After North were finally allowed to wear their home jumper against the Pies, its great news that the Saints will be finally be wearing our traditional home jumper for the first time in years against Essendon. http://www.afl.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/208/newsid/110953/default.aspx <blockquote>Adrian Anderson also confirmed St Kilda would wear its home strip against Essendon in Sunday's twilight encounter at Etihad Stadium but the Saints would don white shorts with the Bombers to wear red in a bid to deepen the distinction between the sides.</blockquote>
Good on 'em, so they should. Reckon it'll be another cracker of a match. Bit of a flutter on a draw perhaps?
If it's at Etihad you should definitely bet on the unders before the match. St Kilda + Etihad = low scoring
So they should be wearing their home jumper - it's about time Essendon and Collingwood got out of the 19th Century and into the 21st and develop a real alternative away jumper like other clubs have!!! And it's about time the weak pricks of the AFL done their job and told these clubs to do it instead of letting THEM dictate what they want!!!
Eddie and the Pies are ridiculous, 'black stripes on a white backing'... They play us for fools. The argument that the spectators 'lose the feeling of tradition' when their team wears a different jumper is a complete and utter crock of shit. Bombers fans say the same thing about their precious red n black. I just don't understand how the clubs are so stupid to ignore the revenue potential from having an away strip. Thousands of fans bye new shirts even when the team just changes major sponsors/logos. They'll definitely be buying a set of home and away strips.
I'd love to see us ditch the predominantly white away guernsey and adopt a 'let make our yellow stripes marginally wider than the brown ones' approach. If it's good enough for one team, then it's good enough for the rest!
As far as i'm concerned it's about time Demitriou and his crew grew some nuts and done their job - NO club is bigger than the league!!!! Until then, they'll always be seen as Eddie's puppets!!!
Agreed Agreed Agreed I'm a bomber and I couldn't care less what they wear they are still my boys! The AFL should definately enforce a rule for ALL clubs to have a clearly alternate strip which is suitable for clash games. Lets get into the year 2011 about this. The gamne is so fast now and it is definately easier for all (players, umpires, spectators and commentators) to view the game.
Sorry it's not a "crock" if the teams have never played in anything else. Clashes have never been an issue before, so I reckon people are getting too hot under the collar. The reason teams make clash jumpers is to make money pure and simple. The reason they make crap ones is beyond me. Hawthorn's is a disaster. Sorry FSB, it's a joke. I was thinking who the hell is that when Hawthorn played Adelaide. The Crows away jumpers have been pathetic and when you consider they clash with no one, completely unnecessary. Sorry but all just marketing BS. The Hawks don't clash with anyone, they just are probably embarrassed about the poos and wees jumper, that's why they sell blue shirts with Hawthorn logos, and why they love putting white in there. Remember the Light Blue M&M jumper. ROFL Carlton still can't live that one down. And it doesn't pay in the long run. The value of the jumper is worth multiple millions of dollars to Collingwood, and I'd say Essendon is the same. When you see that jumper you know who is playing. Also nothing against St Kilda because they are a foundation member of the league, but stuff North Melbourne if they want to change a team who was already in the comp and already had a jumper. It's like Port telling Collingwood to change now. I say find another league buddies. And if Carlton want to play in navy blue every week it's their right. The new coming team with the clash can work it out. I'm all for teams coming to an arrangement to minimise colour clashes. Collingwood and Essendon widening the stripes is a good example of that. But mandating changing jumpers, man the AFL needs to remember they are representative of clubs and not the masters. I know this is not going to be popular, but I'm a traditionalist at heart, and can think a few things like striped socks, coloured shorts - these things made a difference when colour TV came in the 1970s, and they can work again. Add to this the ability to put a few well chosen sponsor colours to the mix, and you can really differentiate even between teams' original jumpers. I have no issue with teams creating clash jumpers but you shouldn't force the issue.
