Foo - Why do Aussies wear Green/Yellow? Why Azzuri for Italians?

Does anyone know why Australian athletes wear green and yellow when playing for or representing their country in competition? Same for Italy.... why the blue?

These are not the colors of their flags, so I'm assuming there is some other tradition behind the colors.

Any other countries that represent with colors other than their national flags?

Azzuri (azzurre) means Blue in Italian, and i have no idea why they use blue. Maybe something to do with the fact that they are surrounded by ocean, thats just a guess though.

Azzuri (azzurre) means Blue in Italian, and i have no idea why they use blue. Maybe something to do with the fact that they are surrounded by ocean, thats just a guess though.

good guess! I was told by my Poppy (a native of Reggio Calabria) that the blue represents the ocean surrounding Italy.

Don't know about the Aussie color scheme.

I have read that the Australian green and gold is from the wattle plant. And that the Italian blue is the color of the Savoy family, "the Kings of Italy."

Green and gold became the popular choice to represent Australia internationally because the colours closely resembled those of our national emblem, the golden wattle. Some people believe that green and gold was chosen mainly for the soccer team, in the (misguided) belief that if their kit is the same colour as Brazil's, they might play like Brazil.

It's not uncommon for the sporting colours of a country to be different from their flag colours. New Zealand (black), Netherlands (orange) and India (blue) are some of the notable ones.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v693/ozstubacca/Stuff/aussieemblem.jpg

Good information!

What's a golden wattle? Is it the bird on the emblem above?

I forgot about the Kiwis being the All Blacks. Any reason why?

And the Dutch... forgot them, too. For the House of Orange, I believe (?)

Good information!

What's a golden wattle? Is it the bird on the emblem above?

I forgot about the Kiwis being the All Blacks. Any reason why?

And the Dutch... forgot them, too. For the House of Orange, I believe (?)
Golden wattle is the flower.... the bird is an Emu.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v693/ozstubacca/Stuff/Golden-Wattle.jpg

For New Zealand, the colours are actually black and white, which are traditional Maori colours (the indigenous people of New Zealand).

oh yeah, on the 'All Blacks' thing. One story I've heard many times is that it possibly came from a London newspaper journalist describing one of the early New Zealand national fugby teams (which was call The Originals) as if the played like they were 'all backs', which was then misprinted. Who knows if it's true... more likely it just comes from their playing strip, which is black jerseys, shorts and socks. :D

Always awesome watching them perform the haka before a match....

Some people believe that green and gold was chosen mainly for the soccer team, in the (misguided) belief that if their kit is the same colour as Brazil's, they might play like Brazil.

But Brazil's kit colors are Yellow and Blue...

This must go 'way back.

But Brazil's kit colors are Yellow and Blue...

This must go 'way back.
hrrnnnn, their current home kit is yellow/green... the away one is blue

Japan uses blue/white kits/uniforms, but besides that, I can't think of any other irregular color schemes for countries.

I guess you could call Croatia's red/white checkers irregular, since the flag is red/white/blue and the emblem is the thing that has the checks on it.

I think that the Netherlands' orange is the best uniform in the world. They use it for everything and all of the fans wear it too.

Japan uses blue/white kits/uniforms, but besides that, I can't think of any other irregular color schemes for countries.

I guess you could call Croatia's red/white checkers irregular, since the flag is red/white/blue and the emblem is the thing that has the checks on it.

I think that the Netherlands' orange is the best uniform in the world. They use it for everything and all of the fans wear it too.

South Africa is Green and Gold and comes from the first SA rugby tour to the UK and the beginning of the 20th century. The colour was chosen by the team manager as it was his local club's colour. The Australian rugby team used to play in a similar strip until the 1960's when they changed it as it was too close to the SA strip (the Aussie rugby league team still retains the mostly green strip though).

Germany's football team strip is white (with black shorts) but they usually have the coloured stripes from their flag somewhere on the strip.