Image: Oxford-half-blue-blazer

Description: Oxford University Half Blue blazer and tie (specifically, the Oxford University Rifle Club Half Blue blazer) This blazer has been largely phased out of use due to its prohibitive price (~400GBP), and replaced by an identical blazer to that awarded to full blues (~175GBP). The only difference between the newer style full and half-blue blazers is that half-blues have white piping on the top of the pocket, necessitating the club crest being positioned lower on the pocket. Walters of Oxford, which supplies most, if not all, the University's full and half blue regalia, lists on its Web site that a full blue blazer (and the half blue modeled upon it) can be had for 189 GBP, while the striped version of the half blue blazer is listed at 250 GBP. Both prices include 20 percent VAT. This design is still worn by a number of clubs including the Rifle Club due to historical associations. As Rifle Shooting was the very first half-blue sport, the award itself and the blazer design were originally created specifically for the Rifle Club. The distinctive striped blazer was subsequently adopted by several other clubs as their sports achieved half-blue status, but most half-blue sports have now adopted the later, plain version. Some have interpreted the perpetuation of the striped design as a form of economic snobbery, contributing to the alienation of what is already a marginalised sport. Others suggest that the move to a plain blue blazer represents an attempt to erode the important distinction in status between half and full-blue awards.

Irrespective of such Liliputian debates, the Rifle Club believe that the striped blazer has a distinctive and valuable historic association with their sport, and as such should be maintained for as long as possible. In most cases the economic impact on award recipients is minimal as the club maintains a number of blazers for use by members at official functions; indeed some "club" blazers are becoming interesting historical items in their own right, having been passed down through generations of distinguished members over six decades or more.
Author: Rmbyoung at English Wikipedia
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