<blockquote>Quote from Lucas on April 6, 2011, 10:17 Sorry it's not a "crock" if the teams have never played in anything else. Clashes have never been an issue before, so I reckon people are getting too hot under the collar. The reason teams make clash jumpers is to make money pure and simple. The reason they make crap ones is beyond me. Hawthorn's is a disaster. Sorry FSB, it's a joke. I was thinking who the hell is that when Hawthorn played Adelaide. The Crows away jumpers have been pathetic and when you consider they clash with no one, completely unnecessary. Sorry but all just marketing BS. The Hawks don't clash with anyone, they just are probably embarrassed about the poos and wees jumper, that's why they sell blue shirts with Hawthorn logos, and why they love putting white in there. Remember the Light Blue M&M jumper. ROFL Carlton still can't live that one down. And it doesn't pay in the long run. The value of the jumper is worth multiple millions of dollars to Collingwood, and I'd say Essendon is the same. When you see that jumper you know who is playing. Also nothing against St Kilda because they are a foundation member of the league, but stuff North Melbourne if they want to change a team who was already in the comp and already had a jumper. It's like Port telling Collingwood to change now. I say find another league buddies. And if Carlton want to play in navy blue every week it's their right. The new coming team with the clash can work it out. I'm all for teams coming to an arrangement to minimise colour clashes. Collingwood and Essendon widening the stripes is a good example of that. But mandating changing jumpers, man the AFL needs to remember they are representative of clubs and not the masters. I know this is not going to be popular, but I'm a traditionalist at heart, and can think a few things like striped socks, coloured shorts - these things made a difference when colour TV came in the 1970s, and they can work again. Add to this the ability to put a few well chosen sponsor colours to the mix, and you can really differentiate even between teams' original jumpers. I have no issue with teams creating clash jumpers but you shouldn't force the issue.</blockquote> QFT! ...and Bombers in red shorts is pure awesomeness!
<blockquote>Quote from Lucas on April 6, 2011, 10:17 Sorry it's not a "crock" if the teams have never played in anything else. ...blah blah blah usual collingwood ramble you shouldn't force the issue.</blockquote> How many times do you think you would be 'FORCED' to wear a clash jumper? For the pies, at most... twice in a season. And that's assuming they're the away team against the Roos or Cats. Did you ever actually watch a game of old school footy? 50's, 60's 70's etc? When there was even a bit of mud around the ground, you could not tell who was who. Nobody complained back then because nobody thought there was any other way. You just dealt with it, relied on your transistors so that the commentators from up above could tell you exactly what was happening. And this was in an age where we didn't have the rolling scrums like we do now, packs were no more than about 7-8, at most. There's no point in using yesterday's tolerance to compare with today. Traditionalists continue to ignore what is best for the game, get over yourselves. I really don't give 2 hoots what colours we wear. Whether it's Brown and Gold, blue and yellow, white and whatever else... I don't cheer for colours, but for the team, we're united under one flag, and one name... Go Hawks. It might make sense for teams like Carlton (and Sydney, Brisbane, Bulldogs, Dees etc) to protect what colours they wear because it specifically says so in their team song. But there's no need to be anal about the pattern. If it's good for the hundreds of millions of soccer fans around the world that use the home/away strip, also basketball, NFL, NHL just to name a few... Why can't you guys just wake up to yourselves and make it just a bit easier on the competition and fans. The AFL shouldn't HAVE to force the issue, it should be just common sense.
@ SiXx what does QFT mean? never seen that one before. Anyway, Lucas, you make some good points but my basic premise is that it is far easier for viewing the game to have extreme variance in the playing strip. The speed of the game was a lot slower in days gone by and as mentioned probably no-one ever thought to question doing it any differently. I am a tradionalist in many ways too. I would like to see some of the new rules gone for sure and I feel that the whole game has been sanitised for the attraction of a wider audience. I could go about this for a while but I'll get back to the jumpers. I have played in a lot of different jumpers and I have been around footy for a long time. Recently I had had the opportunity to play in pink (breast cancer day) and yellow (prostate cancer day) jumpers, shorts and socks. I was amazed at how much easier it was to identify team mates on the ground from a playing perspective. Therefore has to be easier for umpires too. And also for the viewing public. On this issue I feel that we have to move with the times. Not all change is bad. Alternate strips are used in many other sports that generate a lot more money than AFL. NBA and NFL spring to mind. Granted they may have always done it that way. (I'm not sure) but I'll bet they generate far more revenue by having differing strips. Probably the reason that many of the teams keep changing their look. If we are going to change our game continually which seems likely given the changes to the game over the last 20 years surely the playing strip is just another aspect to be reviewed. I don't see any reason why we should exclude it from change but feel happy with changing everything else around it. The umpires now change colurs to suit games also. Although sometimes the person planning the umpire's colours for the round goes on holidays and forgets to nominate a 2IC. We may end up agreeing to disagree on this but I personally like the idea of the clash strip and I think it is the way to go. The team is team even if the turned up in their ever changing, different coloured training jumpers. Peace!
