AFL boss Andrew Demetriou insists a uniform clash between Melbourne players and umpires did not affect the result of last Friday night's match against the Western Bulldogs at the MCG.He may or may not be right, but late in a game decided by less than a kick, a Melbourne player wearing bright pink and navy blue handballed in the direction of an umpire who happened to be wearing bright pink and navy blue. Did that turnover cost the Demons the game? If common sense had prevailed, we would not have had this discussion.This incident, which occurred because the Melbourne Football Club and the umpires were both trying to do their bit for breast cancer support and awareness, was a one off. However, it is another example of where footy lags behind other professional sports when it comes to the simple matter of distinguishing between players, officials and others doing their jobs. In the old days, when the game was slower and less professional, clubs got away with wearing their traditional jumper, and either home (dark) or away (white) shorts to differentiate friend from foe.That game no longer exists. Even district football is faster than footy was in the dim past. Players are expected to act on instinct based on glimpsing a flash of colour out of the corner of his eye. That being the case, it strikes me as ridiculous that football clubs still can't get their heads around the idea of avoiding uniform clashes. At AFL level, it beggars belief that there are clubs with the inability to come up with a clash strip that completely distinguishes them from the opposition. Using "tradition" as an excuse is simply a cop out. Manchester United, AKA the Red Devils, have a black and blue strip to prevent clashes. Liverpool's "Reds" have worn blue, and white. So why is Collingwood incapable of coming up with an away kit that doesn't clash with North Melbourne's home strip?At least most other AFL clubs have come up with an adequate alternate strip.The Ballarat Football League is far from immune to the jumper clash calamity, with two of the worst examples this weekend. The cost of an alternate strip in country footy is prohibitive. Common sense isn't.Darley will wear a predominantly black strip with a flash of white against a Melton South team wearing a predominantly navy blue (almost black) strip with a flash of white, possibly on a muddy oval. That's despite the fact Melton South has a perfectly acceptable white alternate strip.Mercifully, Redan, with no white on its jersey, will wear maroon shorts against Melton on the weekend, the Bloods (with white in their jumpers) in the white "away" shorts. Why that can't be the case when Melton is at home to Redan (adding white shorts to a maroon kit to play a maroon and white team is just silly) just because traditionally white means away, is beyond me. Neither of those clashes can compare, though, with the round two match that pitted Ballarat in red and white vertical stripes against East Point in red, white and blue vertical stripes. Ballarat's 2010 striped heritage jersey looks terrific, of course, but against East Point surely it wouldn't have been hard to drag out the white one with the red V. That would have been common sense.
Gav's rant: clubs need to find way to avoid uniform clashes
