AFL's rubbery white shorts policy

[Simple Jack]

If it wasn't an issue then why is it now?

Pace of the game, numbers around the ball but most importantly 'coz da NFL duz it!!!'

P.S. I love the NFL, just find it a tad tedious the AFL has to try and copy everything they do (except some of the best things).

 

[MC Extra Dollop]

Weren't Hawthorn pretty much like Sydney are now, back in the day (i.e. they'd almost never wear white shorts)? Hawthorn in the white shorts was stupid yesterday, but I think that's more from a consistency perspective than actually distinguishing the teams. Didn't really have a problem with the distinction between the teams yesterday (and really, you'd have to stuff things up pretty monumentally to create an issue between gold/brown and navy/white). I think the all-white Geelong strip looks better personally, but using the soccer example, a lot of teams have mismatched kits and often a visiting team will wear shorts that are the same colour as the home team's shirt, without any issues. I think the main problem with it in the case of teams like Hawthorn and Richmond is that there is no reason that their away shorts need to be white in the first place and that it would make a hell of a lot more sense for them to wear yellow/gold away shorts.

And was it just me, or did the umpires uniforms look a lot like Hawthorn's yesterday? Why wouldn't they wear red or something for a Geelong v Hawthorn game?

 

[Pessimistic]

Weren't Hawthorn pretty much like Sydney are now, back in the day (i.e. they'd almost never wear white shorts)? Hawthorn in the white shorts was stupid yesterday, but I think that's more from a consistency perspective than actually distinguishing the teams. Didn't really have a problem with the distinction between the teams yesterday (and really, you'd have to stuff things up pretty monumentally to create an issue between gold/brown and navy/white). I think the all-white Geelong strip looks better personally, but using the soccer example, a lot of teams have mismatched kits and often a visiting team will wear shorts that are the same colour as the home team's shirt, without any issues. I think the main problem with it in the case of teams like Hawthorn and Richmond is that there is no reason that their away shorts need to be white in the first place and that it would make a hell of a lot more sense for them to wear yellow/gold away shorts.

And was it just me, or did the umpires uniforms look a lot like Hawthorn's yesterday? Why wouldn't they wear red or something for a Geelong v Hawthorn game?

Hawks had a 88 89 commemorative jumper on which meant a gold back and the chicken leg yellow socks. At that time the vfl allowed them to wear brown shorts so long as the yellow socks were distinctive.

Noted that gold coast wore red shorts away so theres still inconsistency

 

[MC Extra Dollop]

Hawks had a 88 89 commemorative jumper on which meant a gold back and the chicken leg yellow socks. At that time the vfl allowed them to wear brown shorts so long as the yellow socks were distinctive.

Noted that gold coast wore red shorts away so theres still inconsistency

Fair enough. I noticed the slightly different Hawthorn strip, but didn't know why they'd worn all gold socks in the first place. Still don't understand why the umpires weren't in something else though.

As far as inconsistency, I don't mind it in the sense of Gold Coast and Sydney wearing red shorts 90% of the time. If you're playing away and your regular home strip doesn't cause any issues with the home strip of the opposition, fill your boots. The inconsistencies that drive me mad are:

1. As in the previous page, two teams wearing something different in a finals game to what they wore in the equivalent H&A game (with the same home and away teams) for no apparent reason.

2. The instances (countless) where Team A would wear a clash strip if they were playing away against Team B, but Team B wouldn't do the same if they were playing away against Team A (usually because Team B is a 'traditional' club).

3. 'Clash' guernseys that are utterly useless...see: Richmond.

4. Related to (2): Team A would wear a clash strip against Team B, but wouldn't wear a clash strip against Team C, despite the fact that Team C has a very similar strip to Team B, simply due to the fact that Team A and Team C are 'rivals' and therefore, they must wear their traditional strips whenever they play against each other, apparently. Take, for example Port Adelaide and Adelaide wearing their home guernseys for every Showdown, when there is no way Adelaide would wear its home guernsey in an away game against Carlton or Fremantle, just as there's no way Port would wear its home guernsey in an away game against Essendon or Richmond.

