When did hockey fans start wearing jerseys

[Plural]

Habitant pea soup would cease to exist of people didn't buy it. I don't think to myself 'we're getting such good sales' every time I see someone pick up a few cans in the grocery store.



"The franchises themselves consider the fans as a WE."

I had to have a chuckle in real life at that one... Dude, they're giant corporations. That kind of thinking is exactly what they want. I don't care if you're a habs/leafs/devils/jets fan whatever they don't care about you they just want your money, everytime someone buys a jersey thats another hundred bucks they got out of you.

Can't speak for NHL franchises because I've got too little experience as a hands on fan. But big sports franchises such as FC Barcelona or Liverpool F.C. (and all the rest of them actually) absolutely 100% think of the fans as a part of the franchise. They go out of their way to accommodate their fans beyond what regular watcher is, they collectively ask opinions on franchise development. (Not as in which player to buy, but more mundane every day things like parking or arena services)

If you'd go and ask any fan or executive of any major football club in Europe they'll both tell you that it's we/us.

 

[Doshell Propivo]

As a middle aged man I feel a bit silly wearing a jersey. I may put on a hoodie with the team logo or something but a full blown jersey with name and number? Nah, I leave that to the kids.

 

[DannyGallivan]

As a middle aged man I feel a bit silly wearing a jersey. I may put on a hoodie with the team logo or something but a full blown jersey with name and number? Nah, I leave that to the kids.

I guess there was never a future as a major league baseball manager for you.

 

[Big Phil]

Habitant pea soup would cease to exist of people didn't buy it. I don't think to myself 'we're getting such good sales' every time I see someone pick up a few cans in the grocery store.



"The franchises themselves consider the fans as a WE."

I had to have a chuckle in real life at that one... Dude, they're giant corporations. That kind of thinking is exactly what they want. I don't care if you're a habs/leafs/devils/jets fan whatever they don't care about you they just want your money, everytime someone buys a jersey thats another hundred bucks they got out of you.

Pea soup? At least use Minestrone as an example!

Okay, seriously though, the thing is as sports fans it IS just a game to us. This is true. The sun still rises tomorrow. No one pays for your mortgage the next day if your team wins. Yes, the franchises think the fans are sheep just like they think the players are sheep. Heck, go through the turnstyle at Disneyland and you get the same thing. However, when you pay that sort of money, you expect a good product, or a good time. Which you get.

Why does it hurt when your team loses? If it is just a game, why does it hurt? It is because your heart is in it. You are a fan, you care about how your team does. You relate to the players, you are at "home" in your team's building, you identify with the history. So this stuff is deep rooted in the fan. So if you catch yourself saying "we", well, then so be it.

 

[SealsFan]

I had a pro-looking jersey that I used to wear playing hockey circa 1970.

However, I bought it at a sporting goods store, and had to acquire the team crest, the back numeral and the sleeve numerals separately at other sporting goods stores, and get my grandmother to sew all of these in place.

Same here. My first (also 1970) was a blank Bruins dark jersey made of WOOL and the sporting goods store sold the crests separately in a glass case. Next was a Northstars green jersey. Numbers were a luxury, just bought the crests. Later picked up a Seals and Kings jersey (both dark) with the crest as an iron-on plastic sort of material (it was one-piece for the Seals instead of each individual letter). Later started buying game-worn jerseys. I wore all of these to Islander games and I was one of the few people there in the early 70's wearing a jersey.

To add to rockers wearing jersey, the late Terry Kath of Chicago has been photographed many times wearing different jerseys in the 70's, most notable was a WHA Chicago Cougars!! When I saw Rush at Nassau Coliseum in 1979, they came out for the encore wearing Islander jerseys. Never have been able to find a photo of that.

 

[Doctor No]

Why does it hurt when your team loses? If it is just a game, why does it hurt? It is because your heart is in it. You are a fan, you care about how your team does. You relate to the players, you are at "home" in your team's building, you identify with the history. So this stuff is deep rooted in the fan. So if you catch yourself saying "we", well, then so be it.

Before I met streitz, I'd never met someone who honestly couldn't figure out what fans meant when they say "we" about a team.

