In 1998, Preston Campbell played for the Gold Coast Chargers.
He wore a headgear.
Well, he wore a headgear at least once during his 14 games that year. Definitely against Balmain in Round 15 at Carrara Stadium. There’s YouTube footage of that. Maybe he wore it more. Chargers’ footage is kind of hard to find. They were a team with no identity that nobody cared about. Sure, they had moments like all clubs do and produced great players. State of Origin players. Eventual premiership winners even. But they were the Chargers. They stuck around for 11 seasons and left for good after ‘98. They left us with something great.
Preston Campbell.
Three years later, while playing for Cronulla, Campbell did the unthinkable. Something nobody on earth in 1998, or at least the few thousand people at Carrara that June night, could’ve imagined. He won the Dally M Medal. Voted the best player in the league in the year of our lord 2001. And during that season, he wore a headgear.
WearWulf headgears are a mystery.1
They seemingly arrived out of nowhere around the year 2000 and were completely gone by 2009. By the mid-2000s it seemed like they outnumbered traditional brands like Madison, Reliance and Albion by a wide margin. They were worn by a Dally M winner. They were worn in Grand Finals and Test matches. The headgear in the 2003 video game Rugby League was clearly based on a WearWulf.
Now, there’s nothing. No website. No Wikipedia page. Google the name and you’ll find some pictures of Campbell and a section of an article about headgear brands. They found as much as me. Nothing. All we have are pictures and videos. So let’s start there.
Preston Campbell is the most iconic WearWulf wearer, that can’t be denied. He wore the brand from 2001 to 2008. In my research (which mainly consisted of trawling through 500 pages of Getty Images and NRL Imagery), I’ve found at least 20 other NRL players who also sported WearWulf. Some regularly, some for just a few games. Some even just once.
In 2010, Campbell began wearing an Impact brand headgear. So did another famous WearWulfer, Canberra’s Alan Tongue. Nathan Friend, Campbell’s Titans teammate at the time, made the move from WearWulf to Impact back in 2006. In total, nine regular WearWulf users switched to Impact between 2006 and 2010. Folks, we have a lead.
Unlike WearWulf, Impact still exists, so I head over to their website. According to the “About Us” section, Impact Rugby was formed in Brisbane in 2005. In 2009, Storm legend Matt Geyer joined the company as a business partner. Today, they still produce headgears as well as a number of other assorted rugby-related products. I send them a message through their “Contact Us” form. What will I uncover?
In the meantime, I decided I should get my hands on an authentic WearWulf headgear. Purely for research purposes of course. Definitely not because as a kid in the early 2000s, I really wanted a WearWulf headgear but my Mum (god bless her) couldn’t afford one so while I was at school one day she went out and got me a cheap, no brand one that was made out five pieces of foam because she’s from Victoria and knew nothing about rugby league or headgears. It’s purely for research.
By some miracle, someone is selling a WearWulf headgear on eBay. For $23 with free postage. I found an old Rebel Sport listing from 2007 that had a WearWulf headgear at $89.99. That’s like, $130 today. $23 is a bargain.
While I wait for that I get a response from Impact. It only adds more intrigue to the story.
“I did work for a company that acquired Wearwulf.”
“If you do some research…”
The shot at my research aside, I email back, thanking them for the quick reply and asking for a follow-up on who acquired them and who the founder was, without trying to come off like too much of a psychopath. They never reply.
Further research uncovers that the person who emailed me worked for Canterbury of New Zealand at one point. Did Canterbury acquire WearWulf? Again, I can’t find anything. I email Canterbury but again, nothing back.
A week later and I have in my possession an actual WearWulf headgear.2 It’s in pretty great condition considering it’s most likely 15 years old. Unfortunately, it’s a “Legend” model and not one of the much cooler “Streak” ones. I resist the urge to put the child-sized headgear on and look inside at the tags for any information about this company.
Finally something. Even if just a little sliver. We have the company name, the year it was established and a sweet logo.
WearWulf Sportswear Pty Ltd, Copyright 1994.
