Explaining Australia’s enduring love affair with vintage sportswear

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Across Australia, closets and cupboards are being curated with collections of vintage sportswear. The choice of sport can vary dramatically, as can the monetary value of a haul, but a major motivation is found in nostalgia for a time that has passed.

Sport provides good and bad memories, but a precious few are special. A formerly unloved piece of polyester or cotton can take its owner back to a season, a game, or even a moment they cherish. Or you can just look really cool and earn that knowing nod when you cross paths with a like-minded individual. In rugby, rugby league, Australian rules football, and cricket, we have explored what drives people to collect.

Cricket

Adam Collins has translated a lifelong love of cricket into a successful career as a commentator and writer and is currently working on the Ashes series. His collection of cricket jerseys transports him immediately back to his childhood, when he first fell for the game.

“Usually, people think of childhood as being a simpler time, and when going through and looking at these vintage jerseys or collections, it’s a way of connecting with that happier, easier time in their lives,” Collins said.

“I know that for me, that’s how I identify with tops, especially from that early to mid-90s era. It’s before you’re aware of just how difficult the world can be, I suppose, and the game has got a pure innocence to it that is pure to it and lacking in any cynicism.”

Merv Hughes appeals for a wicket during Benson & Hedges World Series match between Australia A and England in 1994 at the MCG in Melbourne, Australia.

What is the greatest Australia limited overs jersey remains a hot topic. The green side panels of the 1981-84 World Series Cup worn by the likes of Dennis Lillee and Greg Chappell set against the debut of the 1992 World Cup jersey, complete with blue, green and red-coloured shoulders.

For Collins, his pick for the best Australian jersey is unusual; it’s an Australian A jersey from the 1994/1995 season. The one-day series between Australia A, England, Zimbabwe and Australia represented a happy memory of childhood and cheering the underdogs from the ‘A’ side, including Ricky Ponting, Justin Langer and Matthew Hayden. The hunt for the elusive jersey became a quest.

“I was at an indie club in Melbourne about 10 years ago, and I saw a guy downstairs in the bar wearing an Australia A top,” Collins said.

“By this stage, I’d had some failed missions trying to get one, a proper one from eBay. I ended up with some not-real ones; they were sort of close to it, but didn’t quite meet the criteria.

Greg Blewett bowling for Australia A against Mark Taylor and Australia in 1995.

“I went up to the guy and said to him, I’d pay him, thinking that he may not have an understanding of what he was wearing, maybe he got it from a secondhand shop or something, but he wasn’t interested in that.

“Then I just outright said, I’ll give you 400 bucks because I just arrived with that figure in my head. And he said that he wouldn’t sell it for anything.

“And I immediately shook his hand and said, I respect that because I’d be the same if I had an Australia A top that was a real one from 94-95, I wouldn’t sell it to anyone for anything.”

Allan Langer in the memorable Brisbane Broncos jersey of 1998.

Rugby league

The owner of Retro Rugba Leeg, prefers to be known simply as ‘Retro’. His former job as a youth minister for over a decade has changed as he has switched to selling rugby league jerseys full-time due to increased demand.

‘Retro’ grew up as a Roosters fan, but with an appreciation for a range of jerseys across the game. Asked about the most requested jerseys, there is little hesitation.

“The number one in terms of current teams would be the Broncos, and it would be like the teal and the aqua jerseys, there was one in 1998, there was one in 2002, and then there was also the 1995 World Sevens jersey,” Retro said.

Jumpers of defunct clubs such as the Western Reds remain in hot demand

“They departed from their normal colours and had these teal or aqua ones. Everyone wants those, you can’t find them as most of them are player issue only.

“You’d be looking upwards of two and a half grand to try and get your mitts on one, but they’re just not there, you just cannot find them, and the other ones are more defunct clubs.

“So think like Gold Coast Chargers, South Queensland Crushers, (North Sydney) Bears, now the Bears are coming back in, Tweed Seagulls or Gold Coast Seagulls.

“Anything that used to exist that doesn’t exist anymore. Super League stuff, particularly Adelaide Rams or Hunter Mariners, that’s also pretty sought after.”

The South Queensland Crushers jersey, worn here by Dale Shearer, didn’t grace the fields for very long.

