Here in Lockdown Land, I was getting ready to watch my beloved Brumbies play in their elegant, blue, white and gold strip.
It was the last game of 2021 for the Brumbies after quite a decent season all things taken into consideration. The task for the evening? To upset the Highlanders who, coincidently, wear a predominantly deep blue with orange, maroon and gold.
Lo and behold, and not for the first time this season, I found it rather impossible at times to work out which team I was cheering for. Once again, there was a colour clash! Yikes!
Surely, surely, this could have been avoided? Is there not one spark of common sense, or even forethought, as to what might be the proposed colours for each side might be? Let alone what this may show live and on TV?
More concerningly, is there absolutely no contact between sides or officials across each side of the ditch? And what is the operating body, SANZAAR, doing to allow this to happen yet again?
The Brumbies and Highlanders produced a kit clash for some viewers. (Photo by Mark Nolan/Getty Images)
To unpick this, let’s go through the teams and their kits.
Australian sides
Brumbies – white/royal blue/gold (home); gold/navy (away)
Reds – maroon (home); maroon/white/navy (away)
Tahs – light blue (home); blue/white hoops (away)
Rebels – navy blue/red/white (home); white/blue (away)
Force – sea blue (home); black/gold (away)
What becomes immediately noticeable is that, as a male, I have had to think of different names to identify the actual types of blue that are kitting out the Aussies sides. It’s kind of like how Ross Geller’s shirt was salmon, not pink.
What has consistently baffled me is, from the inception of the Force and then the Rebels, is that they were not only allowed to choose blue, but the similar blues (particularly the Rebels’ annual horror colour clash with the Brumbies!) were allowed.
While I digress that there are historical colours to select from, yet again any foresight and common sense has gone out the window. For mind, the Rebels (being last in) had every chance to select, well, anything but navy blue. Alas, here we are…
New Zealand sides
Crusaders – red/black (home); white/red (away)
Blues – blue (home); white (away)
Chiefs – black/gold (home); grey (away)
Hurricanes – gold/black (home); white (away)
Highlanders – navy/gold/maroon (home); white/green (away)
For the most part, there are few, if any clashes, for the teams when playing local derbies. Common sense has prevailed for 2021!
In previous years, there have been infamous clashes (see Highlanders versus Blues in 2020 as one example) so, when playing domestically, there is little chance of a clash.
(Photo by Dave Rowland/Getty Images)
But wait, there’s more!
Referees
Australia – main strip is (allegedly) a deep purple with orange (in reality, it’s blue) and an alternate is white with orange.
New Zealand – white Specsavers/gold Specsavers (lets keep the ‘ref needs…’ quips down, folks!).
I appreciate that there are sponsors to keep happy, but this is utterly ridiculous. While I of all pundits as a volunteer referee myself do not wish referees to stand out any more than they have to, the old phrase ‘be seen, not heard (often)’ would please many.
In Round 2 of Super Rugby Trans-Tasman, the Hurricanes (gold) were at home to the Rebels (white). As the game was played in NZ, the referee Graham Cooper had an unfortunate choice: Specsavers gold and then clash with the Canes, or Specsavers white and clash with the Rebels (who were playing in a white strip despite their main strip not clashing at all).
Once again, there was absolutely no foresight or common sense. Quite often when the Brumbies play the Rebels, it is an impossible decision for the referee to have to make in Australia: wear the white and clash with the Brumbies (see Angus Gardner in 2020) or wear the blue and clash with either the Rebels or the Brumbies (see Damon Murphy in 2021 in Melbourne).
Appreciating that there are sponsors to keep at bay, there must surely be a better decision for the referee kits, too. While a former kit consisting of bright pink in NZ (sponsors were Pink Batts) brings a tear to the eye of a traditionalist, there was never a chance of a clash.
While plotting a graph of what each team ought to wear against each other would take some serious time, and will in all likelihood identify where the mismatches will be, the simple solution is to use common sense.
