Brett Favre hasn’t played in an NFL game in a decade yet his influence is still being felt … in New Zealand.
Shaun Watkins has, it would seem, the largest collection of sports bobble heads in the island nation that is home to nearly five million people. In fact, there’s a very good chance that he has the only collection of sports bobble heads in New Zealand and that is thanks, in large part, to Favre and the Green Bay Packers.
Watkins, 30, is a sports marketing guru, so his background lends to him liking athletic endeavors. New Zealand, however, is a country dominated by sports such as rugby, cricket, rowing and netball, which is a variation of basketball played mostly by women.
Yet Watkins is Packer backer – he is even a part owner of the franchise having bought shares in the club – and it all began in his childhood days with Favre and Co.
“When I was growing up, we didn’t get a lot of NFL games on TV here,” Watkins said. “Sunday night and Monday night were the only games we got. That’s when I got into the sport. The Packers were on a lot and Favre was at his peak, his primetime peak.
“I got the backyard, gunslinger vibe from him and I was immediately attracted to the Packers and it just snowballed. It was all sort of by luck and chance. The Packers just happened to have more prime-time games when I was growing up.”
Watkins acquired his first bobble head in 2012 when he was attending a Lakers game in Los Angeles –it’s an eight-inch Kobe Bryant – and since then his collection has grown to nearly 100, most of which are Packers and Milwaukee Bucks. His favorite players are Aaron Rodgers and Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo.
“I’ve never seen bobble heads for sale in New Zealand. If someone goes to America and gets an SGA at a game they come back and put it on the Facebook Marketplace but that’s it. I guess it’s a niche market. I’ve never purchased one in New Zealand. It’s all been on line or when I was overseas.” — Shaun Watkins
The affinity for the Bucks came as a result of a visit to Lambeau Field in Green Bay. Watkins spent some time with the Packer faithful, many of whom are Bucks fans, and he grew to love the Wisconsin-based team. Following the Packers and the Bucks proved to be easier than following the entirety of the NFL and NBA and in terms of nodders, what better way to build a collection than with Rodgers and The Greek Freak.
“Giannis was in his rookie season when I got into the Bucks,” Watkins said. “Then they drafted Jabari [Parker] and they had a cool, young core. I thought I’m going to hitch my wagon to these guys. I got a lot of Bucks news through the Packers people and I felt like I had a connection with their young core.
“I didn’t expect them to start winning 60 games a year and be the top dogs. And Giannis is my favorite athlete. He handles himself so well on and off the court. He doesn’t have a huge ego.”
Watkins has a shelf devoted to Rodgers and another for Antetokounmpo in his collection. He also collects nodders of athletes – Eli Manning from the Giants and Carmelo Anthony of the Knicks – from games which he has attended while in the States. His white whale is the Rodgers Draft Day bobble head.
“They go for $150 US and that ends up as $220 in New Zealand plus shipping so I haven’t been able to bit the bullet and buy that one yet,” Watkins said. “Our dollar is not very strong when compared to the US. There is really no true bargain when you take into account the exchange rate and shipping.
“And, I’ve never seen bobble heads for sale in New Zealand. If someone goes to America and gets an SGA at a game they come back and put it on the Facebook Marketplace but that’s it. I guess it’s a niche market. I’ve never purchased one in New Zealand. It’s all been on line or when I was overseas.”
It was an overseas deal that only cemented how Watkins felt about bobble heads and the community which the hobby fosters. He points to a post in Bobblehead Addicts, a Facebook group dedicated to collecting nodders, as the primary example.
Someone posted pictures of their Giannis collection, which included a caricature bobble head. Watkins had never seen it before and inquired as to where he could purchase one.
“He told me it was a stadium exclusive and that they only sold them at the team store,” Watkins said. “He ended up going to the arena, buying me the bobble head and sending it to New Zealand. It was cool that he was willing to reach out like that. It is things like that that make the hobby fun.”
Watkins isn’t sure in which direction his collection will go or when enough will be enough. He has quite a few movie bobble heads, including some very nice ones from the Rocky movie series. He owns Rocky, Clubber Lang and Apollo Creed but hasn’t been able to land Ivan Drago.
“The cheapest one I have seen is $500,” he said. “That’s the unrealistic one you’ll never find cheap enough.”
He would also love to get a three-footer but the cost and shipping make it prohibitive. Regardless, he’s going to continue blazing a bobble head trail in New Zealand and is hopeful of one day getting professional teams in the country to start giving away nodders.
“In America, bobble heads are a norm,” Watkins said. “Here, some of my friends basically think they are dolls. I told them no, they are different, they are bobble heads. My parents always thought it was weird how many I was collecting. But then they stopped and looked at the detail and said they are pretty cool.”
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