Following Essendon Football Club’s 2014 membership slogan launch, Don the Sash, club historian Gregor McCaskie takes a closer look at the history of Essendon’s famous red sash.
In 1877, the publication ‘The Footballer: an annual record of football in Victoria and the Australian Colonies’, recorded Essendon’s uniform as follows: ‘Blue guernsey and knickerbockers, red and black cap and hose and red sash over left shoulder.’
This is the first reference to the club’s uniform including a red sash.
In the only two documented references to the club’s uniform prior to this, (both in the The Footballer, in 1875 and 1876) the club’s uniform is described as: ‘Blue guernsey and knickerbockers and black cap and hose.’ There is no reference to a sash.
The red sash predates the adoption of the black jumper.
Every known photo of an Essendon team, or Essendon players features the sash.
Sash-wearers
The club has had a number of nicknames, one of which was the Sash-wearers. It’s unclear when this name was first adopted but it was used in the early part of the 20th century.
Left or Right Shoulder
For some years the sash did not always appear over the left shoulder although it predominantly did so. By the early 1900s it was almost exclusively over the left shoulder with a couple of notable exception. In 1908 (or thereabouts) the reverse sash appears in a team shot. Then in 1947 players Keith Rawle and Bill Brittingham run onto the MCG in a finals game both with their red sash from the right shoulder.
Size and shape
While the sash has been a constant, its width, shade of red, its shape and length have varied. Over years the sash has become wider, and longer with it finishing further down the right hand-side of the jumper. Its colour has also varied.