Of course. I can search for the trademark. Searching WearWulf on the IP Australia site gives us three results: trademark filings for the name “WearWulf” and two logos. I am a man who only knows of sports and pop culture, so I have no idea what I’m even looking for. It seems like none of the three have been renewed in years. The owner listed is “LWR Manufacturing Aust. Ltd”.
The name was trademarked in 2000 and the address given is in Kempsey. It now appears to be a brewery. I search “WearWulf Sportswear Kempsey” and find a Yelp page for “Wearwulf Sports Wear” with another Kempsey address listed. It’s an industrial area. Across the road is a landscaping supply company. Next door is Galatic Tenpin Bowling.
I go back to the IP site and keep looking. I must stress again that I have no idea what I’m reading but it looks like the address was changed at some point in 2004 to LWR Manufacturing in Christchurch, New Zealand.
Christchurch.
Canterbury.
Canterbury Clothing Company.
LWR manufactured Canterbury.
English immigrants John Lane, Pringle Walker & Alfred Rudkin (LWR), began manufacturing the Canterbury brand in 1904. Now most well known for rugby and sports apparel, they produced garments for Australian and New Zealand soldiers in World War I and II, as well as swimwear and underwear.
By 1985, the iconic “three C / Kiwi head” logo was adopted. In 1988, as Canterbury International continued to grow as LWR’s flagship brand, they opened a plant in Brisbane. In 1987, the company was dramatically affected by the stock market crash and was forced to close factories and reduce their workforce
In 1999, after 80 years of manufacturing jerseys for the All Blacks, they lost the rights to Adidas. In 2009, LWR was placed in receivership and closed. That year Canterbury was bought by JD Sports, who later sold it to Pentland Group, its current owners, in 2012.
LWR’s demise in 2009, makes sense in regards to WearWulf’s disappearance. Campbell stopped wearing the brand that season. So did Tongue. Most others had made the switch a year or two before.
So I guess that’s the story of WearWulf. They were founded in 1994, sold 10 years later and ceased to exist not long after that when the company that bought them died.
Except that’s not the story.
The story of WearWulf is Preston Campbell winning the Dally M. It’s Campbell and Shane Rodney lifting the Provan-Summons Trophy in 2003. It’s Alan Tongue and Joven Clarke and Roy Bell and Iafeta Paleaaesina and Rugby League on PlayStation 2. So let’s take a deep dive.
2000
As my research has uncovered, WearWulf was established in 1994. Did anyone wear the brand before 2000. Maybe. I don’t believe that’s the case but it’s possible. I believe the first WearWulf headgear sighting, well at least the first we have definitive proof of, is from Round 26, worn by Penrith’s Sid Domic in a 44–6 win over Cronulla. Domic was a Madison headgear wearer up until this point. He’d go on to wear WearWulf until he retired in 2007.
WearWulfers: 1 – Sid Domic.
2001
The year that changed the game for WearWulf. So, we’ve established that Preston Campbell wore a headgear at least once in 1998. Although with the footage I’ve seen it’s hard to make out what brand it is. It could be WearWulf. Over his first two seasons with Cronulla, 1999–2000, Campbell played just 12 games. I can’t find anything from his six games in 1999 but from photos and footage from 2000, he did not wear a headgear.
In 2001, he began the season with no headgear. In Round 9, while playing on the wing, he was seemingly knocked out against the Knights.3 In Round 10 he returns, wearing a Canterbury headgear. Headgears are of course a well-known concussion preventer. The next week, back to no headgear. In Round 13, he’s moved to halfback and begins his Dally M winning run. It’s not until Round 17, a Saturday night in the Shire, that Campbell wears the WearWulf for the first time. He kicks five goals in a 40–18 win over Melbourne. Campbell would wear the brand in 13 of his 29 games that year. In September, he wins the Dally M.
Sid Domic moved to the Super League in 2001, joining the Warrington Wolves, taking the brand international.4
Joining Domic and Campbell in 2001 was Eels’ backrower David Solomona. Solomona wore Canterbury headgears in 1999 and 2000 while at the Roosters. He began 2001 in the Canterbury, before switching to WearWulf in Round 21. He wore it in the Eels’ Grand Final loss to Newcastle! Future WearWulfers Iafeta Paleaaesina and Troy Thompson made their NRL debuts in 2001, wearing headgears, though I can’t confirm the brand.
