Swapping the Baggy Green for a Blue VB

[westozfalcon]

I thought it was a disgrace that the Aussies wore blue caps with a VB logo in that West Indies tour match

Responding to criticism, the argument from the CA spin doctors was that not everyone in the side actually had acquired a Test cap and that they wanted uniformity.

Bollocks. It was a very tacky marketing gimmick.

The players who hadn't yet received a baggy green could have worn a white sun hat with the Aussie logo. After all they are still representing Australia, it's just not in a Test match.

[GWW]

Let me know when they do it in a Test match and then i'll complain.

[best on hill]

I thought it was a disgrace that the Aussies wore blue caps with a VB logo in that West Indies tour match

Responding to criticism, the argument from the CA spin doctors was that not everyone in the side actually had acquired a Test cap and that they wanted uniformity.

Bollocks. It was a very tacky marketing gimmick.

The players who hadn't yet received a baggy green could have worn a white sun hat with the Aussie logo. After all they are still representing Australia, it's just not in a Test match.

must agree with you falcon. at worst it should have been a wide brim hat as they have in the past. has all tradition gone with the corporate dollar?

[rogernumber10]

I thought it was a disgrace that the Aussies wore blue caps with a VB logo in that West Indies tour match

Responding to criticism, the argument from the CA spin doctors was that not everyone in the side actually had acquired a Test cap and that they wanted uniformity.
Bollocks. It was a very tacky marketing gimmick.

The players who hadn't yet received a baggy green could have worn a white sun hat with the Aussie logo. After all they are still representing Australia, it's just not in a Test match.

I know a bit about baggy green caps, presentation of them, right to wear it etc, from a previous job life. I can speak from experience to the end of 1999, and happy to be told if things have changed since then.

Baggy green caps were always awarded to players who had made tour squads to go overseas, even if they had not played Test cricket to that point. Obvious examples in my time are Wayne Holdsworth (1993 Ashes tour), Ricky Ponting (1995 West Indies tour) etc etc. Those players had the right, and did, to wear their caps in tour games, because they were representing an Australian XI. However, it was also viewed they should never wear their caps when subbing in a Test match, because they hadn't actually been part of a Test, and not earned the right to wear it.
Every player who was picked for an Australian test team / tour party, up to the end of 1999 was always given a baggy green as part of his tour kit. Trust me, I was there to see them hand them out, and the first thing they did was try them on.
However, for the public, it was formally re-presented on the morning of their first Test match, and the player himself took that moment as the time where he could wear it in a Test.
On the weekend, the team should never have worn a sponsor cap. If they have now changed their idea and say you can't wear the baggy green until you've earned it, that's fine, but those guys should have been hatless, or worn a floppy with the coat of arms on it.

[best on hill]

I thought it was a disgrace that the Aussies wore blue caps with a VB logo in that West Indies tour match

Responding to criticism, the argument from the CA spin doctors was that not everyone in the side actually had acquired a Test cap and that they wanted uniformity.
Bollocks. It was a very tacky marketing gimmick.

The players who hadn't yet received a baggy green could have worn a white sun hat with the Aussie logo. After all they are still representing Australia, it's just not in a Test match.

I know a bit about baggy green caps, presentation of them, right to wear it etc, from a previous job life. I can speak from experience to the end of 1999, and happy to be told if things have changed since then.

Baggy green caps were always awarded to players who had made tour squads to go overseas, even if they had not played Test cricket to that point. Obvious examples in my time are Wayne Holdsworth (1993 Ashes tour), Ricky Ponting (1995 West Indies tour) etc etc. Those players had the right, and did, to wear their caps in tour games, because they were representing an Australian XI. However, it was also viewed they should never wear their caps when subbing in a Test match, because they hadn't actually been part of a Test, and not earned the right to wear it.
Every player who was picked for an Australian test team / tour party, up to the end of 1999 was always given a baggy green as part of his tour kit. Trust me, I was there to see them hand them out, and the first thing they did was try them on.
However, for the public, it was formally re-presented on the morning of their first Test match, and the player himself took that moment as the time where he could wear it in a Test.
On the weekend, the team should never have worn a sponsor cap. If they have now changed their idea and say you can't wear the baggy green until you've earned it, that's fine, but those guys should have been hatless, or worn a floppy with the coat of arms on it.

great post that should be the end of that

[brod]

I heard that it originted that Brad Haddin did not want to wear a Baggy Green cap, that he thought he had not "earned" yet, and wanted to wait until the First Test to first wear it. He was not comftable in wearing a floppy white hat while keeping and so to have a unifrom cap they all wore the sponsor hat...that being said he just didnt wear a hat in the second innings and other players wore floppy hats or nothing (NO VB HATS)

[rogernumber10]

I reckon the fact that nobody wore the VB hat in the second innings meant the message got through pretty smart that it was a very very poor move, and poorly received. These guys are in fact representing Australia and not a beer brand. Wear what you like at training, when you travel etc etc etc, but when you're actually playing another team under the guise of Australia, you don't wear anything but the proper kit.

I'm more than happy for Brad Haddin to say he didn't feel comfortable in a baggy green he hadn't yet earned -- great call -- but it's a terrible call to say I'll go the beer hat instead. On that logic, we could have asked some old-time beer monsters like Booney or Merv to wear the caps with straws on them, connected to the actual beers, when they had to grind out meaningless games in Durham, Scotland, Wales on various Ashes tours, just to support XXXX when they were the Aussie sponsor.

[heater31]

I heard that it originted that Brad Haddin did not want to wear a Baggy Green cap, that he thought he had not "earned" yet, and wanted to wait until the First Test to first wear it. He was not comftable in wearing a floppy white hat while keeping and so to have a unifrom cap they all wore the sponsor hat...that being said he just didnt wear a hat in the second innings and other players wore floppy hats or nothing (NO VB HATS)

full marks to Haddin for taking this view. The beer caps were a serious error in hindsight and management were caught on the hop. for future tours couldn't they issue ODI style caps to wear in tour games.

[westozfalcon]

Make no mistake about it Brad Haddin's supposed stance was a convenient excuse for Cricket Australia to justify kowtowing to a sponsor and pushing the boundaries of acceptability.

I didn't see the game on TV but presumably Brad Haddin wore a helmet when batting.

I'm just thinking if you wear the official Australian bottle green helmet with the coat of arms when batting what's the difference between that and the baggy green cap?

[hearts on fire]

Personally i have no problem whatsoever with the Australian's wearing the VB hats or the floppy whites.

If they did this in a Test match, i would be outraged but this is a meaningless match, no harm done!

[brod]

Make no mistake about it Brad Haddin's supposed stance was a convenient excuse for Cricket Australia to justify kowtowing to a sponsor and pushing the boundaries of acceptability.

I didn't see the game on TV but presumably Brad Haddin wore a helmet when batting.

I'm just thinking if you wear the official Australian bottle green helmet with the coat of arms when batting what's the difference between that and the baggy green cap?

Helmet and Baggy Green are pretty different..no symbolism of Aussies in the 1940s ect with the helmet..