When did hockey fans start wearing jerseys

[blood gin]

I also dislike when people refer to their favorite sports team as 'us'(even if I slip and do it occasionally on accident on here). To me it's the difference between vicariously living through someone else ie pretending to be them and viewing something like pro sports as entertainment. Wearing jersey's are symbolic to this type of culture to me.



I watched hockey because I found it entertaining, not to pretend I was Dale Hawerchuk.

I love it. It's always we with all the teams I cheer for. When you pour a certain amount of emotion and turn it into a money-pit labor of love, then yes it is WE

 

[DannyGallivan]

Seems like in the 80's it was rare.

90's more and more but the majority did not wear jerseys at the rink

So when did it become mainstream and what factors contributed to it?

My first jersey was a Bruins jersey when I was a kid for Xmas in '74. I was blown away. At school you would see the occasional kid wearing a Flyers jersey, Habs, Bruins or Maple Leafs, and that was about it. Oddly, there were no Jet jerseys (perhaps the WHA didn't have the money to expand into that kind of marketing).

In '79-80, there were lots of Islanders, Oilers and Jets jerseys in school. However, Montreal fans still attended games in full suits and ties back then too. It wasn't until a few years into the 80's that fans' dress at games became very casual pretty much everywhere.

 

[DannyGallivan]

I watched hockey because I found it entertaining, not to pretend I was Dale Hawerchuk.

When I was nine years old playing street hockey, I was always Guy Lafleur. My friends were usually Bobby Hull and Anders Hedberg.

Imaginative fun combined with exercise. Glorious times.

 

[blood gin]

Even into the early 90's you didn't see that many jerseys at games. Mid 90's is when it took off

 

[DannyGallivan]

I'd rather sports be the type of event where you wear a suit and tie to attend games but it is what it is.

With the amount of money it costs to go to a game in Winnipeg, it would be appropriate for it to be a black tie event.

 

[DowntownBooster]

My first jersey was a Bruins jersey when I was a kid for Xmas in '74. I was blown away. At school you would see the occasional kid wearing a Flyers jersey, Habs, Bruins or Maple Leafs, and that was about it. Oddly, there were no Jet jerseys (perhaps the WHA didn't have the money to expand into that kind of marketing).

There were some Jets jerseys that I recall seeing in the mid-to-late 70s but it wasn't really that common to see fans in general wearing jerseys to games at that time. It was an era when there wasn't really much selection when it came to what retailers were offering. Even though the NHL expanded to 12 teams in 1967-68, it was quite a number of years before you could find any jerseys beyond the O6.
Things are so much better in that regard now. As a fan, the selection is almost endless. Not only can you buy a jersey for any one of the NHL's 31 teams but also teams that are defunct as well as minor league teams of various levels and junior teams. The jersey business these days really does cater to what the fans want rather than how in the past they dictated to the fans what the fans could buy.

 

[streitz]

I love it. It's always we with all the teams I cheer for. When you pour a certain amount of emotion and turn it into a money-pit labor of love, then yes it is WE

So if I go searching on devils roster lists where can I find your name?

 

[blood gin]

So if I go searching on devils roster lists where can I find your name?

Well I'm not on the roster. But I do support the team. Emotionally and financially. So yea that's a we. When teams cease to have fans, they cease to exist period. The franchises themselves consider the fans as a WE.

 

[Jumptheshark]

Seems like in the 80's it was rare.

90's more and more but the majority did not wear jerseys at the rink

So when did it become mainstream and what factors contributed to it?

the moment teams realised they could make money off of it

 

[JMCx4]

Until the mid-to-late 1970s there would be very little photographic or video evidence of whatever the crowd was wearing, because imaging technology & arena lighting before that yielded mostly a black mass beyond the rink glass. Roch Carrier's "The Hockey Sweater" was published in the late 1970s, recounting a story from the author's youth in the mid-1940s when he received his first replica hockey sweater. But back that far, it was still the fashion for hockey game patrons to dress up.

 

[Big Phil]

There is a documentary called "Forever Rivals". It was done back in 1996, it is on Youtube. It talks about the rivalry between the Habs and Leafs. Great watch for sure, lots of nice interviews. Anyway, the clips they were showing during the 1967 Cup final showed a Habs fan ringing a bell in the crowd and wearing a jersey in Toronto. He is the lone guy with any sort of jersey on that I could see - Leafs or Habs. I thought that stood out like a sore thumb in 1967. I can't copy it for some reason but if you watch the video it is into the 59:30 mark.

Also, Team Canada no one is wearing sweaters in the crowd in 1972 nor in the 1976 Canada Cup. By 1987 there are a few more, but it still is in the minority. 1996 World Cup you saw a lot of Canadian sweaters, but it still was arguably in the minority. But it took off pretty quickly after that I think.

 

[Big Phil]

A couple of things to take notice of in pop culture:

In The Shining little Danny has a Flyers jacket on at one point, that was 1980.

Uncle Joey on Full House often wore a Red Wings (?) jersey on Full House. Strange, because the show was set in San Francisco too. This was the early 1990s.

Someone already mentioned Ferris Bueller

 

[FerrisRox]

Whenever I attended games I never wore a jersey and frankly always looked down on people who did.

What a bizarre thing to say.

 

[rfournier103]

Wearing hockey jerseys was definitely a thing in the 1980s.

I remember seeing a fan in a Canadiens jersey (#10, no name) running onto the court at the Boston Garden in 1981 after the Celtics won their 14th title. I noticed it, but never gave it much thought.