 

[Uncle Rotter]

To add to rockers wearing jersey, the late Terry Kath of Chicago has been photographed many times wearing different jerseys in the 70's

 

[TheMoreYouKnow]

Can't speak for NHL franchises because I've got too little experience as a hands on fan. But big sports franchises such as FC Barcelona or Liverpool F.C. (and all the rest of them actually) absolutely 100% think of the fans as a part of the franchise. They go out of their way to accommodate their fans beyond what regular watcher is, they collectively ask opinions on franchise development. (Not as in which player to buy, but more mundane every day things like parking or arena services)

If you'd go and ask any fan or executive of any major football club in Europe they'll both tell you that it's we/us.

European soccer teams aren't 'franchises', they're clubs. And in that instance, the distinction actually matters. North American teams are businesses that have been sold the right to own and operate a team in the NHL by the NHL itself i.e. the same way someone in your town can be sold the right to operate and own a Domino's pizza store. It's a business to business transaction, hence why the owner of the franchise can decide to move 'his offices' somewhere else provided the franchise giving entity i.e. the NHL agrees.

European football clubs, however, were typically started by friends, colleagues or local businessmen and were run in a similar way to a local hunting or political club i.e. there was a membership that elected officers who would operate the club on behalf of the membership. These members typically came from the local area where the club was based and were essentially the original fanbase of the club as well. Even as the clubs grew, the link between the membership and the fans at-large remained strong due to the fact everyone was very local. Club ownership was thus perceived as collective even if in practice the 'chairmen' grew ever more dominant.

Of course, eventually, the professional soccer part of the club developed a dynamic of its own in the case of the highly successful teams which by the 1960s had started to have massive fan bases well beyond their home base. But we still see the membership-driven elective 'democracy' of a club in many European soccer teams even if the professional team is a corporate entity ran parallel to the club itself. The amount of influence the club members can exert is quite limited nowadays and perhaps more similar to shareholders rather than active members in a club.

However, in spite of that evolution from social club to corporation, the heritage of social control live on, sometimes more in an emotional than real political sense (like in Liverpool), sometimes in a very real way (a good few examples in Germany and elsewhere on the continent). Perhaps it is increasingly a self-deception for European fans to speak of 'we' as well, but it's at least ingrained in a tradition of fans having a stake of ownership in the club itself and in some cases it's still very justified.

Meanwhile no-one in, say, Colorado can say that they have any stake in the Avalanche, they're purely customers in the NHL structure. For example, they have zero say in whether the business of 'their choice' changes its location.

 

[streitz]

Before I met streitz, I'd never met someone who honestly couldn't figure out what fans meant when they say "we" about a team.

I didn't say I don't understand people who say 'we'. I understand it, I just think it's pathetic and very apart of the man-child culture that plagues society today.



As someone who played hockey/other sports and didn't just watch them(at a fairly high level but never pro). I simply never computed for me to say 'we' when refering to my favorite team(the jets). I'd simply refer to them as the jets since I didn't actually play for the jets. I don't need to pretend I was apart of the franchise to live out some fantasy, it's just a sport and pro sports are just entertainment.

 

[Doctor No]

You're fine to say that you understand it. Your posts here demonstrate that you don't.

(And please don't pull the "I've played hockey at a high level" card - many of us have (I have), and it's not relevant to the discussion.)

 

[Doctor No]

I don't need to pretend I was apart of the franchise to live out some fantasy, it's just a sport and pro sports are just entertainment.

For what it's worth, "a part of" and "apart of" have diametrically-opposed meanings.

 

[Plural]

For what it's worth, "a part of" and "apart of" have diametrically-opposed meanings.

Two of my biggest pet peeves. Apart of=a part of and 'I could care less'.

 

[streitz]

You're fine to say that you understand it. Your posts here demonstrate that you don't.

What's to understand about being living in a fantasy world where they pretend they're apart of (insert team here).

 

[yukoner88]

What's to understand about being living in a fantasy world where they pretend they're apart of (insert team here).

even if thats how they think.......who cares??? No need to look down on them, just let them be and be happy with how they think and spend their money.

 

[Doctor No]

What's to understand about being living in a fantasy world where they pretend they're apart of (insert team here).

They *are* "apart of" the team.

