Oldest Tasmanian Representative Football Jumper

The Tasmanian jumper was in the collection of William Leitch. William is known as the ‘GRAND OLD MAN’ of Tasmanian football.  William was a player, umpire and Administrator for around 50 years. This jumper has been passed down through the Leitch family over the years.  We believe the jumper ages back to around the early 1900’s somewhere between 1908 – 1915.  William was the Manager of the Tasmanian team that participated in the 1914 National Carnival in Sydney so the jumper is possibly a spare jumper that William had as the teams manager in that year.  The jumper was in the possession of William’s son Allan Leitch (former Carlton VFL player, 1929 Wilson Bailey Medal (TFL Best & Fairest) for a number of years and was passed down to Allan’s sons and the jumper had been worn quite a few times as the holes have been darned back up.  It is amazing that a jumper of this age still exists.

The jumper has seen better days but the jumper shows that it matches the 1908 TFL Minutes book to a tee.