Uncle Steve
17 Mar 2001, 05:35
G'day
I don't wish to be seen as replying to our Victorian friend's little troll, but he has opened an interesting topic for discussion, namely the origin of the SANFL club names and colours.
I have read many historical articles about this over the years, particulary one in the now-defunct SA Football Record from back in the '80s, which described the origins of the clubs' nicknames.
IIRC, Central District was the only club which actively copied the identity of an existing club. They modelled themselves after the Footscray Football club in the then VFL. Their original guernsey was identical to the then Footscray jumper; the FFC even helped the CDFC get started by donating some clothing (socks etc).
As for the other clubs:
Port's origins have been well documented with the rise of the Port Power AFL club. Port adopted black-and-white back in 1901 or so. While it did not copy Collingwood, who became black-&-white Magpies slightly earlier, it has been suggested that they copied what Collingwood did, i.e. adopt the SA state colours. I think the guernsey has been the prison-bars design for much of the time since then; though they did wear a black-with-4-white-stripes design for a few years around the late 40s or early 50s. No doubt one of the Port fans here will kindly correct me if I'm wrong :-)
I believe Norwood and South have had the same colours and roughly the same guernseys since their inception. I don't know when the Panthers nickname was born - it seems an unlikely nickname for a club of South's age. I believe - with no means of substantiating this claim - that Norwood was once known as the Demons. And didn't Melbourne used to be called the Redlegs at one point?
North Adelaide was born from the demise of a few defunct clubs - notably Medindie, known as the dingoes, from which I think they may have inherited the red-and-white? Another forerunner was the Victorian FC, a club founded by ex-pat Victorians. I have often speculated that this is where the V on the guernsey came from, but it does seem unlikely. The Roosters nickname is derived from their location. The NAFC is the "**** of the north".
Sturt was named after the electorate of Sturt in which the club was located; the colours come from Oxford and Cambridge universities, since Unley Oval is located at the intersection of Oxford and Cambridge Streets in Unley.
Glenelg was black and gold from it's foundation - though an earlier Glenelg club may have worn red gold and green - or was it the cricket club? I forget. The nickname comes directly from their colours, fairly obvious. The first major guernsey was gold with a black V (don't remember if this had a precursor - will have to look it up in Pride Of The Bay tonight). However this changed to the black & gold sash in the late 40s/early 50s. At the time it was described as a "Richmond style" guernsey, so I guess you could say that the Bays were influenced by a Vic club... but the worm turned in the mid-90s when Richmond changed it's guernsey to look identical to the Glenelg guernsey (gold numbers, no sash on the back).
Westies took their colours from the defunct Adelaide football club. The nickname "bloods" is also a reference to the colours, the blood and tars. Westies did try out the nickname "Wolves" back in the 70s but it never caught on - though the emblem of the club on the logo is a Wolf, not blood or tar! The guernsey was black and red stripes as recently as the 70s. I don't know why they changed to the sash design.
I don't remember much about the origins of Woodville or West Torrens. I think "The Butchers" was a nickname touted for Torrens in the early years since many of its players were abbatoir workers. Torrens did have a royal-blue guernsey with a gold eagle once; was it Neil Kerley's influence which caused the change to the gold sash??? I would guess that Woodville's original nickname "Woodpeckers" was simply an alliterative thing - and the later moniker "Warriors" was coined by an advrtising agency, I believe, as part of the club's image change.
That's all I remember about the origins of the club colours and nicknames. I'm probably wrong somewhere; if anyone would like to correct me then please feel free to contribute here.
And is anyone else going to Thebby Oval tomorrow?
I don't wish to be seen as replying to our Victorian friend's little troll, but he has opened an interesting topic for discussion, namely the origin of the SANFL club names and colours.
I have read many historical articles about this over the years, particulary one in the now-defunct SA Football Record from back in the '80s, which described the origins of the clubs' nicknames.
IIRC, Central District was the only club which actively copied the identity of an existing club. They modelled themselves after the Footscray Football club in the then VFL. Their original guernsey was identical to the then Footscray jumper; the FFC even helped the CDFC get started by donating some clothing (socks etc).
As for the other clubs:
Port's origins have been well documented with the rise of the Port Power AFL club. Port adopted black-and-white back in 1901 or so. While it did not copy Collingwood, who became black-&-white Magpies slightly earlier, it has been suggested that they copied what Collingwood did, i.e. adopt the SA state colours. I think the guernsey has been the prison-bars design for much of the time since then; though they did wear a black-with-4-white-stripes design for a few years around the late 40s or early 50s. No doubt one of the Port fans here will kindly correct me if I'm wrong :-)
I believe Norwood and South have had the same colours and roughly the same guernseys since their inception. I don't know when the Panthers nickname was born - it seems an unlikely nickname for a club of South's age. I believe - with no means of substantiating this claim - that Norwood was once known as the Demons. And didn't Melbourne used to be called the Redlegs at one point?
North Adelaide was born from the demise of a few defunct clubs - notably Medindie, known as the dingoes, from which I think they may have inherited the red-and-white? Another forerunner was the Victorian FC, a club founded by ex-pat Victorians. I have often speculated that this is where the V on the guernsey came from, but it does seem unlikely. The Roosters nickname is derived from their location. The NAFC is the "**** of the north".
Sturt was named after the electorate of Sturt in which the club was located; the colours come from Oxford and Cambridge universities, since Unley Oval is located at the intersection of Oxford and Cambridge Streets in Unley.
Glenelg was black and gold from it's foundation - though an earlier Glenelg club may have worn red gold and green - or was it the cricket club? I forget. The nickname comes directly from their colours, fairly obvious. The first major guernsey was gold with a black V (don't remember if this had a precursor - will have to look it up in Pride Of The Bay tonight). However this changed to the black & gold sash in the late 40s/early 50s. At the time it was described as a "Richmond style" guernsey, so I guess you could say that the Bays were influenced by a Vic club... but the worm turned in the mid-90s when Richmond changed it's guernsey to look identical to the Glenelg guernsey (gold numbers, no sash on the back).
Westies took their colours from the defunct Adelaide football club. The nickname "bloods" is also a reference to the colours, the blood and tars. Westies did try out the nickname "Wolves" back in the 70s but it never caught on - though the emblem of the club on the logo is a Wolf, not blood or tar! The guernsey was black and red stripes as recently as the 70s. I don't know why they changed to the sash design.
I don't remember much about the origins of Woodville or West Torrens. I think "The Butchers" was a nickname touted for Torrens in the early years since many of its players were abbatoir workers. Torrens did have a royal-blue guernsey with a gold eagle once; was it Neil Kerley's influence which caused the change to the gold sash??? I would guess that Woodville's original nickname "Woodpeckers" was simply an alliterative thing - and the later moniker "Warriors" was coined by an advrtising agency, I believe, as part of the club's image change.
That's all I remember about the origins of the club colours and nicknames. I'm probably wrong somewhere; if anyone would like to correct me then please feel free to contribute here.
And is anyone else going to Thebby Oval tomorrow?