 

[FerrisRox]

I don't need to pretend I was apart of the franchise to live out some fantasy, it's just a sport and pro sports are just entertainment.

Do you actually think that fans who say "we" do it because they want to pretend they are a part of the franchise?

Really?

 

[streitz]

They *are* "apart of" the team.

No they aren't, they're consumers purchasing a product.

 

[tarheelhockey]

Just gotta find the right photographs. Some of those photographers were expert at capturing the crowd and arena atmosphere.

I just glanced at this photo again, and two things struck me.

First of all -- look at how damned small those seats are.

Second, of the handful of people who are NOT wearing dark-colored coats and ties, all of them are either women or young men. You can actually see the cultural change in its infancy. That photo was taken in 1957. This next one was taken in 1966:

Still mostly coats and ties, but you can see a smattering of short-sleeved shirts and the like. But basically the same culture around dressing up for a public event.

Ok, now 1979:

The youngest guys in that 1957 photo are now in their 40s. Note that there are still quite a few sport coats in the crowd, but no ties to speak of. And lots of jacket-less shirts. Still not many out-and-out tshirts or jerseys, though.

Ok, time warp to 1987:

Looks like there's an Oilers jersey in the crowd, just to the right of the Cup, but people just dressed for comfort at this point. Ordinary shirts and sweatshirts that people would wear anywhere they went.

To 1995:

^ This was a period of time where you definitely would see jerseys at a game, but it was really the mark of the hardcore fan. Jerseys were still regarded as a luxury item, expensive and somewhat hard to find in stores (pre-ecommerce). You probably weren't going to drop that kind of cash unless you were a dedicated fan, so most people walking through the turnstiles were still wearing some sort of sweatshirt or similar.

And 2006:

To me, this about the time period when it started to really become a thing to wear a jersey to the game. Still not a majority of people, but a significant minority had managed to get their hands on some version of their team's sweater and you can see how they stand out against the general drab colors. I think there was a sort of "critical mass" around this time period where jerseys became more of a collective thing (as opposed to an fashion statement) than they had been previously.

And of course, a game in the contemporary NHL:

It seems we have reached "peak jersey".

 

[Iapyi]

It definitely took off as a phenomenon around the mid-'90s, as for contributing factors it comes down to NHL marketing. The league stumbled on to the idea of having fans buy $100+ shirts from them instead of fans wearing their own clothes at games and hence a huge new revenue stream was created. Nowadays you're not considered a real fan unless you have a jersey with your fav player's name and number on it.

lol, anyone who thinks that isn't a real fan.

 

[streitz]

Do you actually think that fans who say "we" do it because they want to pretend they are a part of the franchise?

Really?

You know Ray-Ban has really good sunglasses, I bought a pair a few years ago and we've been getting more and more sales.


We're also getting plenty of new subscribers to the movie network mpix, good thing we have going on our team here.

 

[Johnny Engine]

You know Ray-Ban has really good sunglasses, I bought a pair a few years ago and we've been getting more and more sales.


We're also getting plenty of new subscribers to the movie network mpix, good thing we have going on our team here.

Frankly, if my biggest personal hobby was tracking Ray-Ban's stock price and following news about their CEO, and comparing various designs for sunglasses, I'd feel a lot more connected to the company than someone who bought a pair one time.
Thing is, you could even do all that without spending a dime on sunglasses.

 

[FerrisRox]

You know Ray-Ban has really good sunglasses, I bought a pair a few years ago and we've been getting more and more sales.


We're also getting plenty of new subscribers to the movie network mpix, good thing we have going on our team here.

You think people are "fans" of sunglasses and cable channels?

 

[Doctor No]

No they aren't, they're consumers purchasing a product.

Correct, which makes them "apart" of the team.

 

[streitz]

You think people are "fans" of sunglasses and cable channels?

Yes, I am.


Team Mpix channel 216 all day every day.

 

[Johnny Engine]

You think people are "fans" of sunglasses and cable channels?

We're on the internet, so yes.
r/rayban is a tiny subreddit with only 204 subscribers, but it seems like those couple hundred people do care more about RayBans than most of us, even Streitz. I don't feel the need to look down on them - glad they found each other.