"it came out of the closet" - artefact Wednesday - junior Marathon Foods top

Many years ago, but not quite as many as I initially thought - just a tick over four years ago, so roughly some time in 2014 - Ned Negus, the son of broadcaster and former soccer administrator George, was giving away a whole bunch of jerseys he'd found at an old holiday house.

He made that announcement on Twitter, and I jumped in as quickly as I could hoping there would be something to do with South Melbourne. Now usually I'm quite late on these things whenever they become available, and someone has already snaffled up the good stuff - but on this occasion I was lucky - there was a South shirt amid Ned's collection.

The seeming catch was did I want to wear it or just own it, because the shirt was a small size - extra small in fact. Well, I didn't mind either way, and after sending Ned the due postage - he didn't ask for any payment above that - the shirt arrived at what was then Casa South of the Border, along with a kids size Newcastle Breakers jersey of a similar vintage to the South jersey. 

For some reason I don't have a photo of that Breakers top, but no matter - I sent it away recently to Todd Giles, the amateur historian collecting Newcastle soccer history, who has been kind enough to share Newcastle vs South Melbourne related match programs with South of the Border, and thus also with this blog's audience. All part of an attempt at preserving soccer history, and keeping local soccer history local - well, at least more local than is often the case.

The Case of the Mysterious Jersey

Do you know the story behind the jersey in this post?

Recently listed on Ebay, it has caused quite a stir among some South fans, mostly because no one can seem to remember when and why it was used.

And yet people claim that it seems familiar somehow. I don't have anything other half-educated guesses as to its origin.

The seven digit phone number on the back of the shirt gives it away as a pre-1998/99 artifact, but that doesn't get us very far.

My guess is that it's from the early 1990s, (perhaps circa 1992-1995 at the latest) for two reasons. One, because the use of the Vergina Sun image probably dates it to around the high point of passions about the Macedonian name issue. Secondly, 'healthy diet, try it' was a Victorian government health slogan/initiative from around that time also.

Yet one of our readers, via email correspondence, has suggested that perhaps it is a late 1980s artifact, because of the different type used for 'Marathon Foods' to that which was commonly seen. The vendor of the item was also interested but unable to provide any further detail as to the provenance of the jersey.

The lack of an NSL badge or apparel maker's mark suggests to me that it was at best a one off jersey. The sponsor on the back seems so minor, that it may have been a youth jersey, Dockerty Cup jersey, charity match jersey, or, and this is a longshot, a jersey from South Melbourne-Mordialloc, our state league offshoot.

The sponsor on the back, North Williamstown Body Works, seems to be still around, and operated by a Greek bloke as recently as 2010. Who's up for giving them a ring for us? We'd do it, but we suffer from a terrible phobia of calling people up.