Competition "What If" Wednesdays - Time Traveller Sneezes Edition: Week 61 - Swan Districts to the AFL - 1991

[cannavo]

Welcome to ...

Marty McFly has done himself a mischief and has altered the course of Aussie footy in ways you can't imagine!
Get ready to dive into alternate futures!​

What is “What If” Wednesdays?
"What if" Wednesdays was a competition comprised of real-life football team proposals, merger propositions, former teams and a few hypotheticals brought to life by the FJGD community (eg. If the Melbourne-Hawthorn merger went ahead, if University/Fitzroy/Bris Bears stuck around, if Gold Coasts nickname were the Lifesavers etc.) it became this boards longest running competition (8/9/14 – 29/5/19). It has been revived under a meme cultured spin-off! Time traveller sneezes memes are all about butterfly effects on various things caused by a time traveller altering the past by means of a simple sneeze.

What’s new this time around?
This time or these times around, we will be flung into various timelines where our universes former teams, mergers, relocation proposals never existed or had its outcome altered slightly or severely! The list below is comprised of alternate timelines and the butterfly effect caused by our cheeky time traveller. Your job is to envision this outcome! Each comp will run for 1 week and the poll will run for 3 days. The winner picks the next team from the list below!

There are some routes you can go by if you're stuck:

• The chosen team has entered their designated competition in the current year (unless specified) along with the current teams OR
• You may design kits at any point in time unless strictly specified OR
• Accompany your kits with a backstory on how the team came to be to help better envision the outcome
• Use Google to search the history and stories behind what is being altered
• There's no shame in using AI here, sometimes ideas just can't put into pixels right away so AI is there to help you with brainstorming ideas for your jumper(s)/logo and the backstory

The bare minimum for an entry is:

• A home kit with just the front of the jumper showing
  (Back, shorts, socks are optional)
• OPTIONAL Away kit (Home with white shorts is acceptable)
• OPTIONAL 3rd kit and beyond!
  • Clash kit
  • Heritage kit
  • Other kit
• OPTIONAL Club Logo (Highly Encouraged!)

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Let’s see what has happened this time


Our Timeline: Swan Districts compete in the WAFL
Altered Timeline: They end up switching leagues and enter the AFL in 1991​

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Basic Rules (Please read carefully):

1. Kits and Logo must be in 1 picture (Makes polls easier to fit everything in)
2. The kits can consist of just a Jumper's front (Back, Shorts and socks are optional but encouraged to give a full identity effect)
3. Minimum 1 kit and there's no limit to how many kits you can include after that
   eg. Home and Away and/or Clash and/or Heritage and/or Others
   1. Designing a Home and away/clash kit is highly encouraged for that authentic feel and to develop that alternate universe experience
4. Attempt to stay close to the altered timeline mentioned above
5. Directly copying current football team kits/logos are not allowed
6. For the logo, you may take inspiration from and/or alter any existing sports logo to drive home your design. Also logos made from scratch are more than welcome!
7. Maximum 2 entries per person
8. Any questions at all, please ask!

Specific Category Rules for this week:

League Transfers Rules:

1. The entering team may need to alter their kit and/or logo to not directly copy or closely bear a resemblance to any of the teams in that league
2. Attempt to create a slight variant of the entering club to better visualise that alternative timeline look, whether it’s the addition of a colour or 2, a redesign or a name change

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Alternate timelines with categories
Bold - Completed with poll results

Mergers

• Melbourne - St Kilda merger (1995)
• Tasmania - Fitzroy Merger
• Sydney - Fitzroy Merger
• Gold Coast Suns seek merger with Sharks to stay alive
• Fitzroy - Brisbane (Fitzroy Bears)
• Tasmania agree to merger with North Melbourne
• Port Melbourne granted VFL licensed but only if they merge with Fitzroy
  • Tiebreaker Poll
• Williamstown merge with Footscray – 1989
• Norwood / Port Adelaide AFL merger (1991)
• South Melbourne - Footscray merger
• South Melbourne - North Melbourne merger

Relocations

• Saints relocate to NZ
• Essendon relocate to NT to become Alice Springs
• Hawthorn relocate to Canberra
• Fitzroy relocate to Canberra
  • Tiebreaker Poll
• Fitzroy relocate to Brisbane in the 80s (Prior to the Bears existing)
• South Melbourne relocate to Tasmania
• South Melbourne relocate to Canberra
• Fitzroy complete move to North Sydney - 1980
• Footscray relocate to Queensland - 1981
• Fitzroy relocate to Perth - 1981
• GWS relocate to Canberra
• Melbourne relocate to Mars
  • Tiebreaker Poll
• Fitzroy relocate to South Africa - 1997
  • Tiebreaker Poll

League transfers

• West Coast Eagles to the SANFL
• Brisbane Bears to the SANFL
• Fitzroy to the SANFL - 1981
• Footscray to the SANFL - 1981
• Adelaide Uni to the SANFL - 1991 (cannot use only black and white)
• Collingwood to the SANFL - 1997
• East Perth to the VFL - 1980
• Norwood to the AFL
• Launceston to the AFL
• Essendon to the WAFL
  • Tiebreaker Poll
• Perth to the AFL (Merger of Perth, East Perth & West Perth)
• Glenelg to the AFL - 1997
• Geelong West to the VFL - 1976
• Swan Districts to the AFL - 1991