 

[pazza]

Here's the solution:

Adelaide: White with away.
Brisbane: Red with Fitzroy jumper otherwise white with normal.
Carlton: White with away.
Collingwood: White.
Essendon: Red unless playing Gold Coast or Sydney away.
Fremantle: White with away.
Geelong: White.
Gold Coast: White with away.
GWS: White with away.
Hawthorn: Yellow!
Melbourne: White with away.
North Melbourne: White with away.
Richmond: Yellow!
St. Kilda: White with away.
Sydney: White.
West Coast: Yellow!
Western Bulldogs: With with away.

 

[hitthepost]

And was it just me, or did the umpires uniforms look a lot like Hawthorn's yesterday? Why wouldn't they wear red or something for a Geelong v Hawthorn game?

Was a bit close. Umpires only have a green & grey kit for the past 3 years, except one game last year for an OPSM-supported charity where they wore blue.

 

[MC Extra Dollop]

Was a bit close. Umpires only have a green & grey kit for the past 3 years, except one game last year for an OPSM-supported charity where they wore blue.

Not sure why they wouldn't just have a number of different fluoro colours that mean there's no way that they'll be mixed up with the teams. VFL umpires use all orange, which would work perfectly in about 75% of the AFL games. Then you could just have green, blue, red, yellow and black and just wear whichever one creates the biggest distinction from the two teams.

 

[hitthepost]

Not sure why they wouldn't just have a number of different fluoro colours that mean there's no way that they'll be mixed up with the teams. VFL umpires use all orange, which would work perfectly in about 75% of the AFL games. Then you could just have green, blue, red, yellow and black and just wear whichever one creates the biggest distinction from the two teams.

The green they use matches no-one, and is only a little bit close to Hawthorn IMO. TBH, this is the first I've heard of the umpires clashing with Hawthorn since they stopped using red/yellow/green kits 3 years ago.

 

[MC Extra Dollop]

The green they use matches no-one, and is only a little bit close to Hawthorn IMO. TBH, this is the first I've heard of the umpires clashing with Hawthorn since they stopped using red/yellow/green kits 3 years ago.

Fair enough. As far as I'm concerned it's far too close, especially with the slightly different strip that Hawthorn wore yesterday. Should be multiple options and each should only use one colour.

 

[hitthepost]

Fair enough. As far as I'm concerned it's far too close, especially with the slightly different strip that Hawthorn wore yesterday. Should be multiple options and each should only use one colour.

There were, and the Umpires were known as "the men in red, yellow, green or whatever other highlighter colour you've got".
There was less clash yesterday than a Carlton v Richmond matchup.

 

[larrikin]

There was no issues with any sort of a remote clash yesterday, other than for those looking to push an agenda

 

[melbournemartin]

Pace of the game, numbers around the ball but most importantly 'coz da NFL duz it!!!'

P.S. I love the NFL, just find it a tad tedious the AFL has to try and copy everything they do (except some of the best things).

The AFL is trying to (albeit inconsistently) remove some clashes in the game. That doesn't mean it's coping the NFL.

I hope they don't copy the NFL in terms of guernseys. Some of the most boring guernseys in world sport.

 

[____]

The AFL is trying to (albeit inconsistently) remove some clashes in the game. That doesn't mean it's coping the NFL.

I hope they don't copy the NFL in terms of guernseys. Some of the most boring guernseys in world sport.

Not doing a good job at it, not even remotely. The inconsistency is ridiculous (deeming we clash with GC but Carlton don't clash with Footscray).

The AFL should copy the Premier League when it comes to clashes

 

[melbournemartin]

Not doing a good job at it, not even remotely. The inconsistency is ridiculous (deeming we clash with GC but Carlton don't clash with Footscray).

The AFL should copy the Premier League when it comes to clashes

I disagree that they need to copy the Premier League, where you have secondary colours changing every year. They just need to be smarter at it.

I'm a hardened anti-clash person, which you'll get if you see my previous posts. Blindly copying another league/sport isn't the best option though.

 

[Simple Jack]

The AFL is trying to (albeit inconsistently) remove some clashes in the game. That doesn't mean it's coping the NFL.

I hope they don't copy the NFL in terms of guernseys. Some of the most boring guernseys in world sport.