For instance, if the two teams’ home jerseys do not clash, dispense with the away jersey idea.
The match on Friday night is a classic example. Surely there would have been no discernible difference for the Highlanders to wear their home jersey, despite playing away?
It must surely be time for SANZAAR to end this ridiculous, unprofessional aspect of the game. This is literally their job.
piru
Roar Rookie
Why not the USA major leagues solution? Pretty much all their pro sports use the same option, a dark strip for away, light one for home (or vice versa, doesn't matter) There are heaps of teams that have clashing colours, but it never becomes an issue.
Wally James
Roar Guru
I personally would never buy any Kiwi jersey but I love a good garage sale.
Diesel 2.0
Roar Rookie
Thanks Brett, It was definitely over looked and incredulous that it happened so far back in the season. Just to note, this would never happen on the 7's circuit and 15's international games which is WR run. They are super anal about every micro detail. Interesting to know also that SRTT is not governed by SANZAAR.
Double Agent
Guest
Just a shame the Highlanders didn't switch off too.
Double Agent
Guest
I'd love to meet the only person in the world that ever bought a kiwi SR away jersey!! :laughing: I've got a garage full of crap I can maybe unload on him!
Daffyd
Roar Rookie
Hi Charlie, Thanks for this article. It’s been driving me bonkers! This is something that should never happen, and yet it does, often. It is just another area where marketing the game is given little or no thought. In what would seem logical, all teams should have a dark kit and a light kit, made up of dark jersey and a light jersey and also dark shorts and light shorts. (If the kit has two pairs of dark shorts (eg navy and black shorts) then they need to toss in a light pair as well (eg white) By and Large, home teams should play in their traditional kit. If the home team decides to have a change of strip– for whatever reason — it should be sorted out weeks in advance with their Home Union and the visiting team. In a broad sense, the visiting team should be playing in a complimentary kit. At the very least change of shorts will help a little. Aussie Rules has the dark shorts / light shorts, to assist in determining who is who at a distance. It could even be sorted out by team managers just before the game if necessary. Or at worst, the ref (or broadcast director) can see the kits just before the game and if necessary tell a team to change. On a different topic, but still basically on marketing — The Australian Super Rugby competition, “Super Rugby AU”. Can we change the name, every so slightly to “Super Rugby AUS?” Firstly, Super Rugby “Oz” is easier to say, and to me sounds a whole lot better than Super Rugby AU…. Every time I hear “A U” I picture a a female sheep about to be rammed… Slickers may not get the joke, but I’m pretty sure the Kiwis do.
liquorbox_
Roar Rookie
Maybe a blanket rule for all tams could be in place like the NHL does. All home teams have a colour based jersey, the away team has to wear a white based jersey. This allows the home team to wear special edition jerseys that are based on a colour and there will be no clashes at any game. It is almost too simple.
Wally James
Roar Guru
My thoughts exactly. I gather they change kits for financial reasons. No-one would buy them if they stayed the same all the time. Buy once and you don't need to buy anymore. Tradition lost with that. However the point was made when the W's jerseys were being decided upon - Australia used to play in marron or blue depending upon in what state the Test was being played. The we played in Green and only changed to Gold when the Boks toured. So much for tradition there
Brett McKay
Expert
minutes of footage might be tough - especially if new jerseys are in play. But it shouldn't be hard to put two actual jerseys side by side...
Ankle-tapped Waterboy
Roar Rookie
My bet is that the checklist says "sign approval that the proposed strip do not clash." Not the nuance in this thread of: - check below the waist - shorts and socks allow for and ensure separate identification of player's teams - check in rucks and mauls - jerseys ensure positive identification of player's teams with no ambiguity. Include side view, back view, front view of players - etc - etc (Armchair expert here)
jcmasher
Roar Rookie
Good to know mate
jcmasher
Roar Rookie
Mate great points. You wouldn’t think it hard would you?