Please Lucas, I don't want to ever hear, read or see the poos & wees reference again! (nearly lol) Pies can cop their away jumper (finally) because it's a league & the rules apply to all. Do you think half the ridiculous away jumpers would have been worn if it hadn't been mandated. I agree that some clubs jumped on it for the $s but others because their was a fine looming for non compliance. A small gentlemans wager on Pies & Hawks Rd 15 (& beyond), to see how the brown & gold (as oppossed to your ref) jumpers perform?
Nothing like jumpers to get us fired up. I still think clash jumpers are there for revenue raising and each to their own on that one. I know the ruck and maul of the current day means teams should have a strip which incorporates clash minimisation. For Collingwood it has meant predominantly white or black jumpers. Can't see too many clash issues last week. Just saying that the Pies should not be forced to wear different colours (eg red or blue) to resolve a clash, and I don't think any side should. Fair enough to have a change of dominant colour though. But only in clash weeks which are rare. Otherwise keep the game the same and develop club loyalty.
With the Bombers it is a unique issue as our colours are both "dark" colours according to the AFL. How red is classed as a dark colour is beyond me. If we were to make a clash strip wouldnt it make sense to make one darker - ie more black - than try and make one lighter? But like Lucas said, Essendon should not be forced to wear colours that arent ours. When you see the Bombers, you associate them with Red and Black - not Red, Black and White, or Silver, or Yellow, or Pink. They are the colours we have worn over 130+ years without change, so why should we change now? Just to keep a few people that are getting themselves wet in the panties over it happy?
I don't think any team should have to wear a totally different colour, unless the team themselves decide to (of which i wouldn't be opposed to, especially if it is for a good cause). The colours can stay, but sometimes the patterns/dominant colour should change. In a bombers v richmond game... What if the away team reverses their colours? Black sash on a red backing, or tigers would be a black sash on a yellow back. Keeping in mind, this would only ever happen at most twice a year when the tigers play richmond. It's not an away strip, it's a clash strip. In the other sports around the world, the teams are privately owned so it absolutely is about making as much money as possible. But there are only a few teams in the world of elite sport that can actually turn a profit (turnover is massive, profit is non-existent). Clubs like Man U and Chelsea FC, most NBA teams and many many more are simply play things for the ridiculously rich. They lose millions hand over fist every year, just look at Liverpool. But the owners can keep covering the gap. When we wear our almost all-white strip, it's also definitely about the money. It's why we play in tassie 4 times a year as well. But it doesn't change how many years we've been in the game, or the number of premierships etc etc. We've changed home ground about 4 times and we're definitely not the only club that has done that. The game should evolve, clubs should cater for some change, but none of these changes threaten the history or culture of the club nor would it change the direction of the club. You can still be just as proud as ever. Not that i support anything about the way Collingwood goes about their business, but i don't know why the Roos don't just go and make a permanent clash jumper that they use regularly. They're one of the worst performing teams financially, to avoid merging they should be taking measures like the away strip. It's not like they haven't been trying all ridiculous measures already, like changing their name by dropping the 'North Melbourne' and then bringing it back after rejecting a lifeline of relocation. Ballarat and now Bellerive... They're certainly not very innovative. They may as well just keep the colours then every 2nd year come out with a completely new design of jumper... that'd be a first (actually no it wouldn't, West Coast do that every few years).