Royal Blue vs. Navy Blue

[Guest]

For years and years, it was ingrained into me that the former jumper represented a period of failure that needed to be banished to the forgotten annals of history. In particular, I have read CS mention that he couldn't imagine what was going through the minds of those who made the switch in the '70's, and emphasized the folly of that decision by pointing out that the only other club who changed their colors was Fitzroy.
However, since I got on board in 1988, some of the worst memories I have had saw the team in navy blue. For mine too, the navy colors represent too much of the toffy aspect of the club that has never resonated with me. Since the royal blue came back, some of our more impressive wins (i.e. our victories over the Saints, the win in Adelaide in 2018, our thumping of Carlton in the same year, our win against GWS in Canberra) have made me fonder of this jumper. 
I appreciate the older crew might not like it as they lived through a lot of the dross of the 70's, but what does everyone think about it? It would be interesting to hear from those who didn't live through that period, and lived through a lot of the poo served up from 2008-2013 when we seemed to be on a 24 hour nostalgia kick.

[TRIGON 4,719]

I'm one of those who associate Royal Blue with desperate times.  That being said I'm in favour of it as an away jumper, much better than the white versions we've had.

[Sir Why You Little 34,924]

We have won Flags in Dark Blue 

[Swooper1987 2,801]

I love both. My very first demon jumper was the royal blue of the late 70's with number 2 on the back.  I was about 8 or 9 and I loved it. I loved it when in 1987 we returned to the navy and made finals straight away after 24 years - the first Melbourne finals series of my lifetime to that point.  My fondest memories of the finest Melbourne player I have seen are with the royal blue but equally, I love the navy as well. As a club there have been more lows than highs, but those jumpers are our past, present and future and they both represent Melbourne.

[58er 5,670]

15 minutes ago, Colin B. Flaubert said:

For years and years, it was ingrained into me that the former jumper represented a period of failure that needed to be banished to the forgotten annals of history. In particular, I have read CS mention that he couldn't imagine what was going through the minds of those who made the switch in the '70's, and emphasized the folly of that decision by pointing out that the only other club who changed their colors was Fitzroy.
However, since I got on board in 1988, some of the worst memories I have had saw the team in navy blue. For mine too, the navy colors represent too much of the toffy aspect of the club that has never resonated with me. Since the royal blue came back, some of our more impressive wins (i.e. our victories over the Saints, the win in Adelaide in 2018, our thumping of Carlton in the same year, our win against GWS in Canberra) have made me fonder of this jumper. 
I appreciate the older crew might not like it as they lived through a lot of the dross of the 70's, but what does everyone think about it? It would be interesting to hear from those who didn't live through that period, and lived through a lot of the poo served up from 2008-2013 when we seemed to be on a 24 hour nostalgia kick.

Jumper colours have nothing to do with team performance !! 
What  colour car do you drive !! ie same issue irrelevant.

Look at our glory days photos and the navy blue is Demons in my opinion.

PS have no prob with our away strip now never ever go back to the white strip please!!!

Only big win was at Subiaco vs Eagles in 2017 when Tommy  kicked that goal.

[TeamPlayedFine39 8,187]

For me, it's weirdly more to do with sponsors.
If I see the TOOHEYS or LG logo, I feel happy.
If I see a KASPERSKY or WEBJET I feel sad.
 

With that said, I think both our current colour schemes look great, and I also quite linked the Blue guernsey, with the Red back.

[Guest]

5 minutes ago, 58er said:

Jumper colours have nothing to do with team performance !! 
What  colour car do you drive !! ie same issue irrelevant.

Look at our glory days photos and the navy blue is Demons in my opinion.

I didn't say the jumper made them play better. I was talking about what type of emotions are elicited by each respective jumper because of the memories associated with them.
If the glory days for you were the navy and blue, that's fine. ?

Edited April 14, 2021 by Colin B. Flaubert

[Vagg 2,422]

The traditional darker colours are, without a doubt, my favourite.

BUT, the lighter version is by far our best alternate jumper.

[Demonland 66,453]

For the first 11 years of my life I only associated the Dees with the Royal Blue jumper. In fact I wasn't even aware that we ever wore the darker shade of blue because the only photos I ever saw from the old days were in black and white.

When the Dees reverted back to the Navy Blue in 1987 it was a bit of a novelty but with the success that we had in the following years I began to associate the Royal Blue with loss and failure.

Fast forward to the days of alternate strips I was always a fan of the predominately red jumper with the demon logo or M logo.

 

 

When we eventually brought back the Royal Blue strip I was an instant fan for the nostalgia that it elicited  and like it as an alternate strip with the caveat that it should only be used when there is an actual clash with the Home strip of another team.

I do not like wearing it when there is no clash like we did against the Giants the other week and I bet you we will be wearing it against the Hawks this week when there is definitely no clash with our Navy strip.

I wonder who makes the decision? The AFL or the Club?

[Straight Sets Simon 23,113]

Royal blue is great as it serves a purpose (clash) and looks good.

[sisso 2,401]

My first ever scarf which I still have was from the early 80s so its in the royal blue and red...but navy all the way for home games and games where there is no clash, looks stronger and more "Demon-like" to me.

