The South African College gave Western province it’s blue and white hoops, but got them by accident it must be said.
Bishops were the first to get jerseys, not posh things at all but simply a practical means of reducing the number of torn shirts. They got tough jerseys, used by lascars on ships, unpleasant things. Later, they had jerseys made which were more refined and the manufacturer added a light blue collar.
The South African College decided that they wanted jerseys and went off to a supplier, Porter Hodgson’s in Adderly Street. The only jerseys he had in stock, in two sizes, were those with blue and white hoops – and, for that mundane reason, they became SACS’s colours. The school’s uniform came later than the rugby jerseys but adopted the same colours.
The origin of the SAC (UCT) colours, the now famous white and blue hooped jerseys of Western Province, was once recalled by Sir Henry Juta, a student in the late nineteenth century, as follows:
“When SACS first met Bishops, they were always dressed in their colours, a dark blue, while SACS turned out in whatever each man fancied or possessed. The result was kaleidoscopic. For this nondescript dress, a proper uniformity had to be established, so a deputation visited the Cape Town shops to select jerseys. It was only at Peter Hodgsen’s, at the corner of Adderly and Church Streets, that jerseys in sufficient numbers, although only in two sizes, could be found.
The colour was the now well-known zebra white-and-dark blue alternating stripes. As the annual contest with the Bishops was fast approaching, when the jerseys were found, they were bought, notwithstanding that there were only two sizes. Every boy had to buy one and the small boys grew up to fill their jerseys.”
It is also interesting to note that knickerbockers were in use until 1890, when the College team switched to long black shorts. These were club uniform until 1901, when a switch to whites, was made.
The changes from blue knickerbockers to white knickerbockers, and later to shorts were made due to the following reasons:
- White knickerbockers will look smarter
- On account of the presence of the plague and the fact that other people use the Newlands ground during the week, it is advisable that the knickers be washed after every match and having white ones was the surest way to ensure this.
- Scrum rash is thought to be caused by the friction that a forward’s face undergoes with his fellow forward’s dirty rough knickers and the present idea (shorts) seems the way to avoid that loathsome itch.
-Paul Dobson
