Footy's Forgotten Fashion
The [incomplete] history of lace up jumpers PART 1
Name a piece of performance sporting attire used 140 odd years ago at the origin of a sport, disappeared for 50 something years then returned for another 3 decades only to be outlawed by the biggest league in the land, whilst living on amongst the landed gentry for 14 more years? [as the kids say, I’ll wait]
Ross Glendinning impersonating Superman for the Kangas.
There’s a not so straight line from the ‘83 Brownlow Medalist above back to this bunch below [ who aren’t the Brunswick Bearded Barista Society launching another crossfit cafe in Northcote]. They are the Melbourne Football Club, posing before their 1890 footy trip to Hobart. [yes, Hobart was Vegas before Vegas was Vegas]
[clearly some blokes hadn’t got the telegram on footy photo posing technique]
That line, ok lets call it a thread… is lace up football jumpers.
Welcome footy people, to my quest to uncover footy fashion’s mysterious history and to procure myself a jumper to wear to the footy… that isn’t shiny.
Hemingway famously said
'Write drunk, edit sober’.
[he didn’t, some bloke called Peter actually said it, but Pete failed the fame test so Ernie gets it]
Anyway, I’m no bullfighter, and I haven’t made it to the bit after drunk yet, so address your grammatical corrections to my lovely primary school teacher Mrs Lawson, who [briefly] withdrew my pen license in grade 4.
The Backstory of a [now grown up] Boy
[still] Wanting a Footy Jumper...
I’m a Tiges man (Richmond, not Glenelg, not Hobart, Richmond), and yes currently enjoying the greatest 4 years of my footy supporting life, after the long suffering era - thanks for asking.
‘As far back as I can remember I always wanted to be a gangster’ ~ Henry Hill
Far back in my footy fandom, I always wanted a lace up jumper, a Tetley 1980 lace up just like my childhood favourite Tiges; Francis Bourke and the Ghost, Jim Jess.
Not framed, not signed, to wear to the G.
Mick, Ghost & Flea, 1980
In my fashionable footy mind, an undone laceup is the equivalent of Bond’s [no, not Alan - we still don't talk about his brief time at Tigerland] bow tie hanging around his neck early hours in Casino Royale. You with me?
Great, read on.
AFL Team of the Century wingman [say that again… in your best Luke Darcy voice], Saint Francis baulking a cameraman,
Punt Road Oval circa 1976. [side note: sponsor patches first appeared on VFL jumpers the following year in ‘77, much to the disgust of Jack Hamilton].
During the preseason of 2018, whilst still basking in the post coital premiership afterglow, I began hunting for a lace up in the way Helen D’Amico went after Bruce Doull in the ’82 granny [the same one that broke a 12 year old Tiger cub’s heart, the one that marked the beginning of a colder, longer winter than a junior footy fan could have ever imagined possible].
At that moment in time I couldn’t find a Richmond lace up on Ebay, Gumtree, any of those Facebook jumper swapping "yeah bro, it’s prelim match worn, I swear" sites nor at any of the many vintage wares shops I'd started skulking about in.
At this stage I'd concluded that if a Tetley Tiger lace up wasn't to be found, I was going to have to make one.
Then the internet served up this purple ugly duckling in a little town 3 hours out of Adelaide.
Know the club?
I gave the little old lady manning the counter at the CWA shop, my credit card over the phone - I want her name to have been Gladys, but who knows. She was both new to and quite sus of people wanting to buy anything over the phone and just between us I’m fairly certain she wasn’t rostered on the day they had ‘how to use the EFTPOS machine when card-is-not-present’ training.
But we got there - the following day - after senior retail management had given approval.
Seven days later this Wharfie purple and white thing that looked like it was straight out of the Gallipoli sprint scene (what are your legs?) arrived. With a note from Gladys, saying along the lines of "I’m just thrilled someone finally bought this” which could have been interpreted many ways, but I too chose thrilled.
So with Ronald Dale's if it is to be it’s up to me… ringing in my ears I conjured my best Carla Zampatti (RIP great lady) impersonation and embraced my inner footy fashion designer.
Turns out being the son of a seamstress has its advantages, after industry dues paid growing up as a pre-pubescent wedding dress mannequin aka human pin cushion, I felt like a rag trade insider from way back.
A pattern was made up, industrial sewing machine requisitioned and eventually the early 'Andrew Dunkley kicking out from full back' driving style of said Singer was in the rear view.
With each attempt, samples resembled less sack, more Sekem.
Meanwhile I'm in-and-under on any snippet of lace up jumper info I can find. [I won’t confirm-or-deny my relationship status at the time, but I'll let you dear reader, have a wild guess]
If you googled lace up football jumpers in 2018, only 4 pictures were served up, yes exactly 4.
Diving [Matty Lloyd style] into Big Footy, Flickr, Pinterest et al, joining every footy history group & club page on Facebook was my next move. The MCC library [guest pass for this commoner] proved handy as did reacquainting myself with how to use a microfiche reader. It turns out the footy world has not fully digitised it's back catalogue as yet. [C’mon Gil syphon off some of that GWS coin to the history broom closet, err department]
not actual microfiche reader used.
