What is the best club jumper in the AFL? Vote for your favourite

Victorian footy clubs are steeped in history, each laying claim to some iconic guernseys. But which one is the best? Have your say in our interactive poll.

Which is the greatest Victorian footy guernsey of all-time?

You might be a true believer in the traditional black-and-white, have a love affair with the dark navy blue or be a rusted on fan of the broad yellow sash on a black jumper.

And you might hate any meddling with tradition – yes, you, ugly away strips.

So now’s your chance to vote for your club’s best-ever guernsey.

MAKE YOUR SELECTION IN THE INTERACTIVE BELOW:

WHY BLUES’ ONE-GAME WONDER CHERISHES M&M’S JUMPER

The day before his Carlton debut, Andrew Balkwill arrived at work to find a surprise in his Pigeon Hole.

A teacher at St Patrick’s Primary School in Murrumbeena at the time, Balkwill’s colleagues had left him a jar full of only blue M&M’s.

It was a cheeky salute to the jumper Balkwill would be wearing when he debuted for the Blues in Round 3, 1997.

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Carlton had done a $250,000 marketing deal with M&M’s to wear a one-off sky blue colour jumper for its clash with Adelaide, which created plenty of interest and mockery.

“I think it was the first time that any of the clubs had done anything like that – had an alternate guernsey for almost pure marketing purposes,” Balkwill recalls.

“As a young man you’re just more interested in playing, having an opportunity to play your first AFL game. I made sure I took every moment in – pre-game, post-game. I’ve still got really vivid memories of it.

“The M&M jumper was just the added hype around that game.”

Balkwill’s Carlton headshot in 1998.

Andrew Balkwill says he pulls on the M&M’s jumper every now and then. Picture: Thomas More College

Balkwill had longed to wear the navy Blue, but never got the chance.

The clash against Adelaide would be the only AFL game of his career, with Carlton legend Stephen Kernahan returning from injury and replacing Balkwill in the side the following week.

“I was very fashionable back in those days,” Kernahan said.

“I didn’t want to wear that colour jumper so I had a week off.

“It was not good. But it did raise a bit of money for the club. In those days, $250,000 was quite substantial when the salary cap was very low. But it looked ordinary.”

Now a school principal at Mercedes College in Adelaide, Balkwill still pulls on the M&M’s jumper from time to time and gets a laugh out of students who think it looks ridiculous.

“It’s still got the grippo stains on it. It hasn’t been washed,” Balkwill said.

“With two kids, it’s been good for stories over the years and showing kids at school. At my previous school I used it as an opportunity to get kids involved in footy.”

Stephen Kernahan didn’t want to wear the light blue jumper.

Scott Camporeale and Peter Dean wearing Carlton’s M&M’s promotional jumper.

While he had always planned on playing more than one game after being recruited from Central Districts in the SANFL, Balkwill isn’t bitter that his only game for Carlton came in an unusual jumper.

“I’m just proud I got the opportunity to play for Carlton,” he said.

“There’s always the would’ve and should’ve and things like that. But it is what it is and I had a ball.

“There’s a lot worse jumper’s out there that you could have put on.”

‘ONLY ONE JUMPER YOU WANT TO WEAR’

The AFL is a constantly evolving beast, but one thing hasn’t changed much in 112 years.

That is the traditional Carlton jumper, which Blues legend Stephen Kernahan hopes never gets an overhaul.

Kernahan played 251 games in navy blue and was a three-time club best and fairest and two-time premiership player.

“It means a lot,” Kernahan said of the Carlton jumper.

“I’m biased, but to me it’s the most famous jumper in the AFL. The Magpies would have something to say about that and a few other clubs. But it’s a pretty good looking jumper, a powerful jumper.

“As a kid watching ‘The Winners’ when I was having a beer at the pub in Adelaide on a Sunday morning, I always thought, ‘That would be a good side to play for’. In the end I was lucky enough to go and do it. I love the jumper and it’s never changed. It’s always been the same and everyone likes to keep it that way.”

Kernahan, who served six years as Carlton president from 2008 to 2014, said that while there had been plenty of alternate jumpers in recent years, the traditional version which has been played in since 1909 would always mean the most.

“I get it that we’ve got away games and clash jumpers and I like the Indigenous Round and the Rivalry Round when there’s a bit of a change for those special games to acknowledge important things in life and footy,” Kernahan said.

“But at the end of the day when you play in a Grand Final, there’s only one jumper you want to wear and that’s the traditional Carlton jumper. There’s no doubt about that.”

FLAG JUMPERS HAVE SPECIAL PLACE FOR PIKE

– Rebecca Williams

After a career playing at four AFL clubs, Martin Pike has a collection of playing jumpers more impressive than most.

The former Melbourne, Fitzroy, North Melbourne and Brisbane Lions utility reckons he has “kept most of them” from his 13-year, 247-game career between 1993 and 2005.

He hasn’t gotten around to hanging any up on the wall – that’s a job he might get around to one day – but they are stored away for safekeeping.

There are a handful, however, that are kept away from the others, with perhaps a few extra layers of wrapping for protection from the mothballs – his premiership guernseys.

“The premiership jumpers are the ones that you admire the most,” Pike said.

“They are that little bit different because of the badges … the Grand Final badge that they put on that you wear.

Four-club player Martin Pike in his old Fitzroy jumper. Picture: Jason Edwards

“They are the ones that you want to keep hold of. If I was to lose them all, I would want to keep the ones that I won the premierships in.

“I keep them away from the other ones, just to make sure they if I do get moth balls, they don’t go through to the premiership ones.”

Pike played in four premiership teams – North Melbourne in 1999 and the Brisbane Lions’ flag three-peat of 2001-2003 at the tail end of his AFL career.

While his premiership jumpers hold the most importance to him, for obvious reasons, Pike didn’t consider either of them as his favourite that he played in.

Martin Pike in action for the Lions in the 2004 Grand Final.

Martin Pike in North Melbourne colours.

Pike favoured the red, blue and gold of the old Fitzroy, who he played for between 1995 and 1996 – and was a member of its final team, which played at Subiaco Oval against Fremantle.

“I think the Fitzroy jumper was probably the best one that I played in, as far as I think it was probably the best looking outfit in the AFL,” Pike said.

“To Brisbane Lions’ credit they adopted that colour again when they played in Melbourne but it looks great, so that was probably my favourite jumper.

“I think they did very well to get both clubs that merged the colours right for back in the day.

“I think the Brisbane Lions jumper with the merger … they have done the best creating a jumper that all the supporters of both clubs could follow and think they are still part of our history.

“I’ve still got the last Fitzroy one, it was the centenary year so that is a little bit different as well.”

Pike considered himself a traditionalist when it came to club jumpers – he wasn’t much a fan of gimmicks and preferred the conventional strips.

“It’s good to have an away strip in some ways, but I like to see your club play in their original kit and the white shorts,” Pike said.

“That’s better than trying to come up with some marketing jumper that doesn’t look great to play in.”