Across the world, there has been a huge demand for rare vintage soccer jerseys, Retro believes that rugby league is also holding up its end in the fashion stakes.

“Obviously scarcity drives price, and when it comes to things like Magic Round, that’s like the Milan Fashion Week of rugby league, everyone plans, if they go on for four days, they’ll plan what they’re wearing every day.

“And if their team’s not playing that day, they want to wear something really unique, something eye-catching.

“There’s this whole phenomenon called bloke core, it’s basically like where it’s on trend for even girls to dress as like 35-year-old men.

“So that’s what’s behind girls buying soccer jerseys, they don’t really watch soccer, but they wear them as a fashion trend, you wear the big chunky sneakers, you know, the jean shorts, that whole look, it’s kind of come out of the culture in the UK. And it’s kind of started to work its way over here, particularly when rugby league has leaned into that.”

Australian Rules Football

Mitch from Footy Finds grew up a Sydney Swans supporter and found that his hobby was able to become a successful business after realising he had a special skill in locating the rarest of AFL merchandise.

A prized personal possession of his is a training jumper that he believes was worn by Adam Goodes. He fields enquiries from all over Australia from fans desperate for treasured nostalgia.

Nathan Buckley wearing the iconic swooping magpie guernsey in 2002

Mitch noticed that his business took off during COVID, when people were deprived of live sport and needed an outlet for their passion.

“During COVID, me and my housemates started collecting vintage caps, and then that sort of got me into the world of reselling,” Mitch said.

“Then my mate goes, oh, you’re starting to find a bit of footy stuff, you should make another Instagram page that’s just footy, I was like, that’s not a bad idea and he actually gave me the name, and it just took off from there. I think it helped obviously with COVID because everyone was on their screens all the time.”

In the AFL, the Collingwood ‘swooping magpie’ jumper used from 2001 to 2003, which was used as a pre-season and away guernsey, remains popular, as does Fremantle’s iconic ‘3D’ anchor jumper which was the team’s away jumper between 1998 and 2000.

For Mitch the pursuit of vintage AFL merchandise is also about the quality given a lot of the items he located were made in Australia, unlike today.

“I just think overall, it’s (vintage memorabilia) is just better quality, it looks better, and it’s just a little bit more unique.

“I like having like stuff that’s unique, and you can’t get anymore, for me the modern merch just doesn’t hit the mark.”

Rugby

As a resident in Melbourne, Nick Christie is used to being an outlier as a lifelong rugby tragic. His collection of jerseys has gradually developed into a business, Backrower Rugby.

In his own collection, Christie references the Wallabies’ Reebok jerseys from 1997 until their World Cup win in 1999, as his most treasured.

Nick Christie proudly holding a vintage 2003 Wallabies World Cup jersey in Melbourne

The 1997 jersey, he affectionately refers to as “the dog vomit jersey” remains popular amongst collectors, while a blue centenary jersey worn for a one-off Test against England is one of the priciest, with one currently for sale for $808.

Christie has noticed a spike in customers when the Wallabies are winning, with his business at its most successful during the British and Irish Lions series and the Ellis Park victory over South Africa. Christie also understands the role of nostalgia in vintage rugby jerseys, given the shirts that often sell best are from a distant time.

Tim Horan in the famous Reebok Wallabies jersey in 1999.

“As a Wallabies fan, like, that’s the golden era, the late 90s particularly, I think the (satirical newspaper) the Betoota Advocate put out an article recently, which was headlined, people’s love of the Wallabies us really just a love of a time that doesn’t exist anymore,” Christie said.

“That kind of hit the nail on the head, even if it was like, it was a little on the nose. People love their teams, and they’re allowed to love their teams in any way they want.”

Christie has also noticed that the vintage jerseys he wears are the perfect icebreakers to meet new people. In his case, wearing a Toulouse kit in Melbourne.

“I was wearing a Toulouse jersey from 1996 the other week when I was out, which I’m not sure is a regular thing in Melbourne,” Christie said.

“I had about three French people come up to me and say ‘oh my god, that’s such a cool jersey, where did you get that?’ It’s amazing what a jersey can do in starting those conversations.”

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