Buzz
With Super Bowl XLVIII fast approaching, and both teams already revealing their selected uniforms, it raises the intriguing question: Why are these athletic garments referred to as 'jerseys' in the first place?
Apologies to New Jersey residents: the name isn't a tribute to the Garden State, at least not directly. The true source is the island of Jersey, a UK 'crown dependency' where the locals have been crafting durable woolen sweaters for centuries. Known for their tight knit, these warm garments were originally worn by seafaring folk as an inner layer, eventually evolving into a common form of outerwear. During the late 17th and early 18th centuries, as the UK’s trading power expanded, Jersey sweaters spread across northern Europe. Their popularity surged worldwide, and by the 1850s, the term 'jersey' was commonly associated with 'sweater' in the United States.
As American football grew in popularity, it became clear that players, who often faced life-threatening injuries before Theodore Roosevelt’s intervention in 1905, required durable uniforms. The thick woolen 'jerseys' proved to be ideal. Soon, athletes in other sports, like bikers and golfers, adopted the sweaters as well.
As the Gilded Age progressed, athletic 'jerseys' began to stray further from their bulky wool predecessors. The term, once synonymous with 'sweater,' had now become interchangeable with 'athletic uniform.' During this time, even lightweight baseball shirts were often referred to as 'jerseys' by the media, despite being made of flannel and featuring short sleeves, buttons, and collars. Nevertheless, the name remained.
This trend didn’t stop at the U.S. border. Canadian hockey fans, much to their dismay, saw this shift as well. Don Cherry, a longtime NHL commentator, reflected on this in his book 'Don Cherry’s Hockey Stories, Part 2':
“[Hockey] sweaters are now called jerseys, if you can believe it, and we’ve sort of accepted that. But in Canada, it was always called a sweater… Americans used jerseys when they were playing football; then, when they finally got around to playing hockey, they used the same name. Nowadays, most kids call sweaters jerseys. Another little part of our hockey heritage is gone.”
For those curious, the jerseys we'll see this Sunday as the Denver Broncos face off against the Seattle Seahawks are primarily made of nylon and spandex.
