GEELONG defender Tom Stewart has weighed into the raging debate over the strip clash in Friday night’s qualifying final, revealing he found it difficult to distinguish between his teammates and Collingwood players.
Angry fans took to social media to slam a clash that made for messy viewing at the ground and on television.
Meanwhile, Magpies president Eddie McGuire was left fuming about what he claimed had been a failure by Geelong to adhere to a “gentleman’s agreement” regarding the two clubs’ strips.
The Cats, as the designated ‘home’ team, wore in their standard home uniform of a predominantly white jumper with navy shorts, while Collingwood wore their predominantly black home jumper with white shorts.
Stewart said he found it particularly difficult to discern which players were on which team earlier in the match when the speed and intensity around the contest was high.
“I wouldn’t say it cost us the game, but there was a couple times I was like, ‘Hang on, that’s the wrong bloke’,” Stewart said.
McGuire let out his frustrations in a post-match interview with host broadcaster Channel Seven.
“Twenty years ago, (former Geelong president) Frank Costa and I shook hands on an agreement because 21 years ago there was a day when Collingwood had predominantly white and white shorts, and Geelong had white, and nobody could see what was going on,” McGuire said.
“So, we had a handshake deal that Geelong would always wear white shorts, the white jumper and the hoop socks, and we wear all black and the black jumper, and we’ve never had an issue since.”
Twitter: @shayne_hope
