ONE of the highlights of the Rivcoll Bushpigs' 1978 premiership reunion at the weekend was the presentation of special-edition, commemorative jumpers. In the lead-up to the senior match, an Old Boar from the 1978 team presented a jumper to the Bushpig who plays in his position in the present team. The current player then wore the jumper in the match.

The special-edition jumper featured the club's former pattern of red and white stripes, with a bushpig on the front. On the back, the jumper featured an idea borrowed from AFL clubs by featuring letters across the top of the number.

The Brisbane Lions' "FFC" commemorates the Fitzroy Football Club, while Sydney's "SMFC" honours South Melbourne. On Saturday, the area just on top of the Bushpigs' numbers featured the letters "CTFP", which stands for "Carn the f---ing Pigs".

The acronym became the Bushpigs' favourite in the early 1980s when two players entrusted with marking the ground took the VFL's lead by painting something large and emblematic on the wing. In the case of the VFL, it was the competition logo. Since the Bushpigs had no logo, stand-in groundsmen Peter "Ducky" Duck and Robert "Ashy" Ash decided on the letters CTFP.

Since then, the Bushpigs have always taken the effort before special occasions at Bushpig Park, their home ground at Charles Sturt University in Wagga Wagga, to adorn the oval with the letters CTFP. On Saturday, the acronym was painted onto the wing, but its presence did little to improve the fortunes of the senior team.

Bushpigs president Michael Irons said the Bushpigs showed improvement but fell down across half-forward in their 97-point loss to The Rock-Yerong Creek.

In Victoria, the Hampden League held its first round and abided by a Victorian Country Football League directive to keep in line with the AFL on the duration of quarters. It proved an unsettling experience.

Hampden people had resisted orders to reduce quarters from 25 minutes plus time-on to 20 minutes plus time-on until it was pointed out that the competition might be liable for damages if a player were injured late in a long quarter. On Saturday, Hampden timekeepers duly tried to keep up with umpires who whistled time-on and time-off during breaks in play.

The clash at Mortlake between the top teams, Terang-Mortlake and Koroit, started at 2pm. The half-time siren went at 2.50pm and the match was over at 4.06pm. Supporters were left with almost three hours to fill in before a club function.

Discrepancies in quarter lengths weren't a problem down the road, at Kolora, where timekeeper Tom Vickers had a policy of making every quarter 27½ minutes. That was only ever altered if a stretcher was brought out.

Vickers died last year after decades as Kolora timekeeper. His legacy will be discussed this Saturday when Kolora-Noorat hosts a reunion. At this stage, there's no word on whether the club's jumpers will feature letters over the numbers.