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Yesterday a member of Victorian parliament labelled Richmond’s one-off jumper for Saturday’s Dreamtime at the ‘G game with Essendon a disgrace. Liberal MP Bernie Finn, a passionate club member, bemoaned the fact the Tigers’ traditional strip had been tampered with by the addition of indigenous artwork to the yellow sash.
“The Richmond jumper is black with a yellow sash. End of story,” Finn said. “It shouldn’t be interfered with for any reason. A football club’s jumper is like the nation’s flag. Leave them both alone.”
Unsurprisingly, the Herald Sun story covering his comments generated a heated response. Finn’s describing of the artwork as “graffiti” probably went a long way to ensuring that.
Overall, though, it was difficult to agree with the politician’s final conclusion, that Richmond should not be wearing the strip. Sure, there are plenty of other nods to indigenous culture this weekend – “Indigenous Round”, “Dreamtime at the ‘G” – but it’s a relatively harmless initiative, doesn’t deviate too much from the original strip and, well, just doesn’t scream out the words “disgrace” to me.
I wouldn’t go out of my way to applaud Richmond for their fantastic initiative or anything like that. But I wouldn’t jump at the opportunity to tear them down, either.
However, digging below Finn’s final conclusion, there were elements of his argument that made some sense – especially when applied to other clubs in different situations.
Many clubs in the AFL are happy to greatly deviate from their traditional designs – either through one-off jumpers or more permanent clash strips – and in a lot of cases, it’s sad to see it happen.
Let’s start with the clash strips. It’s fair to say the alternative uniforms of Hawthorn, Adelaide and West Coast (see links for images) each give little if any nod to their respective home uniforms. It’s also fair to say each leaves a lot to be desired.
Clash strips are a difficult area because of the need to achieve their objective (ie, to not clash with other teams) but in these cases the original jumper designs have been scrapped altogether. What makes things worse is that those original designs have been replaced by cartoon logos.
I, for one, find it unfortunate these clubs have chosen to send their players out on the field in such jumpers.
In the department of one-off jumpers, Hawthorn are again a club that has chosen to disregard its primary playing strip – look no further than last year’s Kokoda tribute, a design the footy world could’ve really done without.
That’s not to say we shouldn’t welcome some form of Kokoda tribute to our game. Far from it. It’s just surely there was a better, more fitting, less compromising, way to go about it.
Some clubs, though, don’t even have the excuse of having a worthy cause. For example, last year there was also the (highly unattractive) jumper Geelong wore in a blockbuster game against Collingwood. It was commemorating not a charitable cause but, wait for it … 85 years of Ford in Australia.
That’s right. They wore a jumper commemorating the milestone of a sponsor. And not even one of the absolute major milestones, either. It was 85 years – a decent effort, but the kind of milestone you get to celebrate every five years.
Most clubs have had a dabble in the area of promotional or one-off jumpers. Often there are noble reasons for doing so. Often, though, there is considerable merchandise money to be made too. And that’s where things get a bit messy.
Of course, that’s not to say that clubs can’t do a one-off jumper and get it right.
Port Adelaide wouldn’t have its current (fantastic) jumper if it weren’t for a competition for kids to design a one-off jumper. West Coast looked great commemorating 25 years in the AFL earlier this year.
But surely it has gotten to the point where there is simply too much interference with the traditional club jumpers. The fact we see strips like the ones produced by Hawthorn and Geelong last year proves it.
Currently, the AFL allows each club to have one one-off jumper per season. Perhaps that needs to be changed. Perhaps one for every two seasons would suffice. For example, Richmond could still do a one-off Dreamtime jumper, just only in the years when the match is their home game.
Clubs with a major milestone coming up would think twice about handing their jumper over to a sponsor, too. (Geelong last year would’ve already used up their one-off jumper token by celebrating their 150th anniversary a year earlier.)
Then again, maybe the solution is more simple than that. Maybe it’s just a matter of those running our clubs to value their jumpers that little bit more in the first place.
Wouldn’t that be nice.