We are Brown and Gold
Regular HI contributor Andrew Johnston is back with a love-in piece on the Hawks new merch drops, and how they tie into the clubs rich history
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If you embrace Hawthorn…
We’ve come a long way in 100 years.
Our beloved club this year celebrates our 100th anniversary in the VFL/AFL, and you knew from day one this was going to be something special.
From the moment the beautiful 100 crest dropped, you knew the merch was going to be something special.
Well, it dropped on Thursday night, and that means it’s time for me to break it down.
The crest
For those who haven’t seen it yet, the 100 year crest is a combination of two pieces of our history.
The HFC monogram is taken from the 1925 symbol of the club from our VFL debut.
Outside of the crest is the ribbon, which is taken from the 1960s logo.
The clubs moto “spectemur agendo - let us be known by our actions” is dropped from the ribbon, with the 1925-2025 100 years text added.
It’s beautiful.
That’s all I can say, I love it so much.
It’s already the wallpaper on my phone and won’t change anytime soon.
Roy Cazaly
You ever think about how lucky we actually are to be the Hawks?
We could still be the Mayblooms (or the mustard pots, but more on that later).
Thanks Mr Cazaly.
A hawk is a much more fitting nickname for the brown and gold colours, isn’t it?
In the past few seasons since ISC came on board, we’ve seen a blue kit that wasn’t loved by our fan base, while last year was the “carbon” look which was loved by the fan base.
This year, as we celebrate our history and who we are, we are back to just using the classic brown and gold on all our merchandise.
I think this will be very well received by the fans.
We love our colours.
They are the core of who we are.
It will be nice to see us embrace our identity in that way.
Mayblooms and Mustard Pots
The 100 year logo is all over the merchandise, of course.
But the embracing of our tradition is also to be seen everywhere.
Our training shirts have all contain the “v” from early Mayblooms and Mustard Pots jumpers.
It’s a simple thing, but it continues to stand with the embracing of tradition.
It means that at all stages we will continue to show our heritage in our celebration.
Our training jumper has also been released, a gold jumper with the 1925 monogram in brown on the front.
Honestly, I wouldn’t be opposed to this being used as an alternate jumper at some point.
Polos, hoodies, warmup jumpers are all very similar to prior years, but all in brown with gold.
It’s simple, but it’s beautiful.
It’s just great to see the colours back in full circulation.
Bob McCaskill
Stripes make you look bigger, tougher and meaner.
That was the opinion of Bob McCaskill when he took over as coach in 1950.
The stripes are the same as the previous ISC model - stripes on the front and bottom half of the back of the jumper, with the brown shoulder panels.
The Hawk has been replaced by the 100 year crest, as it has on almost all club branding.
The other big change is iiNet, the sponsor that adorned the back of our guernsey in the three peat years, have departed the club.
Taking its place is Superhero, a trading company who was recently announced as a major sponsor of the club going forward.
As for our legends jumper, there is no official announcement as yet, but it appears to be very similar to last years judged by an image in our video release, though early images suggest the Hawthorn gold may be closer to a more traditional gold colour.
We’ll keep an eye on that.
973 names
Andy Munro (@munrojumpers on Instagram) recently showed a jumper that appears to have been made for some point in the season.
Two changes have been made to the classic stripes look, with the addition of a collar, and most notably the names of players to represent the club.
While this is unconfirmed, it appears to have the names of all players to represent the Hawks at AFL level.
That’s 973, as well as so far 41 in the AFLW.
I love the look of this jumper, and I hope to see it offical soon.
Tarrakukk
The indigenous Hawk that appeared on much of our merchandise last year has also returned this year.
It is appearing on the back of a number of items of our merch again.
We spoke last year about our love of this.
Our connection to our indigenous heritage as a club is growing stronger, and it is something we all hope to see more of.
This is a simple thing, but I love it.
…Hawthorn will embrace you
What a magic year ahead this is.
What a special occasion and it feels like something special is brewing on field to go with what will be special off field.
I think ISC has risen to the occasion as a result.
Brown and gold is who we are.
It’s been who we are since well before we joined the completion.
It’s been our constant through the darkest of days.
Through the brightest.
Through 11 wooden spoons.
Through nine McClelland trophies - including the first of the new era of our club this year combining AFL and AFLW.
Through 13 premierships.
It was there before any of us found our love for this magnificent club.
It will be with us as we enter the Kennedy Centre.
It will be with our club long after we have gone, and a new group of the luckiest fans in our sport have the opportunity to love this club.
It’s fitting that’s all we will see this year.
Because we are Hawthorn.
We are brown and gold.
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I’ve loved the brown and gold for a very long time thanks Andrew for your piece and I’d. love to see the scarves go back to the brown and gold stripes as well.
Andrew ... thank you for sharing such an enthusiastic and uplifting article ...
Even though I don't need it as I'm a proud member, and I absolutely LOVE everything BROWN AND GOLD about our Mighty Fighting Hawks, it had the feel of an inspirational speech of reaching out to supporters to join as members of this amazing Club that has such a rich history but more importantly, a welcoming family Club !!!