This may not be a "Christmas" jumper, but it is very festive, and how about those matching socks, tucked in too!
It comes from the first series of "Australian Footballers", usually referred to as the "A" series, there being ten in all, which are shown below this text. However this is the only set that shows the players as full length. It has two main versions -
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firstly we have our set, with blue framelines to the pictures, which always has the printer`s credit, "O & A" (for Osbaldstone) at the bottom of the reverse. Twenty four cards are known to exist from this printing, and a list appears below.
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secondly there is a set which was listed as fifty cards, this can be found as what are known as a) with the same printer`s credit - and b) without it, just blank at the bottom. The list of this appears below too. However our Australian & New Zealand Index, part one, of 1983, changes this, for it says that the card of G. MILLER cannot now be traced (is it out there, anywhere?). Also it says that the cards of V. HAWICK and G. MORGAN have identical pictures. That makes this version into just 48 cards and an error card.
The real curiosity about this card is the name, for it shows W. Ghent, and this is an error, which is not thought to have been corrected. The player`s name was William Robert Gent and he was born on the 19th of June 1879. Despite his name, he had a bit of a rep for playing rough, and in 1904, about the same time as this card was issued, he was given a twenty game suspension for hitting several players on the opposing team - then in 1907 he was suspended for life for striking just one man. There must be more to this! However after less than two months there was an appeal and the ban was lifted. The appeal hinged on a very tenuous thing indeed, that being that "the incident" had been reported to the secretary of the opposing side, rather than to the umpire. At one time this was allowed, but the rules had recently changed.
William Gent died on the 7th of July 1957
There is a glass plate for this very card in the Australian Sports Museum.
