The Age of Tash

 

A Pictorial Tribute to a forgotten football fashion

                 

 

The era of the mid 1970s to the early 1980s was a golden age in Australian culture. On the silver screen, Bazza McKenzie, FJ Holden, The Club and Don's Party showed the world what it meant to be Australian. On the roads, the Kingswood, the Sandman, the Monaro and the Valiant Charger embodied the great cultural achievements of the nation.

 

It was also a golden age in Australian sport, an era when facial adornments became de rigueur for any player hoping to increase his on-field gravitas and off-field sex appeal. Historians have determined that this period ran from some time in the early 1970s and died in the mid-1980s, and should be fondly remembered as The Age of Tash. During this era, a generous smattering of tash could be found at any half-decent sporting club, and it is surely no coincidence that the more successful teams of the era (in any football code) were also the ones that boasted the highest preponderance of tash, with the dominant Carlton side of 1979 to 1982 being the most notable example.

 

The Age of Tash, 1975-1983: 

An essential pre-requisite to Premiership success:

1975, 1977                      1979, 1981, 1982

1980                                     1976, 1978, 1983

 

For some unknown reason, the Tash fell out of fashion at some point in the mid 1980s (around about the same time that mullets came into fashion, which may or may not be a related phenomenon). Almost as quickly as it had sprouted a decade earlier, the Tash beat a hasty retreat from football fields throughout the big league. The last remaining link to the Age of Tash was finally severed when David Cloke played his last game in Round 24, 1991. The Tash lingered on into the 90s with its sole representative in that decade being Derek Kickett, with occasional re-appearances on The Great Man (Adrian McAdam’s and Michael Long’s pissweak attempts do not count).

 

Some prime examples, club by club, of the greatest figures in the The Age of Tash are listed below. Footballinvective.com welcomes reader contributions (written and pictorial) on their memories of this Golden Age of Australian culture.

 

Great Figures in the Age of Tash:

 

Carlton: Alex Jesaulenko, Percy Jones, Peter Bosustow, Mike Fitzpatrick, etc, etc

Collingwood: Phil Carmen, Phil Manassa, Ray Shaw, Brian Taylor

Essendon: Ronnie Andrews, Roger Merrett, Kevin Walsh

Fitzroy: Bernie Quinlan

Footscray: Who cares

Geelong: Sam Newman

Hawthorn: Leigh Matthews, Peter Knights, Chris Mew

Melbourne: Carl Ditterich

Nth Melbourne: Malcolm Blight, David Dench

Richmond: David Cloke, Michael Malthouse, Dale Weightman, Michael Roach

Sth Melbourne: Rod Carter

St Kilda: Rex Hunt, Wow Jones

Queensland: Wally Lewis

Liverpool: Ian Rush, John Aldridge, Bruce Grobelaar, Graeme Souness

Australia: Dennis Lillee, Rod Marsh, Ian Chappell, David Hookes, Merv Hughes, Allan Border, David Boon

 

A VFL record? - 11 Tashes in the 1975 Premiership team

 

Tash on the big screen: The Club (1980)

 

Rubbish Binny:  c. Tash   b. Tash