New clash strip to be worn twice a year

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A NEW North Melbourne guernsey will soon be unveiled with an aim to preserve tradition but also avoid clashes with Collingwood and Geelong.

Wednesday’s extraordinary general meeting at Telstra Dome, which saw the club revert from being shareholder-governed to member-owned, was initially flagged for the presentation of the design.

With the AFL needing to approve the design first, that idea was shelved, but chairman James Brayshaw said he was pleased with the developments.

“Once they’ve approved it, then we’ve got to go through the proper process within the club of making sure everyone’s happy with it,” he said.

“We’ve got to take it to the players and coaches and the board members. It’s not something too many people have seen but we’re really excited by it.”

In recent years, the traditional royal blue and white stripes have been alternated with a solid blue strip with a kangaroo on the chest.

Scrutiny of the latter strip intensified in 2008 when North was forced to wear it for the round-16 match against Collingwood, despite being the home side.

The clubs had heated exchanges, but have since accepted that the Roos will don a clash guernsey when they meet the Magpies and Cats in rounds six and eight of next season.

“Next year we’ll have our home jumper 20 times and a clash jumper twice, which will which be a much better result than having a home and away mixture which our members have consistently told us they can’t stand,” Brayshaw said.

“We need to get the traditional jumper worn as often as possible and, when we play against Collingwood and when we play against Geelong, then we’ll have a clash jumper, which we think will look fantastic.”