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I’ve been wanting to write something about this for some time. I am big fan of Super Rugby, but there is something about it that does annoy me that is quite apart from the home town refs, long travel times and unfortunate time-difference problems. It’s more cosmetic and simple than that; it’s the ludicrous dominance of blue in the jerseys of Super rugby teams.
Contributor to 'The Roar' and veteran Sydney Morning Herald rugby writer, Spiro Zavos, has touched on this in his complaints about clashing jerseys. But while Spiro laments the poor administrate of the tournament that sees teams fail to wear away jerseys when there is a clear conflict with colours, I lament that such a consideration should be so often necessary in the first place.
Has anyone ever stopped to look at just how many of the teams in the competition feature blue prominently in their jerseys? It’s ridiculous when you sit down and and actually do a tally; the Waratahs, Bulls, Blues, Force, Rebels, Highlanders and Stormers all wear predominately blue (different shades, but blue all the same). Add the Brumbies in (who were wearing an almost full navy kit not long ago), and over half the teams wear in the competition have blue featuring prominently in their home jerseys.
Super Rugby is made of provinces with long held traditional colours, so in some sense it’s understandable, but not with our now acquisitions. In that sense I lay the blame heavily at Australia’s feet. Both the Force and Rebels could have chosen colours other than blue, but instead decided they’d do their utmost to make the colour scheme even more confusing than it already was.
What’s ever more stupid (and I mean stupid) is that the Force should be yellow and black, but decided AGAINST using their state colours because they didn’t want to clash with the Hurricanes. I’d have understood this if they instead decided to use pretty well any other colour than blue or red, but they chose … blue. What? You don’t use your state colours because you worry about them clashing with one team, and so then pick a colour used by half the teams in the competition? Why? Please, someone explain it to me, because it’s stupid to the point of being aggravating.
For the Rebels, I understand that Navy is Victoria’s state colours, but the Rebels aren’t Victoria; they’re Melbourne. Why couldn’t they play in purple or even dark green? Again, pretty well any other colour than navy blue would have been a better idea.
Some people may argue that Super Rugby has bigger problems and this is purely cosmetic. This is true, but the colour issue is emblematic of the deeper issues. The competition's administrators can't even seem to manage the uniforms of the participating teams, so it's little wonder they bungle referees, scheduling and game times.
Perhaps SANZAR could have a look at this and get the Rebels and Force to follow the path of the Highlanders by getting them to introduce a new away jersey colour scheme that isn’t just another white jersey (the automatic away selection for pretty well every blue team), but a unique colour that unclutters the tide of blue that dominates the competition.
Get the force to wear a different shade of yellow to the 'Canes and put the Rebels in dark green or purple. The Brumbies are still mostly white, so we can leave them alone, but at the very least the Aussie conference should really have more than two colour schemes now that there are five teams.
Contributor to 'The Roar' and veteran Sydney Morning Herald rugby writer, Spiro Zavos, has touched on this in his complaints about clashing jerseys. But while Spiro laments the poor administrate of the tournament that sees teams fail to wear away jerseys when there is a clear conflict with colours, I lament that such a consideration should be so often necessary in the first place.
Has anyone ever stopped to look at just how many of the teams in the competition feature blue prominently in their jerseys? It’s ridiculous when you sit down and and actually do a tally; the Waratahs, Bulls, Blues, Force, Rebels, Highlanders and Stormers all wear predominately blue (different shades, but blue all the same). Add the Brumbies in (who were wearing an almost full navy kit not long ago), and over half the teams wear in the competition have blue featuring prominently in their home jerseys.
Super Rugby is made of provinces with long held traditional colours, so in some sense it’s understandable, but not with our now acquisitions. In that sense I lay the blame heavily at Australia’s feet. Both the Force and Rebels could have chosen colours other than blue, but instead decided they’d do their utmost to make the colour scheme even more confusing than it already was.
What’s ever more stupid (and I mean stupid) is that the Force should be yellow and black, but decided AGAINST using their state colours because they didn’t want to clash with the Hurricanes. I’d have understood this if they instead decided to use pretty well any other colour than blue or red, but they chose … blue. What? You don’t use your state colours because you worry about them clashing with one team, and so then pick a colour used by half the teams in the competition? Why? Please, someone explain it to me, because it’s stupid to the point of being aggravating.
For the Rebels, I understand that Navy is Victoria’s state colours, but the Rebels aren’t Victoria; they’re Melbourne. Why couldn’t they play in purple or even dark green? Again, pretty well any other colour than navy blue would have been a better idea.
Some people may argue that Super Rugby has bigger problems and this is purely cosmetic. This is true, but the colour issue is emblematic of the deeper issues. The competition's administrators can't even seem to manage the uniforms of the participating teams, so it's little wonder they bungle referees, scheduling and game times.
Perhaps SANZAR could have a look at this and get the Rebels and Force to follow the path of the Highlanders by getting them to introduce a new away jersey colour scheme that isn’t just another white jersey (the automatic away selection for pretty well every blue team), but a unique colour that unclutters the tide of blue that dominates the competition.
Get the force to wear a different shade of yellow to the 'Canes and put the Rebels in dark green or purple. The Brumbies are still mostly white, so we can leave them alone, but at the very least the Aussie conference should really have more than two colour schemes now that there are five teams.