One thing that has become apparent since money has come flooding into Sport is how those who purchase clubs fail to comprehend what the club stands for. They often overlook its history, and do not even take the time to learn it. Yet this is such a crucial component to ensuring that the club is successful.
The same is true of National Associations. Here there is a depressing merry-go-round of CEO’s who step into a sport for one Olympic cycle or a little longer and then move on. Few take the time to understand the sport, its history and what it means to its followers and players. They bandy around the word “family,” but frequently all we see is as a an old-fashioned family in which the head of the family makes all the calls and is never wrong. This is not a nurturing environment. .
Of course this is not always the case, as some club owners and some administrators are very aware of what their brand is; however some are only aware of that brand in terms of its earning capacity and not what it represents.
Most sports fans will tell you that the one thing that you should never do is change the colours that your team plays in, unless you have a very valid reason.
One of the most iconic football shirts in the world belongs to Brazil.Yet that famous shirt was born out of what the nation saw as a disaster.
Heading into the last game of the 1950 FIFA World Cup all Brazil needed to be crowned Champions was a draw against neighbours Uruguay. The unheard of happened, they lost 2-1 at the Maracanã Stadium in front of nearly 200,000 fans, most of whom were Brazilians.
They would never play again in a major tournament in the white strip that they wore that day again. A competition was held in the newspaper Correio da Manhãto for a new kit for the national team.
A 19-year-old local illustrator named Aldyr Garcia Schlee submitted the winning design which featured a yellow shirt with green trim, blue shorts, and white socks. A strip that is now recognised and respected the World over.
Leeds United in England used to play in a kit with blue and yellow stripes before switching to their now famous All White kit when Don Revie took over as Manager in 1961. His reasoning was that he wanted the team to look like the dominant Spanish side Real Madrid. He wanted them to project an image of “elegance and success.” Under Revie they were capable of some sublime football and were certainly dominant.
Many other sporting clubs have changed their colours and some have been for good reasons and some for more bizarre reasons. Norwich City being a case in point. The club originally played in blue and white, but changed to yellow and green in 1907 after the club president took up canary breeding! Some claim that the switch related to the area, which was known for the breeding of canaries.
A recent attempt to change Cardiff City’s, – known as the Bluebirds – strip to red in 2012 when new owners came in was short-lived, reverting back to blue in 2015 after huge protests by fans.
There has been a huge amount of press been given to the news that India will be wearing a change of colour at the FIH Hockey World Cup which starts this month. Rather than playing in a blue or a white strip which has been the tradition for many years it was announced that the famous blue strip was gone, and would be replaced by a saffron/orange coloured shirt.
Traditionalists vented their feelings on social media. The Indian press lapped it up, and now there is a witch hunt to find out who made the decision.
The President of Hockey India, Dilip Tirkey has, it was reported, sought an explanation as to why this change has happened, and who authorised it. He also it was claimed had asked for details on which players and team staff were consulted. In addition documentary evidence of any testing that was conducted before the kit change was introduced.
Former India International and coach Harendra Singh came out on social media soon after the news broke offering a possible explanation as to why the change had been made. He wrote, “There is strong evidence from sports vision, perceptual psychology, and ecological optics that team identification becomes more difficult when the uniform color has low visual contrast with the background. {Pitch Colour}.”
He went n to say “A player wearing dark blue on a dark blue turf has reduced visual contrast. During fast transitions, this can delay passing decisions, as Hockey is a high-speed and high-intensity game, Teammates require slightly more time to recognize the player.”
It was a very detailed and scientific explanation and one felt that he was trying to calm the waters which were becoming extremely turbulent amongst fans and former players who could not accept that India would be playing in a World Cup and not wearing their famous blue shirts.
Head coach Craig Fulton gave an interesting response when questioned about the change by ANI News India when he said “I don’t want to get too complicated with it, it was a technical thing, at the same time we’re preparing for a World Cup, there have been other jerseys played in different tournaments, even Indian cricket played in orange in one tournament, but i think our focus is if it can help by 1%, you know from a technical point of view we’ll really try and do it to help our team perform and win and at the same time we’ve got a great opportunity in a new strip, and the guys are very excited about it.”
While appearing to try and throw water on the issue he also implied that he was involved in the process, although it was still unclear as to whether this was the case or not.
Interestingly it was around the year 2014, another World Cup year that the discussion of India playing in a Saffron/orange strip was raised. On this occasion a poll was held amongst the players who unanimously voted to stay with the traditional blue shirt.
In fact some fans even raised the introduction of the blue turf as another devious scheme by the Europeans to suppress the Indians!
No doubt the backlash is a result of what that blue shirt means. It is a privilege and an honour to wear that shirt even once. Knowing the greats who have gone before it would carry an understandable sense of pride to be one of only a select group to not only wear the shirt, but walk out onto the field of play and compete in it.
To the fans it is revered. It is an item of immense national pride and understandably so, as it was in those blue shirts that India dominated the sport and defeated their Colonial masters.
