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Iain Payten
April 21, 2023
SMH
The Wallabies have agreed to wear a white jersey against Portugal at the Rugby World Cup, and may have to avoid wearing gold in the future against certain nations, as part of a contentious new World Rugby policy to accommodate fans with colour-blindness.
World Rugby foreshadowed a new policy in 2021 where they would seek to make life easier for people with colour vision deficiency (CVD), more commonly known as colour-blindness, by having teams change jersey colours when they are problematic for CVD sufferers, such as red and green.
World Rugby said one in 12 males and one in 200 women suffer from some sort of CVD, including World Rugby chairman Bill Beaumont.
The policy was expected to come into practice in 2025 but World Rugby have begun working with nations to avoid CVD colour clashes at this year’s World Cup, including Australia.
The Wallabies meet Portugal in their last pool C clash at the World Cup in Saint-Etienne on October 1, but Australia’s gold jersey, which reverted to a more orange hue in 2021, clashes slightly with Portugal’s main red jersey, and with their alternate green jersey as well.
Rugby Australia confirmed they’d be informed of the clash and had agreed to a request to wear an alternate strip for the pool game. Portugal won a coin toss to be the home team for the pool clash, as per custom.
The Wallabies wore a dark green First Nations jersey against Uruguay in the 2019 Rugby World Cup as a secondary strip, but nominated a white jersey as their alternate jersey for the 2023 tournament back in 2019.
Australia has had white alternate jerseys for most World Cups but never had to wear them.
Australia has only ever had to wear an alternate striped jersey once at a World Cup, due to a regular colour clash, when the Wallabies met Romania and their yellow jerseys in 1995.
The Wallabies have designed the white jersey to be another iteration of the First Nations jersey, however, with green patterns on the shoulders and on the midriff.
While Rugby Australia agreed to make the change with goodwill, some nations are unhappy with the prospect of having to potentially change their traditional colours often in the future.
A report in South Africa said SARU were upset with the idea of having to potentially switch to a white jersey when they play the All Blacks or France in the future - and possibly as soon as the 2023 World Cup finals - due to the clashes of dark green with black and blue.
“While SA Rugby supports World Rugby’s ambition to make rugby as inclusive as possible, we have serious reservations about the potential impacts the application of the colour-blindness regulations may have, and believe they need further interrogation,” SARU chief executive Rian Oberholzer told the Daily Maverick.
“For instance, it would mean that the Springboks and All Blacks would never meet again with both in their primary colours at any World Rugby event.
“The guidelines say that: ‘If only one person watching on the sidelines of the school field is having trouble following some elements of the game due to an avoidable kit clash, then rugby is letting them down.’
“But we believe that some or all of the 11 out of 12 males and 199 out of 200 women who are not colour-blind (on the statistical base presented) may also feel let down if the time-honoured traditions of the game are lost, setting aside the potential damage to the equity established in those colours and brands over centuries.”
The report said New Zealand were also not happy with the prospect of not being able to wear their iconic black jersey on a regular basis.
World Rugby and NZR have been contacted for comment.
Exile
Port Macquarie
"Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very mean and nasty place and I don’t care how tough you are it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard ya hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done! Now if you know what you’re worth then go out and get what you’re worth. But ya gotta be willing to take the hits, and not pointing fingers saying you ain’t where you wanna be because of him, or her, or anybody! Cowards do that and that ain’t you! You’re better than that!" - Rocky Balboa
Yeah nah
Portugal's strip is red shirts and white shorts. The red is dark enough that it shouldn't clash with the Wallabies gold (or canary yellow) even for people who are colour-blind, and the different coloured shorts add a further differentiating point.
I don't mind the Wallabies wearing the First Nations strip if they want to, but this feels like they are being forced to wear it when the clash is minimal.
Don't tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon
I do understand the Saffas point of view that the Springboks and All Blacks may never be able to play each other in their traditional kit.
It would be a nightmare for the 6 Nations. Each would only be able to wear their traditional colours when they play England.
When did colour blindness become a disability requiring this level of change? If they are genuine fans, they'll know which way the players are running and who they are, so they'd pretty quickly figure out which shading is which. Honestly, I'd have more sympathy for needing a little picture-in-picture person doing sign language so that deaf people can hear the refs calls, and as much player chat as would be acceptable for broadcast.
Utter madness. Bit over this constant woke BS and virtue signalling.
The best data I could find is that <5% of the population (perhaps 8% of men) have some level of colour blindness.
The WHO tell us that although about 20% of the world population have some level of hearing loss, ~6% have disabling hearing loss.
Many of us are very happy to not hear the commentary on TV and only a very small minority of crowds at Test matches wear "sports ears".
Last edited by andrewg; 22-04-23 at 13:55.
True. Now if only that could be explained to that bloke at HBF Park who doesn't seem to understand that you don't need to shout into a microphone at the top of your voice. Particularly when the ball is in play. Or possibly even more annoying; before the match is underway and the players are still warming up.
"The main difference between playing League and Union is that now I get my hangovers on Monday instead of Sunday - Tom David
This idea is bad and World Rugby should feel bad.
I had a problem distinguishing between the officials and the Tahs last week.
I thought they were all bearing blue 😉
Great game, Fucken battled right through to the 80!
Ah well, bring back the 1937 jersey for a one-off then...
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Japan and the Pacific Islands for Aussie Super 9's!
Let's have one of these in WA! Click this link: Saitama Super Arena - New Perth Stadium?
Skins ( no shirts) and Shirts …….
hooped jersey for alt in traditional colours... Who doesn't like hoops?