Winmar jersey gets sale guernsey to combat racism

IT'S a striped jersey with a chequered past, and tonight it is set to make history again when it goes up for auction in Melbourne.

Nicky Winmar

IT'S the striped jersey with a chequered past, and tonight one of the most famous guernseys in Australian Rules football is set to make history again when it goes up for auction in Melbourne.

Nicky Winmar's St Kilda No 7 - the woollen jumper the champion indigenous footballer raised to show his black skin after racial taunts at an AFL match in 1993 - is expected to fetch between $100,000 and $200,000 when it goes under the hammer at Sotheby's Australia tonight.

Winmar's powerful gesture at Victoria Park, directed at taunting Collingwood supporters, was the catylyst for the AFL's moves over the past 15 years to stamp out racism and promote indigenous involvement in the sport.

The proceeds from the item, being sold by former professional American basketballer Tim O'Brien -- who exchanged jerseys with Winmar in 1994 -- will go to the Peloha Foundation, and will fund production of a documentary called Proud about racism in sport.

Concerns raised last week that the jumper was not the one Winmar wore in the match on April 17, 1993, were countered yesterday by Sotheby's Australia, which said signed and witnessed affidavits on the provenance had been received "and are sound". A spokesman said the documents were available for inspection by buyers.

Winmar said in a statement: "The jersey I gave to O'Brien . . . was the one I pulled up to reveal my torso and declare I was 'proud to be black'."

O'Brien, a former Washington Generals basketballer who met the West Australian footballer on a Harlem Globetrotters tour of Australia in 1994, said Winmar's jumper - scrawled with the words "To Tim. G'day mate. Nicky Winmar" - had spent the past 18 years on his office walls in New York and Los Angeles.

"It's a well-travelled thing," he said. "But for me this is not a sporting memorabilia. It was a gift, and it was difficult to know whether to sell it or not. After talking to Nick, we came to a mutual conclusion it doesn't do any justice sitting on a wall. We can do a lot more collectively through this project."

It is hoped the film, in which Winmar will feature, will be released in April next year, the 20th anniversary of the incident.

AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou said the AFL would not be bidding for the item, but the event formed a "lasting image within the AFL".

"Nicky Winmar's actions at Victoria Park were a symbolic step for the AFL in addressing the issue of racism in our game," he said. "Nicky, and others like Michael Long, stood up to say such behaviour was unacceptable."