Founded in 1869 by James Henry Gardiner, the North Melbourne Football Club is one of the oldest professional football clubs in Australia. The colours blue and white have been synonymous with North Melbourne as far back as 1874. Permitted entry into the Victorian Football League in 1925, the club would adopt the now-famous white jumper with royal blue vertical stripes in 1933. It quickly became one of the most powerful looks in the VFL, with the likes of Syd Dyer, Sel Murray, Les Foote, Jock Spencer and Allen Aylett just some of the names to don the famous stripes during the early years of the club's existence in the VFL.

After fifty years, North Melbourne made their mark in the seventies, winning their first premiership in 1975, before adding a second flag in 1977. After a brief period of decline, North Melbourne became the strongest team of the 1990s as the VFL became a national competition, making eight consecutive finals appearances. This included three Grand Finals which yielded a further two premierships under captain Wayne Carey, the greatest player in the history of the league.

These years also saw the emergence of Brent Harvey, who would go on to play a league-record 432 career games in the blue and white stripes. During the 2011 season, North Melbourne introduced a tertiary jumper, inversing the colours to make a predominantly blue jumper with white stripes. This became the club's official clash guernsey for a number of years before, inexplicably and without any input from members, members the club claims to value so highly, the clash jumper was instated as the new home strip for the 2017 season and beyond.

This direction flies in the face of club tradition, tradition built over nearly 85 years. Tradition built by premiership coaches Ron Barassi and Denis Pagan, tradition built by Glenn Archer, who bled for the jumper for over 300 games, tradition built by Noel Teasdale, Keith Greig, Malcolm Blight and Ross Glendinning, players who won Brownlow Medals wearing the white jumper with blue stripes. 

I politely request to you, Ben Amarfio, as chief executive officer of the North Melbourne Football Club, to action a request to revert the home jumper back to the famous white-based jumper with blue stripes, worn by the club between 1933 and 2016. With the club's partnership with official apparel sponsor Canterbury coming to an end this year, it is the perfect opportunity for the club to go back to its roots and wear a uniform both players and fans can be truly proud of whenever their boys take to the field.

Thanks,

The North Melbourne members