Wed 29 Apr 2015 | 02:06

WIN our latest limited edition Rugbydump jersey!

7 Comments

• 10stonenumber10

  11:00 AM 01/05/2015

  The old style shirts were a hassle. I started playing his fine game back in the early/mid 90s as a stick thin 5 year old wearing my brother's old shirts and shorts. Cotton shirts used to rip to pieces, very rarely was I actually hit, just dragged down by a handful of collar or shirt... as a required piece of school uniform it got expensive fast. Washing and drying it was a pain too, unless you did it at 90, it always stained and smelled damp.
  
  I'm certain I cut the sleeves off every shirt until the new gen ones were commonplace, for the same reasons kangaroos lick their wrists when hopping across the outback, soaking wet cuffs chill you to the very core. I was warmer in short sleeves and a wrap of wrist tape than in 2 long sleeved layers.
  
  Baselayers were a revelation. Expensive, but I had 2 that lasted me over 5 years (one for summer, one for winter). Didn't matter what I wore on top, I was always comfortable, at more or less the right temperature, and no itches. Can't say the same for the lucky cheetah print 2nd pair of socks though.
• larry

  3:17 PM 30/04/2015

  Hi: I played wing and fullback, and sometimes in the "centres." I'd say that on a rainy cold day when most of the ball was not going past the flyhalf and the forwards were doing most of the playing and fighting for the ball, it could get cold standing around for much of the match out on the wing or at fullback. Props in particular were liable to roll up sleeves or cut them shorter back in the day. I played in Central and Northern California, and therefore the variety of weather from one Saturday being 70F to the next being 45F (20C down to 7C?).
  I'm a referee nowadays, but I won't wear one of those polyester shirts. They itch and stink when they get all sweaty, and I get hot wearing them too.
• drg

  11:01 AM 30/04/2015

  Ah, interesting to hear that actually. What position do you/did you play? I've always been a forward except on the odd occasions and in 7's (where somehow I got landed with a fly half roll, I thoroughly enjoyed that!), so for me sleeves rolled up were always typical dress code.
  
  I actually do have one of those lycra (or whatever material) undershirts, but because I have the upper body like a gorilla (long arms), the sleeves are too short anyway, so regardless of whether I'd want to or not, I still have to roll the sleeves up.
  
  
• larry

  2:26 AM 30/04/2015

  I'll tell you about long sleeves. First, playing in California as I did, it rained a lot some winters, and didn't so much in others. They sure came in handy when it was cold, especially cold and windy, like it could get at the Polo Fields in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco; and during those winters when it didn't rain much, and more often than not it was sunny and warm, and the pitches were hard, they sure kept my elbows from getting torn up on some fields that had as much dirt showing as grass, though my knees might end up with a "strawberry." Yeah, when it was raining those old cotton jerseys could get heavy, depending on brand and if they were indeed "heavy-weight" material. The poly-cotton blends didn't get heavy, especially the old Canterbury jerseys that I wore on my old club, because they were mid-weight. Some teams had the old Halbro acrylic shirts, and I wore one during a tour I took with a club as a guest player. It felt itchy and it got hot wearing them, I remember. Those acrylic shirts didn't get heavy either. I really liked those old shirts, how they looked, and how tough they were as they'd last three of four seasons. Barbarian makes probably the heaviest cotton shirt in exisence. Halbro makes a good cotton mid-weight jersey, but no one in the US is carrying them anymore.
  One more note about sleeves: I see plenty of players, especially when the weather is colder, wearing long sleeve under shirts under their jersey, or even separate sleeves one can slide onto one's arms. To me it's stupid. Why wear two shirts when you can wear one with long sleeves?
  By the way, whatever happened to the 3/4 sleeve jersey, once so popular in Australia? I wore one in Australia when I was a guest player for Noosa at the Toowoombwa Rugby Carnival in '86. I have a Teachers Norths one that I traded a University of California Santa Cruz tie for. That style shirt was the shirt for a warm day: V neck, 3/4 sleeve, and light weight.
• drg

  12:46 AM 30/04/2015

  Don't get me wrong, collars are nice, but I don't get the infatuation with long sleeved cotton shirts of old...
  
  I remember at school we had long sleeve cotton... perhaps it was good perhaps not, but they were 'thin' cotton.. which meant we froze to death in the deep winter and the shirts weighed more than we did when they got wet... sleeves were always rolled up (even in winter) because they were uncomfortable to play in...
  
  My favourite shirt this decade was the England centenary shirt:
  
  http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/02/08/article-1249492-083432DE000005DC-510_634x697.jpg the one worn by wotsisface on the right..
  
  All that being said, RD love the shirt, if I win it I'd be thrilled!
• i_bleed_green_and_gold

  9:16 PM 29/04/2015

  Pick me.... maybe have a green and gold edition;)
  
• larry

  9:09 PM 29/04/2015

  At least they have collars and a placket. At least they look somewhat like rugby shirts used to look like, and they look much better than most I've seen worn on the pitch the last ten years. I'd like it better if it 1, wasn't made obviously out of polyester 2, had long sleeves and was made of cotton or a cotton-poly blend 3, not so tight-fitting.
  If I win one I can always give it away to one of my referee buddies who have taken to wearing these new-fangled shirts, which don't flatter one when he is sporting quite the "boiler" in the front.