Where the teal came from

Teal belonged to the 90s. Half the sporting world was wearing it, and we were happy to be part of that. The difference was that ours meant something on top of the trend.

It came from the badge. The logo used from 1998 to 2012 had the hawk perched on a wave, and teal was the ocean underneath it. That is about as Illawarra as a design decision gets.

Teal stayed a staple accent colour on Hawks uniforms until 2003. For those seasons it was simply what a Hawks jersey looked like.

It has come back three times since. The NBL20 Indigenous jersey had hints of teal. The NBL21 Heritage jersey, teal side panels and the old Wollongong Hawks wave badge on the chest. Then the NBL25 pinstripe jersey, released as a midseason heritage kit and meant to be worn once. Players wanted it. Hawkheads wanted it. It kept coming back out, all the way to Game One of the Final series at home.

Teal and championships

Teal ran as a prominent side panel stripe through the 2001 Championship jersey. For a lot of Hawkheads, that is the jersey.

Bringing the colour back is not nostalgia for its own sake. It draws a line between the players who pull this on in NBL27 and the Champions who wore it in 2001 and NBL25.