Traditionally, the home team at an AFL match always wears their home strip and dark shorts, so it’s little wonder North fans were confused to see their boys run out in white shorts for Round One against Essendon last Saturday night.

Why? Well, times have changed and the old rules no longer apply according to league headquarters.

“The AFL’s guidelines for shorts are around presentation of the game,” AFL media relations manager, Patrick Keane said.

“We seek to place teams in predominantly dark and predominantly light apparel, to make them easy to distinguish for both supporters at the ground and viewers at home.”

Essendon’s uniform was the reason behind the Kangaroos having to wear white shorts, instead of royal blue.

“Essendon has no white in its standard uniform, with black and red, and therefore the AFL did not wish to introduce white into its match-day apparel by placing them in white shorts,” Keane explained.

For Saturday’s game, Essendon was predominantly dark - black jumper, black shorts, socks with black - and North Melbourne was predominantly light - jumper with white, white shorts, socks with white.”