 

I agree with Andy we should be wearing the traditional jumper with white shorts against sides like Hawthorn this weekend

[The Jackson FIX 2,296]

17 minutes ago, Demonland said:

For the first 11 years of my life I only associated the Dees with the Royal Blue jumper. In fact I wasn't even aware that we ever wore the darker shade of blue because the only photos I ever saw from the old days were in black and white.

When the Dees reverted back to the Navy Blue in 1987 it was a bit of a novelty but with the success that we had in the following years I began to associate the Royal Blue with loss and failure.

Fast forward to the days of alternate strips I was always a fan of the predominately red jumper with the demon logo or M logo.

 

 

When we eventually brought back the Royal Blue strip I was an instant fan for the nostalgia that it elicited  and like it as an alternate strip with the caveat that it should only be used when there is an actual clash with the Home strip of another team.

I do not like wearing it when there is no clash like we did against the Giants the other week and I bet you we will be wearing it against the Hawks this week when there is definitely no clash with our Navy strip.

I wonder who makes the decision? The AFL or the Club?

Number on the back aside, whenever I see this kit I immediately think of Russell Robertson. Not sure why.

[daisycutter 28,684]

47 minutes ago, TRIGON said:

I'm one of those who associate Royal Blue with desperate times.  That being said I'm in favour of it as an away jumper, much better than the white versions we've had.

agree, but only away when there is a clash

[Rab D Nesbitt 7,349]

100% navy blue. Royal blue with red back when we clash. No white, no grey and no tacky looking demon logo plastered all over the front. 

[Demonland 66,453]

13 minutes ago, Rab D Nesbitt said:

100% navy blue. Royal blue with red back when we clash. No white, no grey and no tacky looking demon logo plastered all over the front. 

Don't you mean Navy blue with a red back?

 

[Maldonboy38 6,034]

I reflect on so many jumper, logo, colour changes from the 70's through until now - I suppose this is to be expected from a club trying to retain younger members while enduring a total lack of success over 5 decades.

Navy and Red is our standard an should never be played with (so please leave the read colour alone!)

Royal and Red is the best clash strip option by a long way.

But to be honest, I don't give a rats ar*e. I just want to see a red and blue MFC jumper of some description hold up a premiership cup. It could be duck-egg blue and Mazda red for all I care.

[Rab D Nesbitt 7,349]

7 minutes ago, Demonland said:

Don't you mean Navy blue with a red back?

 

Hi DL. I thought we had a royal blue with a red back we occasionally wore. Maybe against the dogs ? Could be wrong though. I’m fine with royal blue when we clash. 

[—coach— 3,473]

1 hour ago, Sir Why You Little said:

We have won Flags in Dark Blue 

Agree we have won many (12) but have also “won” many (also12) wooden spoons in dark blue.

I quite like the royal as our away jumper and much prefer it to anything we’ve had before.

*Disclaimer, as I’m relatively young at 40, the only grand finals I’ve witnessed were both absolute thrashings. So I don’t know how it feels by any stretch of the imagination.

[Roger Mellie 3,601]

I prefer the navy. Royal blue is such a poxy 70s colour.

I liked that Carlton wore their home strip against the Suns on the weekend and I would rather we did too than the royal blue. But, each to their own.

I also like the red-backed jumper.

[Nasher 33,166]

I got on board with the MFC in the 90s when the AFL started being regularly televised in Tasmania, so I don't associate any colours with anything; we've been mostly garbage with the occasional popping our heads up here and there irrespective of what jumper we've worn.

My favourite jumper though is the colour my first one was (from the 90s, circa 1991), which was a very dark navy blue and a very vivid red colour (the current one is a bit pinker). I can even remember how that jumper smelled. I miss it. 

 

[titan_uranus 22,753]

I don't associate colour with success/failure. It's all been failure in my lifetime anyway.

1 hour ago, daisycutter said:

agree, but only away when there is a clash

This is what I care about.

The royal blue jumper looks great. I love it.

But I only ever want to see it if there is a genuine clash.

Why the [censored] did we wear it against GWS? We've never worn a clash jumper against GWS in the past (last year we wore our special heritage jumper which was navy blue).

We've also started wearing it against Collingwood, which is stupid as there is again no clash with Collingwood.

If we wear it this week vs Hawthorn...shudder...

[Demonland 66,453]

20 minutes ago, Rab D Nesbitt said:

Hi DL. I thought we had a royal blue with a red back we occasionally wore. Maybe against the dogs ? Could be wrong though. I’m fine with royal blue when we clash. 

I believe only the navy blue jumper has had a red back.

There would be no reason for a clash strip to have a clash strip. ?

[hemingway 7,601]

Traditional jumper with navy blue for me. Much stronger colours. 

I don’t mind the colour TV jumper but should never replace the traditional one. 

[Young Blood 2,036]

I do miss seeing more of the traditional navy jumper with the away white shorts.

That being said I really like the Royal blue. Sooo much better then the awful away/alternative strips we've mucked around with for the last decade sheesh.

Side note would like to see us wear the Indigenous round strip more often throughout the season. I've found them really striking and interesting each year how they change and bring in a different artist. Perhaps last years designer Nev Jetta can get Kozzie on board to put some paint to paper haha.

[roy11 3,030]

I like the royal blue on the away kit as such but I’d be much more likely to buy navy hat/polo/jacket than a royal blue piece of merchandise