The jumper wasn’t worn in the 1958 Grand Final, because players had to swap jumpers on the morning of the match after the League felt its copyright had been breached when The Sun newspaper published players’ numbers. Weed instead wore #1 on Grand Final day, and his #27 wasn’t used.
Instead he gave the jumper to a friend of his named Harold Milburn, who he had met through work. Harold worked at Melbourne’s fruit and vegetable markets, and came across Murray through his family’s grocery shop in Fairfield. The two became friends, and Murray passed the guernsey over after realizing that Harold was a mad keen Magpie fan.
It has stayed with his family ever since. But Harold died in 2009, and his widow Beverley finally decided that it should be donated to the football club that Harold had loved all his life. She recently handed the jumper over, together with the story behind it.
Club Historian Michael Roberts said the jumper was an important addition to the club’s existing collection of Weideman-related memorabilia.
“When the Weideman family generously donated his collection to us a couple of years ago, I was surprised to see that there wasn’t a jumper amongst all the items. But his wife, Victoria, explained that Murray had been generous throughout his life and had given away many of his jumpers over the years.
“So this kind of completes the collection really. And the story behind it is absolutely consistent with what we’ve learned about Murray and his generous nature.
“Plus, of course, coming from our historic 1958 season makes it even more special.
“It’s a wonderful jumper and we can’t thank Beverley, her son Rod and the rest of the Milburn family enough.”
The jumper will be on display in the new exhibition spaces at club HQ when the redeveloped area re-opens later this year.