Just as the baggy green cap is the ultimate prize in cricket in Australia. As was clear when limited overs specialist Aaron Finch despite playing 93 One Day Internationals and 42 T20 Internationals was finally rewarded with selection for a test match, and earned the famous baggy green cap. His Test career would last just five matches but publicly stated that he had now fulfilled a dream he had held since playing in the backyard as a child. Showing that Test cricket meant so much more than the shortened versions of the game, as it gave him the chance to wear that famous cap.
The same would apply to many nations, such as the All Black jersey in New Zealand and the Springboks one in South Africa. Even shifting that famous emblem from the left side of the chest to the right caused ructions in rugby in South Africa.
The reasons the public become upset is because dreams are built around those national shirts.There is a history and a legacy attached to national colours that some fail to grasp. Nations are invested in the shirt and the team, as they are representative of the people on the world stage. Those colours belong to the nation. That is why you will rarely see national teams change their colours, it is also why this decision in India has upset so many.
As stated the national team, and its colours like the national flag are supposed to represent everyone within a nation. They are symbols that should bring everyone together. They have the power to unite.
In Australia and many other nations we see Governments leveraging sport to try and push social messaging. If the sport promotes a certain social message it receives money.
One of the messages that many sports have tried to push is that they are “inclusive.” That all are welcome. If you watch the national team play you will witness people from many different walks of life come together to support that team, many recent immigrants are part of that because they are grateful for the opportunity given to them by their new country. It is a way in which they feel a part of that new country.
The Australian Hockey team has opted to have their alternate strip be one with an indigenous theme. This has been the case since 2023. In True Colours we spoke to Tony Shaw the Director of Indigenous Services Australia who has worked with many sporting associations in Australia educating them about Aboriginal beliefs and culture. He has worked previously with the Australian Men’s Hockey team, as well as the AFL Players Association (AFLPA), the Cathy Freeman Foundation and AFL Clubs such as the West Coast Eagles, Fremantle Dockers, Port Adelaide and Collingwood.
The point he made at the time was, “A jersey design can be powerful, but only if people understand the meaning behind it. If the story and symbols aren’t being explained properly, especially to overseas audiences, then the message gets lost. Eight Aboriginal players in more than a hundred years tells us the system hasn’t worked. It’s time for more action, more investment, and a genuine effort to make the sport more accessible to our communities,”
In February of this year Hockey Australia announced that sports manufacturer Kookaburra would design a new kit for the Men’s and Women’s national teams. The Press release stated that “Athletes from across the Kookaburras, Hockeyroos and national pathway programs have been directly involved in the design process.”
It went on to state that “Player feedback was central to the development of the 2026 kits, with athletes calling for a strong return to Australia’s traditional green and gold across both Home and Away uniforms. Players were keen to reinforce the visual connection between the men’s and women’s programs on and off the field, while maintaining the storytelling elements that reflect hockey’s culture and pathways.”
Once again backing up the belief that players – rather than athletes – prefer to wear a traditional shirt that has historical significance and meaning.
At the time of the announcement it was also revealed that “The kits also feature a bespoke Indigenous design created by Kevin Bynder, in collaboration with Nova Peris, telling the story of Australian hockey from grassroots to the highest level. Circular motifs represent the Hockeyroos and Kookaburras, surrounded by symbols of players and hockey sticks, while smaller circles acknowledge clubs and junior participants. Pathways within the artwork illustrate the journey from junior hockey to national representation, completed by a kangaroo for the Hockeyroos and a kookaburra for the men’s program. The design is grounded in Country through the depiction of the Darling Ranges as the Waagyl (Rainbow Serpent), a creator spirit in Noongar culture, reinforcing connection, continuity and pride.”
While this is commendable it causes an issue among the very communities that it is aiming to promote, something that was highlighted to us by an Aboriginal individual.
There are over 250 Aboriginal nations or language groups in Australia today. This is mapped out by the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies.
There are up to 600 individual tribal groups based on specific traditional lands (Country) and laws.
At one time Australia is believed to have had over 250 distinct languages and a further 800 dialects. Today, it is estimated that roughly only 120 to 150 of these languages are still actively spoken, but the vast majority are critically endangered and many of these are only spoken by older generations. One source has claimed that there are only 45 languages now actively in daily use.
In many of these languages simple words can carry a completely different meaning in another. So too stories can have very different meanings. As was pointed out to us it makes it very hard to try and link all of these mobs with one theme. The only thing that is truly inclusive thing we were told is the Aboriginal flag, or believe it or not the Australian flag.So adopting the motifs of one mob excludes the others.
Surely the flag and the nation’s colours worn by national teams should be all that is required to represent the rainbow nation made up of people from many different cultures and countries, different beliefs and religions? Kowtowing to the whims of politicians is always a dangerous path to tread, for as soon as you have toadied up to one group another takes power.
In a sporting environment the key to success is to know your history. Know the importance a national shirt, or for that matter what the colours worn by a club mean to those who played in the past, who are currently playing and those who aspire to play.
The answers will reveal that some things should not be tampered with under any circumstances. For there can be no greater legacy than the shirt of a national team.