An old Tetley, then a VFL patch were procured and by version 4, I had a primo repo lace up jumper to wear. I’d booted 1 goal 3, but I’d finally kicked a goal.
[side note: I have a newfound appreciation for fashion designers, this textiles caper is much harder than it looks, and I’m comforted to know it must have been a similarly steep learning curve for Dannii Minogue when she designed her K-mart range.]
We'll return for the unveil, but now.
A History of Lace Up Jumpers Part 1
For the past three years, I’ve been uncovering the history of lace up jumpers, footy’s forgotten fashion (still am) from their revival in Adelaide in the late 1950’s and coming across the border with boom SANFL recruits to the VFL in the early 70’s.
All the while not realising I was stumbling across photos of the biggest fashion trend to come out of South Australia this side of Don Dunstan’s pink shorts.
Don in full sartorial science teacher splendour
[if you have this pic in technicolour send it to me, please]
The go with a lace up jumper was when done up tight, along the lines of a corset - just maybe not quite Catherine de Medici tight - players were harder to scrag and hold when tackling.
Lace ups were the jumper of choice at SANFL powerhouse clubs Port Adelaide and Sturt. At various eras in the 70s and 80s these clubs only wore laceups.
Double Blue royalty: Peter Motley and the Jumbo Prince, Rick Davies.
Ever wondered what 4 Magarey's looks like?
Russell Ebert in the Port prison bars*.
Lace ups were also worn in the glory days of state footy - the TFL in Tassie and in the WAFL [more on these over the next weeks - please send me any pics if you have them].
The lace ups VFL origins can be traced back to a Richmond training session in early 1971, when new Tiger recruit big Craig McKellar, jogged down the Punt Road players race wearing a lace-up Woodville guernsey.
Punt Road powerbroker Alan Schwab recruited McKellar whilst on a family holiday to the City of Churches [I'm picturing Alan getting the wife & kids including future Tiges, Dees & Heave Ho CEO Cam situated at Glenelg Beach then nipping off for dixie cups only to return with a freshly inked ruckman].
Cross Border fashion ambassador Craig McKellar roosting one in early Richmond lace up. [from the files of footy buff Peter McConnell]
McKellar's jumper was manufactured by Vic Hill - forever to be known as the Lazarus of the lace up - in the suburbs of Adelaide. Vic reprised them in the late 1950s after they fell out of fashion around the end of World War 1 as wool became the textile of choice.
Known as jerkins, finger breakers or as the man who went to clubs and measured up blokes and made most of the lace up jumpers, called them
PREMIERSHIP FOOTBALL JACKETS
Sportswear advertising 1970s style, eat your heart out NIKE.
Worn by top league teams.
This piece of straight-as-a-die advertising comes compliments of Mark 'Swish’ Schwerdt
[side note: Long-time home viewers may have now just realised my name is not Vic nor might I say is it Henry.
It’s probably best I keep a TISM-esqe nom de plume for several reasons, including but not limited to, there’s a trademark or two on these jumpers that I am not the owner of.
Whilst the clubs won't make them - I and others have suggested they do - the league also don’t want the likes of me bootlegging a few either.
Funny game indeed is football].
“We got them from a bloke named VIC HILL in Adelaide. A lot of us wore them - Royce Hart, Francis Bourke, KB & Sheeds. They were fantastic to wear, warm and hard to tackle”
~ from a Robbie Bones McGhie interview in the little paper, Sunday 21.3.21
featuring the legendary Rennie Ellis sucking on a dart whilst tightening the Adidas photo.
Bones continues waxing Sharpie on mullets, crest-knit shirts and Cuban heels. [side note: I'd listen to a Beers with Bones & Balmey podcast, needs to happen]
By the early 80s, and after the Big V took some hammerings at the hands of WA & SA, interstate players were heading to Melbourne en masse lured by the desire to test themselves against the best in the land week to week and encouraged along by the brown paper bags of the likes of Jack Elliot and the old school footy powerbrokers.
This next wave of players following in the footsteps of Craig McKellar brought their footy fashion with them and word spread.
Roger Merrett really was Thomas Magnum before Tom Selleck was.
Bruce Lindner brought his show to Kardinia Park
The Prez & Praise the Lord and pass the Mello Yellow
The Bus Driver, Denis Banks at Victoria Park.
The Hard Yakka is my favourite Pies jumper..
and I hate the black and white at a Jack Dyer level.
WoW, the Kiwi footy journeyman wore premiership wool at Royal Parade but lace in front of the Animal Enclosure at Linton Street [and I’m suggesting was denim clad at the Saints Disco].
Warren (who knew he had a real name) Jones,
being his cartoon superhero self at Moorabbin
Ruckmen took to the lace up, The General, Mark Lee at Richmond, David Cloke at either end of Hoddle Street and at 136 kegs, Michael Francis Nolan was the biggest bloke to ever don a ‘Premiership Football Jacket' at Arden Street.