WearWulfers: 3 – Preston Campbell, Sid Domic, David Solomona.
2002
South Sydney speedster and Rugby League video game legend Joven Clarke made his NRL debut in 2002 and joined the WearWulf club, alongside Campbell, Domic, Solomona and Thompson.
Clarke’s Rabbitohs teammate Duncan MacGillivray also began wearing WearWulf after being a Madison wearer for his early career. The Darwin junior would wear the brand well into the 2007 season. Cronulla hooker Dean Treister, a non-headgear wearer, wore a WearWulf and scored a try in his side’s Round 24 win over North Queensland. The power of the WearWulf.
In October 2002, we have the possible Test debut of WearWulf, as Solomona came off the bench in a black and white streak model for New Zealand in their 32–24 loss to Australia.
WearWulfers: 7 – Preston Campbell, Joven Clarke, Sid Domic, Duncan MacGillivray, David Solomona, Troy Thompson, Dean Treister.
2003
2003 is perhaps the high point of the WearWulf era, as Campbell and Rodney both wear one in Penrith’s classic Grand Final win over the Roosters. Rodney began wearing the brand that season.
Also in 2003, fan favourite Nathan Friend joins Melbourne and begins wearing a WearWulf. He wore a Canterbury headgear in his Broncos debut a year earlier (the infamous Baby Broncos game against the Tigers). Joining the regular WW wearers is the Warriors’ Evarn Tuimavave.
Frank Puletua, an occasional headgear wearer throughout his career, came off the bench for the Rabbitohs in a WearWulf in their Round 9 loss to Newcastle. The previously mentioned Iafeta Paleaaesina wore the brand for the first (documented) time in the Warriors’ Round 18 win over Manly. Emerging Bulldogs’ front rower Roy Asotasi also wore one at times during the year.
WearWulfers: 12 – Roy Asotasi, Preston Campbell, Joven Clarke, Sid Domic, Nathan Friend, Duncan MacGillivray, Iafeta Paleaaesina, Frank Puletua, Shane Rodney, David Solomona, Troy Thompson, Evarn Tuimavave.
2004
2004 was the season with the highest number of WearWulfers in the NRL, with at least 14 players wearing the brand in the big time.
Joining the regular wearers of the headgear was Storm premiership winner Tony Martin, who had joined the Warriors in 2004. At the Storm, Martin wore an odd Albion brand headgear that was orange on top. As a kid I thought he was wearing a bike helmet on the field. After trying Albion, SCUTTI and Optimum previously, he joined the good guys in ‘04.
Michael Howell, who played 15 games for the Dragons between 2002 and 2004, wore the WW in a Round 2 win over the Warriors. Rockhampton local Alan Rothery, who played 25 games for Canberra between 2004 and 2007, wore the brand occasionally throughout the year.
The diminutive Roy Bell also wore a WearWulf in two of his four games in 2004. Starting at fullback in a Round 25 draw against Brisbane and a Round 26 loss to Canberra, Bell scored three tries in the headgear. He did not wear it in 2005.
WearWulfers: 14 – Roy Asotasi, Roy Bell, Preston Campbell, Sid Domic, Nathan Friend, Michael Howell, Duncan MacGillivray, Tony Martin, Iafeta Paleaaesina, Shane Rodney, Alan Rothery, David Solomona, Troy Thompson, Evarn Tuimavave.
2005
WearWulf returned to the Test arena in 2005, as David Solomona was recalled to the Kiwis. He played five of their Tri-Nations games, including the final where they defeated Australia 24–0. WearWulf adds international silverware to its trophy case.
In the first of a series of departures, Shane Rodney stopped wearing the brand in 2005. He stopped wearing headgear altogether. I guess nothing could compare to the double W. Paleaaesina wore the brand on and off that season. He wore a Puma headgear in Round 3 before switching back to WearWulf by Round 16. His teammates at the Warriors, Wairangi Koopu and Richard Villasanti, both occasionally wore WearWulfs that year as well.