Ankle-tapped Waterboy
Roar Rookie
There’s a difference between jpegs and video footage too. If the clash decision is being made on jpgs then it’s inadequate. jpgs show front-on. The cameras, crowd, and referees are viewing side-on. jpgs show upright bodies. But the game of rugby starts at the contest for the ball, and upright contests for the ball are exceeded by tackles (on the ground) and rucks (on the ground) in terms of playing time and complexity of body positions. Also, this is movement, and jpgs are static. Also, the medium makes a difference. To explain this I need to dispel the writer’s hint that men aren’t all that good at colours. When working for a carpet manufacturer, we had to set up a new carpet colourway after a successful marketing campaign. Everyone wanted the Black Watch tartan carpet, it looked great! But the printed images didn’t match the product, so we had to re-match all the colours, to match what was coming off the loom with what was in the brochures. It’s the same with TV – colours are not the same. The matching decision for strips needs to consider 720p and several minutes of footage. Because the cost of getting it wrong is worth maybe a whole five minutes of someone’s time? Anyway, rugby was the winner on Friday night because the players in white can claim a win. Hugs and kisses all round.
Paul Riley
Roar Rookie
What is the need for an “Away” kit anyway? I like to see both teams play in their classic colours. Just sort out all the kits to be compatible and stick with that.
terrykidd
Roar Pro
C0mm0n sense needs t0 apply ..... Landers usual strip d0es n0t clash with Reds usual strip, s0 why change ? Brums and Canes near identical but if Canes play in their usual strip ... wala pr0blema Hahahaha change the strip rules and create an issue .... thats whats happened.
Brett McKay
Expert
Yeah, it feels like it should be easy to avoid, but these kind of one-off clashes have happened once a year for years, it feels. The other part of it, is often the pictures of jerseys don't seem to clash as much - if you look at the two jerseys on the SANZAAR site as I've mentioned above, the Highlanders' looks a lot darker than the Brumbies white. But in the flesh last night, and on the TV, the clash was very real. Even mike Fraser was referring to the teams as 'Blue' and 'Green'..
I can certainly see where same coloured shorts makes the refs job harder. I dont see it as being a difficult problem to solve but we seem to have issues more than we should and as you say there are clear alternatives that would work…
Brett McKay
Expert
We talked about this on radio last night Jacko, the Highlanders standard kit would have solved problems above the waists (white v navy), but below that, it would've just been 30 pairs of dark blue shorts and socks. The Brumbies could've perhaps worn their mainly blue Pasifika jersey (worn last week) OR their gold alternate kit against the Highlanders away kit, and we'd have been right...
Brett McKay
Expert
I can take this further Big D, but I'll warn you, it's only going to make us all more angry. On the official Super Rugby website (ie, the SANZAAR site - https://super.rugby/superrugby/), the matches are listed on the front page in a column on the left. if you click a down arrow on each game, the two team kits are displayed just as you've described. If you click on the Blues-Force game, you can see that the Force alternate strip of gold and black (WA's state colours) comes up, and the Blues are in their standard home kit. But if you click on the Brumbies-Highlanders game, the two kits we saw last night are displayed. So not only was it somehow not recognised that there may be a clash, but this has been this way for at least the start of SR-TT. Along with media info each week, I also get sent match packs and a heap of other info, like referee apointments, etc. Among this is a tournment jersey guide (which was done before the series started), in which teams and referee kits for each game are listed. This same info is what is displayed on the front page of the site. So what I'm getting at is this one had been coming for several weeks, and it was right in front of us the whole time. But remember - SR-TT is not actually governed by SANZAAR. It's jointly run and administered by RA and NZR, who presumably have a way of appointing referees between them. You would think jersey clshes would come into this somewhere, but clearly, this one fell through the cracks...
Their standard playing kits would have been great. Why complicate things like they seemed to want to do last night.