St Kilda Wanted to Wear South Melbourne’s Colours Against Richmond in the 1939 Semi-Final. What Did War Change Before the Ball Was Bounced?
Richmond and St Kilda were preparing for a 1939 first semi-final when a much larger event crashed into ordinary football life: Australia had entered the Second World War only days earlier.
Before the teams met at the MCG, St Kilda president Dave McNamara proposed borrowing South Melbourne’s red-and-white guernseys rather than wearing St Kilda’s traditional red, white and black. The proposal was reported in the Melbourne press, then abandoned before match day. St Kilda ultimately wore its usual colours and beat Richmond.
The curious part is not simply that a jumper change was discussed. What had happened in those few days that made football colours suddenly worth reconsidering at all?
The full feature goes back to the contemporary evidence, the proposal, the decision not to proceed and the wartime context surrounding a Richmond final whose strangest story unfolded before the opening bounce.
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