Although not deliberately but still as an answer to the right-wing trashmedia, Australia will more than likely return to its familiar gold and green kit against Denmark tonight. Hopefully that should put a sock in the gobs of the dog ignorant.
After the Canada-Australia game in which Australia rose to the occasion in the most spectacular way that I have seen any Australian national side do in a long time, there were people on Twitter (all men, and all under the employ of either News Corp or Nine Ent Co.) who questioned why Australia was playing in the choc-mint kit and not the gold and green. Never mind the fact that Australian side was listed as the away side and was in fact in their away kit. Never mind the fact that for their previous two outings that they had played in the gold and green.
Never mind the fact that at the time, Australia was on 3 points and a draw or a loss, would have meant an early exit from the World Cup. Never mind that Australia played solidly, with a 4-4-2 which retained its shape under pressure, and which player marked excellently.
Never mind the fact that Sam Kerr had been carrying an injury and that Tony Gustavsson had made tactical decisions which ultimately proved right; both in terms of personnel and of team selection, to play around that problem. Never mind the fact that Hayley Raso had slotted the ball home twice before the end of the first half and always looked menacing in and around the edge of the 18-yard box on the right hand side. Never mind that Mary Fowler pulled out a goal against the run of play and looked perfectly at home in a traditional No.10 position. Never mind that Steph Catley had an amazing game in which she found and made space up the left hand side and that when called to step up and take a penalty, she drilled home a bullet that could have torn through the back of the net.
Never mind all of this. The right-wing trashmedia were apoplectic that Australia was playing in mint of all things. How dare they!
What makes this madder than a kangaroo who has fallen into a stinging nettle bush, is that Australia doesn't even have green or gold on its national flag. Rather, Australia has a defaced blue ensign with the Union Flag in the canton and some stars in the field. How we got to gold and green, is a daft story.
Famously, an touring Australian cricket team, before there was the Commonwealth of Australia, attended a dinner at which the team was supplied with a hastily delivered set of blazers, as that's what the tailor's had which could be delivered in a hurry. Green with gold piping is nothing more than an historical accident. After this, Cricket teams began to issue the baggy green cap when Australia played in test matches; as the only point of differentiation for teams that all play in white or creams.
Touring Rugby sides to England played in various shades of sky-blue, or white, or blue, until about the mid-1920s when the Rugby Union adopted gold, and the Rugby League adopted green. By the time that the 1960s rolled around, the Australian football team decided to play in gold because playing in green is mostly an awful choice for playing football in. Of the 92 football clubs in the top four tiers of English football, only Plymouth Argyle plays in green.
This brings me to the subject of the away kit. Away kits are generally a eye-diabetes inducing lollipop of colour. I have seen Australia play in dark blue, black, white, black, and grey, but very very rarely in green as an away kit. Playing in green, when set against a green playing field, is a bad idea.
What do I think about his mint kit? If it was an unsuccessful kit, then I would have considered this to be just another kit from the land of "Meh" and it would have sank beneath the waves of memory; only to be resurfaced as a question in pub trivia. However, this mint kit has with one appearance, given Australian football one of the biggest stories ever.
When needing a win, the Matildas played an amazingly organised and disciplined game and held out the Olympic Champions. When needing a win, the Matildas found the back of the net 5 times, to have one time denied for a spurious off-side; however nil-4 is still a riotous victory.
Here's the thing about national and sporting colours. They all have stories behind them. France's tricolour is the result of Paris' blue and red flag and a desire for peace after revolution (hence the white stripe). America's stars and stripes were born out of needing a distinct battle flag which was different to the British. Australia's green and gold came about by accident at a tailor's shop. Brazil's yellow kit was the result after the hideously embarrassing 1950 World Cup in which Brazil lost at home against Argentina, and they have never played in white again. Mint now has a story.
Mint was likely a marketing decision; to get some kind of green on the park which would stand out against the darker green field. Whoever picked mint can not have imagined that the Matildas' mint kit by accident, was on display in front of 75,000 people; on the night that at least in Australia, the roar was so loud that you couldn't help but hear it. This leads me to an obvious conclusion. The Matildas need the mint kit as a forever away kit.
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