The Ferris Bueller Howe jersey made ME want a jersey and gave me the idea that I could wear one of my own... I was just starting out as a hockey fan, and wanted a Bobby Orr Bruins jersey. Never saw Orr play, but even in the early ‘80s he was still a very big deal in Boston (and still is today). If Cameron Fry could wear the jersey of a retired hockey legend, so could I. I never did get the Orr jersey, but I got a white Bruins home jersey for Christmas in ‘87. Mom told me she took the train to North Station and bought my brother and I a ton of Bruins swag that year. I was the first kid I knew to get a Bruins jersey, and I wore that jersey to my first game later that season. In fact, in all the years I’ve been a fan, I have never gone to a Bruins game and NOT worn a jersey.

Well... that’s my story.

BTW - this is the year I get that Orr jersey I was talking about.

 

[TheMoreYouKnow]

Uncle Joey on Full House often wore a Red Wings (?) jersey on Full House. Strange, because the show was set in San Francisco too. This was the early 1990s.

Dave Coulier, the guy who played Uncle Joey, is from the Detroit area and a big Wings fan.

 

[BadgerBruce]

In the mid-60s — and this is embarrassing to relate here — I was a kid running off to grade 1 or 2 wearing a t-shirt with a construction paper cutout of Detroit’s winged wheel glued to the front. My poor mother provided the artwork and I provided the model glue.

This lasted for about a year, and in my grade school mind burned an unshakeable belief that everyone who saw me wearing these crude “jerseys” would somehow believe that I actually played for the Red Wings, which was my dream from about the age of 2.

You see, I’d seen and touched (and sniffed and hugged) one NHL game-worn jersey (a very kind relative played in the show) but in my small country township in eastern Ontario not a soul owned one, not even a replica. Absolutely nobody.

But as I grew older and some of my own games moved indoors, I began to notice that many teenage girls would show up to cheer on their boyfriends from the local midget and juvenile teams. This would have been near the end of the 60s, probably around ‘68. These girls wore their boyfriends’ jereseys, either the previous season’s version or the dark “Away” one from the current year. The young Does seemed very proud to parade around the rink in their Bucks’ team colours.

Flash forward a few years and there I was, a midget hockey player with a high school sweetheart, a lovely girl who knew virtually nothing about hockey. She came to my first home game, sat with the other players’ girlfriends (most of whom were friends from high school), cheered, and became instantly hooked on the game.

She also became very aware of social standing. The next day at school she didn’t hesitate to ask, “when do I get MY jersey?” As she explained to me much later, a girl who showed up to the rink without the jersey on wasn’t taken seriously by the other ladies, was seen as just “A” girlfriend instead of “THE” girlfriend. Think of it as team jersey = promise ring. I gave her the previous season’s model, which thrilled her to bits because it had a name bar across the back shoulder panel.

Though I never experienced this personally, several of my teammates relayed that asking for the jersey back when the relationship went south was absolute Hell and certain to bring on the waterworks.

Anyway, my own recollection of exactly when fans began wearing team jerseys to the games goes back to the late 60s, when I first saw the ladies in the local rink sporting them like badges of honour.

 

[streitz]

Well I'm not on the roster. But I do support the team. Emotionally and financially. So yea that's a we. When teams cease to have fans, they cease to exist period. The franchises themselves consider the fans as a WE.

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.

 

[streitz]

What a bizarre thing to say.

Why is it bizarre?

 

[rfournier103]

Well I'm not on the roster. But I do support the team. Emotionally and financially. So yea that's a we. When teams cease to have fans, they cease to exist period. The franchises themselves consider the fans as a WE.

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.

I don't know if the management or players consider it a "we," - but that's what it really is. The Habitant Pea Soup comparison isn't really great because retail and entertainment are kind of different. We ALL have to eat. We DON'T have to watch sports. True, most of us have many culinary options, but entertainment time and money are highly sought after. We make time every day to eat. We don't always "play" every day.

blood gin is right. If not for we fans who support our favorite teams and players with our time and our money, they'd all have to get real jobs. The players and owners/management that understand this tend to treat their fans the best.

 

[streitz]

I don't know if the management or players consider it a "we," - but that's what it really is. The Habitant Pea Soup comparison isn't really great because retail and entertainment are kind of different. We ALL have to eat. We DON'T have to watch sports. True, most of us have many culinary options, but entertainment time and money are highly sought after. We make time every day to eat. We don't always "play" every day.

blood gin is right. If not for we fans who support our favorite teams and players with our time and our money, they'd all have to get real jobs. The players and owners/management that understand this tend to treat their fans the best.

Ok, better example.


I'm subscribed to the canadian weather network, all weather all the time. Lately they've been playing some terrible commercial about pet food laxatives. Would it be accurate to say 'we would have more subscribers if we had some better commercials to air'. ?


Since of course without my support and the millions of others the channel would be bankrupt...

 

[FerrisRox]

Why is it bizarre?

That someone would openly admit to being so shallow and snobby that they "look down" on people that wear hockey sweaters to a hockey game is frankly bizarre.

 

[Mr. Fancy Pants]

This is a pretty good article on the history of sports jerseys - How sports jerseys became ubiquitous in the U.S.

 

[Tarantula]

That someone would openly admit to being so shallow and snobby that they "look down" on people that wear hockey sweaters to a hockey game is frankly bizarre.

I don't get it either, but there is a number in the media who openly disdain "Jersey Guy". Who flippin' cares about a jersey?

 

[tarheelhockey]

Until the mid-to-late 1970s there would be very little photographic or video evidence of whatever the crowd was wearing, because imaging technology & arena lighting before that yielded mostly a black mass beyond the rink glass.

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

 

[Plural]

I'd rather sports be the type of event where you wear a suit and tie to attend games but it is what it is.


Whenever I attended games I never wore a jersey and frankly always looked down on people who did.

There are sports events for that too. Hockey is just not one of them.

Ridiculous to look down on someone for wearing a jersey to game.