Jersey Info
- Jersey Name
- 1998 Home/Away Jersey
- Year/s Jersey Active
- 1998
- Jersey Type
- First Grade Home
- First Grade Away
- Jersey Supplier
- Nike
- Left Breast Sponsor
- Auckland Warriors
- Right Breast Sponsor
- NRL
- Main Jersey Sponsor
- DB Bitter
- Sleeve Sponsor
- Barter Card
- Upper Back Sponsor
- Nike
- Front Collar Sponsor
- Nike
- Rarity
- Fairly common
1998 Warriors Home/Away Jersey
Jersey Name 1998 Home/Away Jersey
Year/s Jersey Active 1998
Jersey Type First Grade Home/First Grade Away
Jersey Supplier Nike
Main Jersey SponsorDB Bitter'
Sleeve Sponsor Barter Card
Upper Back Sponsor Nike
Rarity Fairly common
With the Super League coming to an expensive end, Australasian teams would once again be reunited under the one organisiation. This time it would be under the newly formed NRL. The same design would be used as the previous year with the new NRL badge and new sleeve sponsor Barter Card.
As in the year before there would be no difference between home or away games except for the shorts. Blue was home and red was away. At least thats what they were meant to be but there were games when the Warriors would wear their red shorts and socks at home and vice versa. There seems to be no logical pattern when and where the different shorts and sock were worn.
I've heard a few theories with one being red was favoured because of Team and Sir Peter Blakes lucky red socks. The only issue with that was the original challenge they lucky red socks entered NZ folklore was in 1995 and the next time was in 2000. The other was whichever set best contrasted with the oppositions but that is also easily dispelled with the Warriors wearing the red shorts against the St George Dragons as well as the Illawarra Steelers as shown in the pic below.
OFFICIAL REPLICA
Nike
Essentially the Super League jersey from the previous season but with the Super League badge removed from the centre of the jersey. The Warriors badge was reinstated, bearing in mind that the NRL owned the rights to the logo. Also added was the new NRL badge and recent sponsor addition Barter Card who now adorned the sleeve.
Now for some very strange reason there are 3 known variations of the Nike jersey and all have different Warriors badges.
The proper version featured the original Warriors badge from the 1995 jersey and was also the version the players wore.
The second version had the Warriors logo with white outlines in place of blue embroidered straight onto the jersey.
The third version had a vinyl heat pressed logo instead of any embroidery at all.
As stated the reasons are unknown. All are the exact same polyester jersey made in Australia bar the Warriors logo. Have to wonder if they ran out of proper badges and started embroidering them but to save costs changed to heat pressed logos? We might never know.
ISC
The only other variation I am aware of was made ISC of pure cotton and manufactured in New Zealand. These jerseys are different not only in maker and material but the NRL and Warriors logos are embroidered straight onto the jersey.
All variations are fairly common to find but finding one for sale can take time. The ISC are a bit rarer and a lot are signed on the back.
PLAYERS JERSEY
The exact same jersey as the replica with the exception of the blue box on the back that was done to make the number stand out more. Refer to the picture of the back of the replica jersey to see the difference between the two.
There are several minor differences amongst match worn 1998 jerseys.
Some sleeve sponsors had just plain text Bartercard logo while most had the full Bartercard logo.
Others will be missing the NRL badge and/or number but as long as it has the blue square on the back you can be fairly certain its a player issued jersey at the very least.
As with all old match worn jerseys there is a high chance the number and logos might be cracked, flaking or just completely missing.
Finding a genuine match worn or player issue jersey these days is getting harder and harder every year. Any variation will be considered rare...
TO READ OR MAKE A COMMENT ON THE DISCUSSION THREAD FOR THE 1997-1999 JERSEYS PLEASE CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW.
