school for their new digs at Fremantle Oval.
After paying a $4m upfront licence fee to become the AFL’s 16th club, Fremantle didn’t have much cash left in the kitty. The newly minted franchise also had no capital base and was bankrolled by a meagre $200,000 loan with heavy interest. If you pitched that business plan to the Shark Tank panel today, you’d be dragged off stage with a giant vaudeville hook.