New Teams

• Port Adelaide crows join the AFL - 1991
• Papua New Guinea enter the AFL
• Limestone Coast join the SANFL
• Mount Gambier join the SANFL
• Sydney enter as a separate team (Bloods stay in Vic)
• Darwin join the AFL - 1991
• Public Service Football Club join the VFL
• Gold Coast fold, new North Queensland team take their place - 2030
• NZ enter 90's State of Origin
• Broome become the 2nd WA AFL team
  • Tiebreaker Poll
• Gold Coast hijack Brisbane Bears VFL entry - 1986
• Hobart to the AFL (Can't use Devils branding)
• Newcastle team to the AFL
• Southwest of WA to the AFL
• Tea Tree Gully & Modbury merge to make tenth SANFL team (2014)

Colour Corner

• West Coast Eagles VFL kits altered due to Williamstown sharing the same colours
• GWS keep their 'Team GWS' colours
• Port Adelaide retain their Magenta
• Adelaide's hurried concept
  (Adelaide board hastily attain clothes from local sport store and use the 5 colours to design their new AFL team)
• Fremantle keep Red & Green, remove Purple & White
• Williamstown join the VFL in 1925 - design a late '90s/early '00s clash/away guernsey for them (1995-2005)

Specials

• Hawthorn release Ochre jumper - 2000
• Skittle's sponsor Essendon and release special guernsey
• Heidelberg Warriors align with Collingwood for 1 season - 1996
• Melbourne remain as 'The Invincible Whites'
• Collingwood remain as 'Britannia'
• Carlton remain as 'The Cockatoos'
• Hawthorn remain as 'The Mayblooms'
• BigFooty X Gold Coast Suns (BigFooty becomes the majority stakeholder, and primary sponsor of Gold Coast, requesting a new jumper set with the deal)

Cross-Code Craze

• Newcastle Knights to the VFL - 1988
• Cronulla Sharks to the AFL - 1998
• South Sydney Rabbitohs to the AFL

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​

 

[cannavo]

With talks of South Australia entering a team into the now national competition, a twist of fate saw a second WA team enter instead! The honour went to the Swan Districts who were given their AFL license to enter the 1991 season. However 2 massive roadblocks made the transition anything but smooth. The 2 major conflicts were that their jumper was a near exact copy of Collingwood's (albeit just the front) and that the 'Swans' name belonged to Sydney which carried over from South Melbourne.

The board got to brainstorming ways to get around the issue and resorted to a change of colours and club name. Since West Coast's name was made to encompass all of WA, the Swan Districts board opted to use their local suburb name Bassendean and keeping true to the Swan River roots, the native Duck was chosen as the new mascot. The council of Bassendean is known for keeping their town liveable and environmentally friendly for future generations, and staying true to that, the club opted to swap the white for green. The traditional all black back had the stripes added to help alleviating some clashes with the other clubs. They were allowed to continue using the Pepsi sponsor despite the AFL being sponsored by Coca-Cola. The use of green in the competition was the first of its kind and was a true standout.

 

[terrybull]

Swan Districts Ducks

Not being able to use their original colours or moniker. Swan Districts looked at the Swans closest relatives - Geese and Ducks.

Their first choice Geese with grey and white stripes were vetoed by Collingwood.

So they decided to go with the Ducks and use the colours of this bird.

The result were black, white, two shades of green and two shades of brown making it the first six coloured jumper in the AFL.

• made with the help of AI under my instructions

 

[SilvaComet]

Swan Districts' admission into the AFL in 1991 sparked tension with both the Sydney Swans and Collingwood, each claiming elements of the new WA club's aesthetic as echoes of their own. Sydney expressed concern over the Swans' connection, while Collingwood noted the black-and-white stripes tradition. Ironically, the new Bassendean guernsey draws inspiration directly from Collingwood’s Escort Cup match against Swan Districts in the 1980s — a symbolic turning point where the black and white stripes clashed in one of WA’s most iconic football moments. In many ways, the Pelicans' new look completes a historical circle: a respectful nod to its origins, a cheeky wink to its rivals, and a confident stride into a vibrant new identity.

 

[DAT8]

Swan Districts Black Ducks

 

[Prison bar Pete]

Swan Districts Black Ducks
View attachment 2469596

Ah, the famous long-necked black duck!

 

[_Damo_]

Maali is the Noongar word for the black swan. So, if in this universe Collingwood is as letigous as they are in THIS universe, and Sydney is is even half that, lets find the most sensible and appropriate work around possible. An indigenous name, some bonus colours, and bam - Swan Districts Maalis

 

[terrybull]

Swan Districts Geese

The first suggestion was luckily for them a big no from Collingwood.

 

[DAT8]

Had another idea this morning.

Have incoporated a stylised swan river into the jumper and gone to an ochre base.