If your club were to retire one guernsey number, which would it be?

[Sydney Bloods]

What about 63 in honor of Phil Hughes?

No Phil Hughes never played AFL, he's a cricketer anyone club that tries to leech off his memory is a parasite. it woud be no different to retiring number 16 in honour of Alex McKinnon after his career ending injury.

Hughes death was a tragedy but its not something AFL clubs should be doing anything or then a black arm band. any team trying to "retire" a gerseny in "honour" of phil hughes should be run out of the country for the parasitic cash in it obviously is.
If hughes had strong connections with the club it would be different but he didn't. he didn'thave strong ties to any club.

 

[the_interloper]

No Phil Hughes never played AFL, he's a cricketer anyone club that tries to leech off his memory is a parasite. it woud be no different to retiring number 16 in honour of Alex McKinnon after his career ending injury.

Hughes death was a tragedy but its not something AFL clubs should be doing anything or then a black arm band. any team trying to "retire" a gerseny in "honour" of phil hughes should be run out of the country for the parasitic cash in it obviously is.
If hughes had strong connections with the club it would be different but he didn't. he didn'thave strong ties to any club.

Lol I was joking to be honest, it wouldn't have surprised me if someone suggested this though.

 

[Mervyn Beasley]

Dyer's 17

I loved the notion of Tiger Capt always wearing 17.
Can't believe Cotchin managed to overturn this tradition so soon after it's inception.

 

[Mervyn Beasley]

Toss a coin over #3 (Whitten/Grant) or #7 (Hawkins/West) with #6 (Sutton/Johnson) a close 3rd. Or #51 just to be different!

I think there needs to be a better reason than a former wearer being a great player to thus retire the number.
You've actually listed dual wearers of 3 different numbers. All champion players.
Be great if you had triple wearers. You won't get this if you retire the number!!

 

[MAAAATTDAAAAMON]

I loved the notion of Tiger Capt always wearing 17.
Can't believe Cotchin managed to overturn this tradition so soon after it's inception.

I dislike it and dislike ports captain wears 1, plus Collingwood's first year player wears Daiscos' number. I reckon let players have their own number and make a name in that jumper.

 

[MAAAATTDAAAAMON]

I think another player wearing the number does more for the legacy of the previous players who wore it than retiring it does.

For instance commentators often make references to the famous number 14 on Craig Bird's jumper during games. If it was retired you'd rarely hear mention of Kelly or Skilton.

This. Commentators always talk about that stuff.

 

[gutsroy]

Not sure I'm coming at this from the right angle, but what about retiring numbers that are 'cursed' at a club?

Number 13 (bet no-one saw that coming) for example was donned by blokes like John Bourke (the one who knocked an umpire over), Alan Richardson (was a really good clubman who missed out on the 1990 GF with a collarbone injury), Richard Cole (just never seemed to come on) and others besides. Was hoping young Taylor Adams might change guernsey number coming into 2015 from a superstition point of view, but alas, no.

There have been some successes in 13 (Dale Thomas in recent times), but on the whole, if #13 did 'disappear, you wouldn't send out a search party.

 

[1980GFVideo]

Not sure I'm coming at this from the right angle, but what about retiring numbers that are 'cursed' at a club?

Number 13 (bet no-one saw that coming) for example was donned by blokes like John Bourke (the one who knocked an umpire over), Alan Richardson (was a really good clubman who missed out on the 1990 GF with a collarbone injury), Richard Cole (just never seemed to come on) and others besides. Was hoping young Taylor Adams might change guernsey number coming into 2015 from a superstition point of view, but alas, no.

There have been some successes in 13 (Dale Thomas in recent times), but on the whole, if #13 did 'disappear, you wouldn't send out a search party.

I know you are kidding but If you take into account that both Wayne Gordon (lost his battle with Hodgkin's disease in 1983, aged 29) and Jamie Tape who passed away from Hodgkins at the age of 28 both wore the number 13 for Collingwood then there does seem as if there may be something there.

 

[Rusty Brookes]

Number 5 wasn't retired at Hawthorn as much as it was kept free for both of Peter Crimmins' sons in case they ended up playing for the club. Neither showed any inclination of playing at the top level and once it was clear that they wouldn't be playing, the Crimmins family was asked who they'd like to wear the number 5, picking Andy Collins who shared a lot of similar characteristics with Peter (small, blonde, tough player). I thought that was a really nice way to pay tribute to Crimmins.

The number 1 thing on the other hand is just silly. I had number 1 on my jumper as a kid (Norm Goss, what a legend) btw.

