UPDATE: Essendon has moved to clarify a confusing new logo seen on club merchandise which featured an alternate team abbreviation with an extra ‘B’.

Bombers fans were left confused when they saw ‘EBFC’ - presumably as in ‘Essendon Bombers Football Club’ - on some pieces of club apparel for 2020, even though the team has always been known as ‘EFC’.

Many new pieces of merchandise for sale on the club shop website feature the EBFC branding, while others retain the classic EFC abbreviation.

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Round 18

The EFC branding, as seen on a women’s hoodie on the Bombers shop website. Source: Supplied

“So just to clear up this whole logo thing,” the club tweeted on Thursday afternoon.

"It's part of a limited member range via @EFC_BomberShop (almost sold out btw).

"As we do every year, it's just a design variation to give members more choice, not a logo change."

The team then added: "Hey! Footy’s back tonight for the Dons".

So, just to clear up this whole logo thing:



▪️ It's part of a limited member range via @EFC_BomberShop (almost sold out btw).



▪️ As we do every year, it's just a design variation to give members more choice, not a logo change.



Hey! Footy’s back tonight for the Dons 🔴 ⚫ — Essendon FC (@essendonfc) February 27, 2020

Essendon has always been part of the group of teams that is referred to solely by its location in official AFL listings - such as the AFL fixture and on some TV graphics. For example, you would only see ‘Collingwood’ or ‘Hawthorn’.

But there are alternate cases. Geelong is always referred to as “Geelong Cats”, while the Adelaide Crows, Brisbane Lions, Gold Coast Suns, GWS Giants, Sydney Swans and West Coast Eagles are in the same boat.

The change left many fans baffled, taking to Twitter to share their displeasure.

Might sound trivial in the grand scheme of things but whoever decided to put EBFC on membership merchandise instead of EFC didn’t do enough fan consultation. I get it’s good to try new things but this did not need changing.



Brand always will be EFC (Essendon Football Club)⚫️🔴 pic.twitter.com/xv31NddzNh — Scooter (@ScooterMcNeice) February 24, 2020

"Might sound trivial in the grand scheme of things but whoever decided to put EBFC on membership merchandise instead of EFC didn’t do enough fan consultation," 'Scooter McNiece' tweeted.

"I get it’s good to try new things but this did not need changing.

"Brand always will be EFC (Essendon Football Club)."

Suddenly we’re reminded of that old Simpsons episode where Homer’s throwing a barbecue while Lisa’s trying to be a vegetarian.

"Come to Woosha's BBBQ. The extra B is for BYOBB."

"What's that extra B for?"

"That's a typo."