Field Theory by Hadyn Green

I feel I should comment to justify my vote for the Bulls' jersey. I'm not voting for their home strip. I'm voting for their fabulous away strip. I think it's really brave and wonderful of them to play in bisexual pride colours.

I'm voting for their fabulous away strip.

I'm kind of over rugby teams playing in pink after Stade Francais' series of amazing ones

That's a tough bracketing Hadyn.

Putting two good uniforms up against each other - Highlanders and something I liked but have forgotten now, and Fiji and Samoa then leaving dull match-ups elsewhere (Italy v Argentina....

Sadly, I agree with you on the A I G thing (probably a necessary evil, but dilutes the aura nonetheless).

That Bulls away strip should have a cocktail named after it.

This whole blog was worth it purely for the term "sticky boob panels".

I've always been puzzled how lil ol' NZ was able to co-opt the best sporting colours in the world. How on Earth did we end up with black? And at the same time, how did Australia end up with the worst?

These are the things that plague me.

I want proper collars!!

how did Australia end up with the worst?

The Aus colours come from their national flower- the wattle:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acacia_pycnantha

The mature trees do not have true leaves but have long, sickle-shaped phyllodes. These are shiny and dark green and are between 8 and 20 cm long and 0.5 to 3.5 cm wide. The rounded inflorescences are bright yellow...

I've always been puzzled how lil ol' NZ was able to co-opt the best sporting colours in the world.

I'm pretty sure we got them through rugby. Our first official colours were navy blue and gold (a colour design recently used in All Black training jerseys). If I'm allowed to cite something I wrote many years ago (pdf)...

In 1882 the first rugby team from overseas visited New Zealand when New South Wales toured both North and South Islands late in the season. In 1884, a New Zealand team, wearing blue jerseys with a gold fern, returned the visit, after winning all its matches in New South Wales.

In 1888-89 the New Zealand Native Team became the first team from New Zealand to visit Britain when it undertook the longest ever rugby tour. The team played 107 games across Britain, Australia and New Zealand during a tour that lasted 14 months. This tour was four years before the formation of the New Zealand Rugby Football Union (NZRFU which is now the NZRU).

Then according to Ron Palenski in A Century in Black:

In 1893 the NZRU stipulated at its annual general meeting that the uniform would be black jersey with a silver fern and white knickerbockers.

At New Zealand's first Olympics in 1920 (when they weren't part of the Australasian team), the uniform was black singlets with a silver fern on the chest, styled after the reknowned rugby uniform.

In 1893 the NZRU stipulated at its annual general meeting that the uniform would be black jersey with a silver fern and white knickerbockers.

So it all comes back to some suggestion at a board meeting in 1893. Little decisions can have far flung consequences.

In 1893 the NZRU stipulated at its annual general meeting that the uniform would be black jersey with a silver fern and white knickerbockers.

You don't see 'knickerbockers' in sports-apparel-marketing much these days.

Mores the pity.