Australian Wool Industry Makes Push Into Australian Football League

Australian wool growers want to return football to its farming roots -- and "see woollen jumpers again worn by every local football team," according to Sue Neales of THE AUSTRALIAN. It is part of a scheme "to knit together links the wool ­industry has shared with Australian rules since it was dreamt up on a Grampians sheep station in western Victoria in the 1850s." Leading the push is Australian football league side Geelong forward Tom Hawkins and Free­mantle Dockers player Nat Fyfe. Quietly "helping the Fibre of Football campaign gain mom­entum" is AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan. Melbourne specialist sportswear manufacturer Hugh Lyon "is as excited about the campaign as Hawkins." Lyon said, "It’s all so different now; there’s no scratchiness, they’re very soft and can be machine-washed and the playing jumpers breathe beautifully" (THE AUSTRALIAN, 9/25).