Seventy years apart, connected by the Crest: Sinclair’s family ties to St Kilda.
A much has changed between Jack Sinclair’s football career and his grandfather’s, but the red, white, and black colours, as well as a version of the famous club Crest, have remained.
Jack Sinclair recalls as a child finding his late grandfather’s knitted St Kilda guernsey from the 1950s in an old chest of drawers.
It was a “blank-looking Crest,” he recalls, with a “a bit wonky” design, but it remains a cherished memory for the St Kilda player who would go on to win two Best & Fairest and two All-Australian awards.
Sinclair’s grandpa, Bill Gleeson, played 15 games for St Kilda from 1955-1956. Growing up as a Carlton supporter, Sinclair aspired to play for the Red, White, and Black.
possibly one of Sinclair’s grandchildren will do as he did many moons ago and discover a guernsey from his own playing days, possibly imprinted with a Crest not as “bulky” as the one from the 1950s.
As part of a club-wide makeover that will usher in an ambitious new chapter for the red, white, and black, St Kilda has unveiled a brand-new club Crest for Season 2025 and beyond, with Sinclair at the helm.
The following chapter explains our new crest.
St Kilda CEO Carl Dilena and two-time Best & Fairest winner Jack Sinclair discuss the purpose and significance of our new crest.
“My grandfather’s crest is the first one that comes to mind. During the Saints’ Crest content shoot at the Hotel Esplanade, Sinclair shared a childhood memory of removing his jumper from an old chest of drawers.
“The jumper is still in the family, and I believe my aunty currently owns it… We ultimately had it framed, and perhaps I’ll be able to get my hands on it sometime.
“I still believe this (new Crest) represents what the former logo did. It’s quite wonderful to think of my grandpa and him playing for the football club, and then for me, being here for almost a decade, ushering in a new era for the club.”
A considerable amount has changed between Sinclair’s grandfather’s career and his own, however the red, white and black and an iteration of the famed club Crest have persisted.
Among the key revisions in the latest Crest are the incorporation of the words ‘St Kilda’ in place of the former ‘St K.F.C.’ to reflect pride in the club’s origins and sense of place, along with a more compact ribbon — now connected to the Crest as one joint symbol as opposed to sitting separately — which features the club’s establishment date of
This is St Kilda: Introducing Our New Crest.
This is our club. This is our home. This is St. Kilda.
“I absolutely love it, there’s a lot of similarities (to the old one) and obviously it’s not a dramatic change, which is a really good thing,” Sinclair told CNN.
“It’s modern, but we’re still proud of our history…” I’m still really proud of the club and the fact that we’ve been playing at this level for over 150 years.
As a player, I am really proud to play for this football club. Although we have not achieved the desired results, we remain a legendary club with a rich history and talented players. It is exciting to be a part of the new logo.
Jack Sinclair
The Crest was introduced in 1933 and became a part of club history after the ‘Crest Game’ in which an injury-plagued St Kilda team defeated North Melbourne with only 15 players. This was one of the club’s most inspirational victories.
In remembrance, then-President Fred Arlington-Burke ordered medals engraved with the Crest to be produced for each player who participated in that game. The Crest has since embodied a heritage of tenacity and endurance in the face of adversity, qualities that have been synonymous with the Saints for the previous 151 years.
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