I'd hope they did copy the NFL properly. Away team wears an alternate strip, no bullshit, no exceptions. The Collingwood v Carlton situation makes a complete farce out of the AFLs handling of the clashes.

It should be the simplest policy in the world to implement, but the AFL simply won't harden up and force clubs to do it.

 

[Kram]

The Collingwood v Carlton situation makes a complete farce out of the AFLs handling of the clashes.

If Collingwood actually elected to wear the white jumper that they used for around 100 years (rather than the black one they invented around a decade ago..) every time they played there would be absolutely zero issues in those games.

 

[ManWithNoName]

People wanting us to copy the EPL and the like, should we also follow their example and change our guernsey designs every year?

 

[workhorse]

If Collingwood actually elected to wear the white jumper that they used for around 100 years (rather than the black one they invented around a decade ago..) every time they played there would be absolutely zero issues in those games.

For our away games I agree, we should wear our White clash jumper. However, if it's our home game we're entitled to wear whatever home jumper we want, and the away team should provide the appropriate clash jumper.

 

[Simple Jack]

If Collingwood actually elected to wear the white jumper that they used for around 100 years (rather than the black one they invented around a decade ago..) every time they played there would be absolutely zero issues in those games.

Or how about, Collingwood home game:
Collingwood - whatever they choose.
Carlton - any strip that doesn't clash.

Feel free to substitute that for
Home team - whatever they choose.
Away team - any strip that doesn't clash.

NO EXCEPTIONS.

Easiest and simplest policy ever.

 

[El_Scorcho]

People wanting us to copy the EPL and the like, should we also follow their example and change our guernsey designs every year?

With sponsor changes and changes to guernsey templates, we almost do.

Copying an effective clash strip solution doesn't mean we should be banning the using of hands and requiring players to wear shin pads.

The clash situation has improved outnif sight in recent years, but it was ridiculous that it took so long to get right considering every major sporting league in the world does it well.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

 

[Kram]

For our away games I agree, we should wear our White clash jumper. However, if it's our home game we're entitled to wear whatever home jumper we want, and the away team should provide the appropriate clash jumper.

I just find it funny when Eddie craps on saying "Oh when us long time rivals are playing each we're both always wear our traditional jumpers" When the black one is NOT the clubs traditional jumper at all.

If he was that hell bent on always playing Carlton wearing their navy blue he would just get Collingwood to wear their jumper that was their home one for 100 years.

 

[dart]

17 pages on what colour shorts teams wear.

 

[JackFlash]

So we know that the old home/away rule is a thing of the past. The AFL has explained that the new rule to determine which team wears the white shorts is based on the premise that the AFL wants to avoid adding white to a uniform that does not already contain white. Consequently, when Essendon travels to Perth to play Fremantle, the AFL has decided that the purple and white Dockers should wear the white shorts rather than the red and black Bombers. I wonder if anyone from AFL HQ would care to explain why on the very same day, the blue and gold Eagles are wearing white shorts playing against the black and WHITE Magpies.

Yet the AFL will have Melbourne, Brisbane, Port Adelaide, Hawthorn, Adelaide, GWS and Gold Coast all wearing predominately white in their away strips when their traditional colours do not contain white? GWS and Port (have a little white)
You see i get confused as to who the hell is playing when this happens, i simply can't watch it, i don't know one team from the other. The point is they all blend in and look the same, you cannot identify with the team that is playing. I hate white away strips! aah, what the hell do i know?

 

[im_a_lazy_sod]

Or how about, Collingwood home game:
Collingwood - whatever they choose.
Carlton - any strip that doesn't clash.

Feel free to substitute that for
Home team - whatever they choose.
Away team - any strip that doesn't clash.

NO EXCEPTIONS.

Easiest and simplest policy ever.

Which is how it should be

Home team should be able to wear whatever they want, given it's their home game - the away team should have to find a combination that doesn't clash - no
exceptions whatsoever.

 

[Father Jack]

People wanting us to copy the EPL and the like, should we also follow their example and change our guernsey designs every year?

No, because that has nothing to do with clash strips, the suggestion is merely that we copy the EPL in ensuring we have two teams in two distinct uniforms out on the field.