The whole plastic thing about the Cows is a bit 90s. I mean, they're almost 25 years old now. The club has a history. Not a long one, but it's something.
I think they went for the state jumper to try and reassert themselves to the public as a South Australian brand. The AFL draft system has eroded their brand which, like it or not, was built upon the foundation of representative football. The innaugral squad was built through a combination of exclusive access to SANFL players and the treatment of SA players in the VFL/AFL at the time as the contemporary equivelent of unrestricted free agents. In short - the team was actually made of South Australians. It WAS representative football. To someone who was actually there it looked like it, sounded like it, felt like it. And yes, there were Port fans there feeling the same thing. Port's crowds halved when the Crows entered the AFL for the same reason as everyone else.
Now the AFL is stepping in to lecture us on the sanctity of the SA state jumper. I mean, f**k off. So much respect for the jumper that they saw to it that it wouldn't be worn ever again. Lecture someone else.
South Australians want to see that jumper again, and they want it to play for something meaningful. So far the only organisation that saw fit to recognise that were the Cows. Oh and Port, who remodelled their jumper on the state jumper, just changed the colours around.
Oh I see what you did there...
