Amazing Stories: Inventions and Innovation at Port Melbourne Football Club next Sunday

There will be amazing stories displayed in the social rooms of the PMFC for the National Trust Heritage Festival. You may be surprised to learn that numbered guernseys were an innovation of the PMFC. Club historian Terry Keenan explains: "Although it might be imagined that numbered guernseys were introduced by the club to assist spectators to identify players, in fact, they were introduced to prevent thieves stealing the guernseys of Port Melbourne players. In March 1905 ... it was announced that 'an unknown donor had presented the club with 18 new guernseys ... numbered 1 to 18 on the breast.' The innovation was described as 'distinctly novel'. It would, said the Standard, 'allow each player to have his own uniform and each Saturday 'play in a clean and presentable condition." Kicking into the Wind: A history of the formative years of the Port Melbourne Football Club 1874 - 1917, p94 Enter the PMFC on Williamstown Road [opposite Raglan St] 10.30 to 3.30 on Sunday 22nd