History of the VFL bar scarf?

[tandino]

It's a question I've half-answered for myself but still a little curious about.

I'm assuming that the classic bar scarf with the VFL club nicknames was a product of a licensing deal with VFL Properties Division in the mid-1970's or thereabouts.

An ad seeking applicants for licensing appeared in The Age in 1976 - The Age

Another article from 1979 about the topic - The Age

(The whole topic of commercialisation of the VFL in the 1970's is pretty interesting, if you're into that sort of thing)

Anyway, the bar scarf was not exactly a new idea, and I'm sure every department store/sports store in the country were selling scarves in the team's colours. So somebody/some company had to come up with the idea of printing the names on the bars to turn it into a licensable product. And from the looks of eBay, it seems Taiwan were supplying knock-offs probably from day 2.

Does anybody know the origin of that idea? It's a low-key iconic image of the game.

 

[Aut Vincere Aut Mori]

It's a question I've half-answered for myself but still a little curious about.

I'm assuming that the classic bar scarf with the VFL club nicknames was a product of a licensing deal with VFL Properties Division in the mid-1970's or thereabouts.

An ad seeking applicants for licensing appeared in The Age in 1976 - The Age

Another article from 1979 about the topic - The Age

(The whole topic of commercialisation of the VFL in the 1970's is pretty interesting, if you're into that sort of thing)

Anyway, the bar scarf was not exactly a new idea, and I'm sure every department store/sports store in the country were selling scarves in the team's colours. So somebody/some company had to come up with the idea of printing the names on the bars to turn it into a licensable product. And from the looks of eBay, it seems Taiwan were supplying knock-offs probably from day 2.

Does anybody know the origin of that idea? It's a low-key iconic image of the game.

You are correct in that the VFL licensing in 1975 and 1976 was the start of these scarfs appearing in sports stores and department stores. Before that it was your Mum or Granny that would knit you a bespoke club scarf in alternating bars of club colours and tassels at the end. I can't recall any commercially produced scarfs prior to 1975 being available. There may have been some for sale at South Melbourne or Victoria Markets or local sports stores but they weren't in large numbers if they did exist.