A laced up Galloping Gasometer ignoring Ron and easing into the drought breaking
’75 Premiership celebrations.
Before he was the doing morning gags on SEN, KB kicked finals bags at the G.
Kicking 7 goals in a granny as a 55 year old = Statue mode.
Out West, Choco Royal fully laced & mulletted up at Footscray.
There was a trend of blokes nicknamed Choco sporting lace ups. More to come.
A young Micky Conlan on the tear at the Junction Oval in 1980/81.
I’d frame Tank in a Nanda Roys lace up too.
Big Ross Glendinning, after sporting a lace up at Arden Street captained the Eagles in their inaugural season at Subiaco in one.
The Medal in the Weagles Yellow Peril v Tilt Carter in '87.
[side note, it's footy travesty the Swans left Tilt hanging on 293 games]
I'll break down the lace up history at each club over the coming weeks...
Back To The Story At Hand
My newly pressed (yes I did iron it) Tetley Tigers laceup debuted at the London Tavern on Friday 6 July 2018, prior to the battle with the old enemy from Kardinia Park.
There are few moments in life when a forty something man experiences moments of feeling like a head turning 90’s supermodel out on the town but I can say in good faith dear reader, I now have.
I got tapped on the shoulder by every north of middle-aged, 1980 remembering, hardened Punt Roader. Blokes digging the elbow into their mate to check out the jumper 'nice lace up mate’ and the nod, the knowing nod was on high rotation.
The mighty London Tavern, a footy pub someone has to take you too.
Now I stand 6’1” [legit, not a Collingwood 6 footer] on a good day if I haven’t had too many the night before. But if you’d witnessed me amongst the yellow and black throng on the march from Lennox St through the backstreets of Richmond, past the dodgy Royal to the G, I might have been gliding along fairly happy with myself at Disco Roach heights.
Feeling my lace up had contributed to the Tiges 47 point victory, I committed to sporting it at all future games. It was my duty.
The beers flowed freely at The Richmond Club post and it was sometime later in The Swan beer garden after the umpteenth member of the Tiger army asked me where I’d gotten it I thought to myself, once again, the club really should sell these. I’d been told during my original hunt for a lace up that they were too niche for the Richmond and the traditional clubs to sell.
[side note: The footy merch offering in the AFL and most of the big sports tends to be a blend of styles - mostly sublimated and shiny - that sold in the NFL, EPL & NBA the previous year with the odd wool exception]. Clubs all order off the same white bread catalogue.
Homeward bound on the footy train, somewhere on the Hurstbridge line, the decision was made to make up a small batch for a few mates and what became some likely worded-up types.
It was late in the season and Grand Final Day is footy Xmas so haste was in order.
The VFL patch run came back a fraction more royal blue than was exact but there was no time for halting production when it's two weeks into the 2018 final series with blokes sending me 'are they ready yet' messages every other day.
Prelim Friday [Tiges v Pies] late arvo, if you happened to have been in Lennox St, Richmond you may have witnessed a stream of punters walking up to the kind of van that sits outside banks in heist movies with ATM'd cash in hand. After a brief exchange in the international language of footy pleasantries [Ted Whitten handshake, ‘how good are these!’, ‘reckon we’ll win tonight mate?’ followed by the departure standard: GoTiges! clenched fist jumper punch] walking away in a manner suggesting they'd just won the Springsteen backstage pass lottery.
Now you’re probably wondering just who were these bootleg buying blokes? Ladies and gents I present you with the cover band footy needs, The ZZ Tigers.
Shot prior to said prelim, clueless that just hours later a lurching long streak of pelican shit would pull the best Paul Salmon impersonation, since the Fish himself and crush us.
Appearing match day, in the front bar at The London
###
Roll credits
Twitter footy heads in particular like Swish, Mero aka @FootyJumpers, Cam Schwab and Rhett Bartlett have been the tutors of my lace up education, (and yes I'm going on Sale of the Century to test Fran in the finger breaker category) producing archaeologist-esque finds and helping joining the eyelets.
Most of what I've uncovered I post on instagram.com/LaceUpJumpers & twitter.com/LaceUpJumpers
(as the YouTubers say, follow & like, yes do it now. But no not on YouTube)
In coming weeks
I'll got back to the start of our great game and give a run through on why lace ups were the jumper of choice in footy's origin story and why they fell out of fashion after WW 1 for nigh on 50 years before reemerging in suburban Adelaide
And a yarn about Yabby Jeans, Dipper and a controversial Hawks lace up at Glenferrie.
Honour the lead
Do me a favour and forward this to one punter you know who’s interested in footy history.
Around the boundary journalism
Know any yarns (intended) about lace ups or have any pictures in scrapbooks on the shelf, hit reply to this or LaceUpJumpers@gmail.com / DM on @LaceUpJumpers on insta/twitta - I'd love to see them.