Though NSW and Queensland have been meeting on the rugby field since 1882, the traditional colours – sky blue (NSW) and deep red maroon (Queensland) – were not settled until 1895.
written by Sean Fagan for www.JottingsOnRugby.com
From the first clash in 1882, the colour of each colony (later state) was regularly varied.
In the late 1880s the ‘Queensland Blues’ were playing against the ‘NSW Reds’!
New South Wales Waratahs
After turning out in navy blue for their first ever game in 1882 (against Queensland at the SCG), the following seasons saw the NSW side wearing ‘heather green’, which was reportedly adopted as the official colour of the Southern Rugby Football Union (later NSWRU). This green jersey also included a white southern cross across the chest.
By 1887 the NSW team was wearing red scarlet jerseys which they appear to have used up to 1891. The choice of red is seemingly based upon following the colour of the Wales jersey, as the badge included a dragon symbol.
In 1892 the NSWRU decided its team would wear jerseys of “Cambridge blue” – though the source of the inspiration for colour choice was not recorded. The likely reason was that the Union was following the lead of the NSW cricket team who wore light blue shirts (all white clothing was not yet custom in cricket).
By 1897 the playing strip was specified as: “navy-blue pants, light-blue jersey” and this mix of the blue colours of Oxford and Cambridge Universities has remained in place ever since.
Queensland Reds
The first Queensland team (1882) played a year before the Northern Rugby Football Union (later called QRU) was formed. The team wore the red and black jerseys of the Brisbane F.C. for their first match against NSW in Sydney.
In 1884 Queensland took on the chocolate coloured jersey of the (Brisbane) Wanderers club. The next change came in 1886 when the colony wore blue. The blue jersey included a large ‘N’ and ‘U’ inter-twined over the chest. In 1887 the chosen kit was a white jersey and shorts, with red socks.
The (dark) blue jersey returned for inter-colonial clashes against NSW in 1888 and appears to have been retained until it was last used in 1894 – indeed from 1892-94 the annual inter-colony matches saw both teams wearing blue jerseys in the manner of the annual Oxbridge rugby match convention (Queensland in Oxford’s dark blue / NSW in Cambridge’s light blue).
The white jersey was not totally discarded – it was used as a representative jersey against Great Britain (1888, along with a large ‘Q’ badge) and New Zealand (1893).
The revered deep red (or maroon) jersey made its first appearance in 1895, and the colour choice finally became permanent. Brisbane newspapers through the late 1890s state the official jersey colour as “maroon”.
© Sean Fagan
Sean Fagan, The Rugby Rebellion
Ian Diehm, Red! Red! Red! The Story of Queensland Rugby
NSWRU / ARU archives
written by Sean Fagan for www.JottingsOnRugby.com
