“Got a Guernsey?”

“Got a Guernsey?”

Footy is back in 2021! So what does that have to do with Woolly Wednesday?

Well, here is the inside skinny behind that favourite Australian Idiom.

Guernsey is the second largest of the Channel Islands. The name is used attributively to designate things found in or associated with Guernsey (including the breed of usually brown and white dairy cattle that originated from there).

In the early nineteenth century the term Guernsey shirt arose for “a close-fitting woollen sweater, especially one worn by sailors”.

During the gold rushes in Australia in the mid nineteenth century the term guernsey was used to describe a kind of shirt worn by goldminers.

Thus, the term guernsey has been used since the 1860s to refer to a football jumper, especially as worn by a player of Australian Rules football.

And on all those wet winters day, those woollen football jumpers are still able to keep you warm even when drenched.

Wool absorbs and releases water vapour as humidity rises and falls, which is why it works so well as a natural insulator.

That’s why you will see Merino Wool being used in an increasing array of activewear garments, plus it is naturally odour-resistant and antibacterial.

So what is your favourite footy jumper?

The Sources!

https://slll.cass.anu.edu.au/centres/andc/meanings-origins/g

https://www.blueymerino.com/merino-outdoor-clothing-australia/

https://www.worldofwool.co.uk/apps/base/blog/fun-wool-facts