Shannon Donato, a nuggety hooker who represented Italy and spent time with South Sydney, Cronulla and Penrith, wore the brand in his 78th and final NRL game, a 26–16 loss to Parramatta in Round 4. Well, he put it on after getting his face battered earlier in the game. It still counts.
WearWulfers: 13 – Roy Asotasi, Preston Campbell, Sid Domic, Shannon Donato, Nathan Friend, Wairangi Koopu, Duncan MacGillivray, Tony Martin, Iafeta Paleaaesina, David Solomona, Troy Thompson, Evarn Tuimavave, Richard Villasanti.
2006
Oh no. Well, this isn’t great.
2006 was a bad year for the brand. They went from 13 wearers to six.
Long-time wearers Nathan Friend, Tony Martin, Iafeta Paleaaesina, Troy Thompson and Evarn Tuimavave all jumped ship to Impact headgears. Occasional WearWulfer Wairangi Koopu joined them.
In much better news, all round great guy Alan Tongue began his WearWulf journey. A non-headgear wearer, Tongue first wore the brand in Round 3, a 56–20 loss to the Roosters. Tongue played well above his weight throughout his career, so I can only assume he copped a head knock or something the week before and someone at the club told him to chuck a headgear on.
There were just six WearWulfers in 2006. Three of them played in the Super League. Frank Puletua, one of the three in the NRL, only wore it once. Joven Clarke returned to the NRL in 2006, playing on the wing in South Sydney’s 34–12 loss to North Queensland in Round 25. I could not confirm if he wore a headgear.
WearWulfers: 6 – Preston Campbell, Sid Domic, Duncan MacGillivray, Frank Puletua, David Solomona, Alan Tongue.
2007
After nine years, Campbell returns to the Gold Coast and wears a WearWulf headgear in the Titans’ inaugural game against the Dragons at Suncorp Stadium.
In a further blow to WearWulf, MacGillivray and Solomona switch to KooGa headgears during the 2007 season. Only three remain.
WearWulfers: 3 – Preston Campbell, Sid Domic, Alan Tongue.
2008
Sid Domic, the WearWulf innovator, retires after a 14-year career.
Preston Campbell, WearWulf’s first star, plays his final game in the brand. A Round 24 loss to Brisbane, 25–21. He scored a try.
Alan Tongue, the latecomer who helped keep the flame alive, plays his last game in the brand. Captaining the side, the Raiders lose in the first week of the finals to Cronulla and are eliminated.
WearWulfers: 2 – Preston Campbell, Alan Tongue.
Campbell moves onto a new brand in 2009. I can’t make out the logo. It might be Impact, who he wears in the 2010 and 2011 seasons before retiring.
Tongue wears an Optimum headgear in 2009 before moving on to Impact in 2010 like all the others before retiring in 2011.
Or did he?
..
…
….
2011
That’s right.
In his final season in first grade, Tonguey threw Impact to the side and pulled the old WearWulf out of the bottom of the cupboard. Faded logo and all.
He wears the brand throughout the season, including in his final NRL game. It was a warm September afternoon in Sydney. Unfortunately for Tongue, Canberra lost 36–22 to Canterbury in what was also Andrew Ryan’s last game. You know, the one where the Bulldogs wore Star Wars jerseys and Ryan scored a try but then slipped while jumping into the bobcat the club had put there for him.5
WearWulfers: 1 – Alan Tongue.
And that is the true story of the NRL’s WearWulf era – 2000 to 2008.
WearWulf, Rugby League video games, the Hoodoo Gurus, the Cowboys actually becoming good, Boots ‘n’ All, Preston Campbell, the NRL Road Train, Sharp Shooter kicking tees. A great time for rugby league.
The name itself was a mystery. Was it WearWulf, Wearwulf or Wear Wulf? Or maybe it was actually just Wulf? (It’s WearWulf).
Take that Mum.
https://www.gettyimages.com.au/detail/news-photo/preston-campbell-of-the-sharks-lays-injured-after-a-tackle-news-photo/982419
I didn’t do any research into WearWulf in the Super League. Maybe someone wore it before Domic went there. Who’s to say?
Ben Barba, a year before his breakout Dally M season, scored four tries in the game.