 

[HolyWars]

#36

What an abortion that number has been for us.

 

[Hawkk]

#5 was put on ice at Hawthorn from time of Peter Crimmins death up to the time when it became apparent that his kids weren't going to play for Hawthorn (about 15 years)

It then went to Andy Collins, Daniel Harford and Sam Mitchell. The unique thing about the number, and I probably need qualification for this, is that the Crimmins family are said to have a say in who gets the number (almost 40 years after his death)

 

[gutsroy]

I know you are kidding but If you take into account that both Wayne Gordon (lost his battle with Hodgkin's disease in 1983, aged 29) and Jamie Tape who passed away from Hodgkins at the age of 28 both wore the number 13 for Collingwood then there does seem as if there may be something there.

True, I didn't want to include Tape in the list in what was essentially more a light-hearted thing, he had battled Hodgkin's Lymphoma and then passed away in a car accident. I didn't know Gordon had also worn 13, another genuinely sad story, just read up on it.

 

[dazbroncos]

Hawks would want to lose #6 yes…

Get rid of any number association with Mitch Thorp…

Go Catters

 

[Lethality]

#5 - Peter Crimmins for Hawthorn.

 

[MC Extra Dollop]

I love US sports, but have no wish to take the retired number concept. It's not like the NBA teams are consistent with it anyway: you can pretty much forget having your number retired by the Lakers, unless you had a Hall of Fame career in LA; on the other hand, Miami actually decided to do this (and it wasn't an April Fool's joke):

The Heat have three retired jersey numbers: the number 33 jersey worn by Alonzo Mourning, the number 10 jersey worn by Tim Hardaway and the number 23 jersey worn by Michael Jordan, who has never played for the Heat. The Heat retired Jordan's number 23 jersey in April 2003 to honor Jordan's achievements and contributions in basketball.

The mystique over here isn't the number getting retired; it's the kid inheriting the locker with all the past champions on it. If we did do it, I'd say you'd be looking at the Bluey Truscott types, rather than Ron Barrassi (Joe Slater would be Geelong's and even then, it would be problematic, as he wore four different numbers over the course of 108 games). Even then, I don't really think it's warranted. There's numerous ways that you can honour a player without doing that.

 

[Tas]

We should retire #18, it has been a trainwreck for anyone who has had it since Carey, Atley has it now which doesn't bode well for him.

 

[Dirty Bird]

What was the colour barrier like pre-70s?
If it were like America and no aboriginies played in the VFL, I wouldn't be shocked if the AFL retired a number league wide the way the MLB retired #42 for Jackie Robinson.

 

[DrEvil_]

Surely #5 at Essendon, if only to stop them supporters from booing Stanton

 

[DrEvil_]

Agreed. The only case sporting wise where i think its acceptable is MJ's #23.

Simply put, who would want to wear it at the Bulls? I sure as hell wouldn't, the pressure that would come with it would be astronomical.

What pressure? Do you feel pressure wearing a pair of Air Jordan?

 

[checkraiseulite]

33 when Cyril retires.

 

[ItsAllAboutMe]

44

 

[jjsmitty8]

I'm the polar opposite. I actually like seeing a promising young kid be presented and opportunity to carry on the legacy of a number made famous by a great of the game. It shows faith from the club and gives the supporters something to be excited about. I think that in itself is unique and I'm glad we don't follow the path of other sports regarding this.

 

[Power Raid]

They are just numbers. Why retire them?

 

[Marlin01]

#3, couldn't be any other.

#24. Worsfold has won as many premierships for the club as Judd and Mainwaring combined. Having the MVP named after him is probably sufficient recognition though.

 

[4tone]

Quite a few international sports have retired jumper numbers, honouring the previous greats of the team (or the unfortunate passing of favourites).

However, right now I believe there are only three retired numbers in the AFL:
#1 at Hawthorn (Fans are #1)
#19 at Adelaide ("19th man")
#42 at Collingwood (Darren Millane)

Seems a bit odd that we are one of the few sports who don't follow this tradition.
If your team were to retire one (or more) guernsey numbers, never to be worn again, which would it be?

Personally I loved, D Millane the player, however blind drunk and driving then tragically killing himself by crashing his car into a truck, this should not be recognized in any way, his number should been shelved for the estimated time for the duration of his career. The circumstance's of this would of been different if he caused any harm to another person. Retired numbers should only for remarkable achievements on the field services to footy, i.e. legends like KB and Tuck for games played, Matthews for the awesome player and coach that he was. Sheedy for service to footy. Not tragedies away from footy.