Australian Rugby Team Ready to Shine With Introduction of ‘Northern Lights’ Jersey

A team in Australia’s National Rugby League is getting ready to shine in first-of-their-kind jerseys that they’ll wear in their final match of the season.

To cap off their 30th anniversary season, the North Queensland Cowboys — based in Townsville, Queensland — introduced their new “Northern Lights Jersey” last week and will wear them in their final match of the 2025 NRL season on Saturday, August 30, when they host their Queensland rivals, the Brisbane Broncos.

The main feature of the jerseys is a custom fluorescent ink developed by manufacturer Dynasty Sport that appears yellow under normal light but glows when viewed under blue UV light — “a first in major Australasian sport,” the club says. The ink is used all over the navy blue base of the jersey, including all sponsor logos and the jagged lines that run across the front that are inspired by the bullhorns in the Cowboys’ primary logo.

Courtesy Wikipedia

In collaboration with apparel partner Dynasty Sport, the groundbreaking concept fuses the club’s identity with modern technology, aiming to pay tribute to the Cowboys as a guiding force in the North Queensland region.
— North Queensland Cowboys press release

The jersey all includes all three iterations of the Cowboys’ logo from their 30-year history on the back collar.

The Cowboys were established in 1995 and admitted to the Australian Rugby League Premiership that year. They survived a couple of league lawsuits and mergers over the next couple of years, and they’ve played in the NRL since it began in 1998. They won their first and so far only Grand Final in 2015, defeated their in-state rivals, the Brisbane Broncos, 17-16. In the 2025 season, they sit in 14th place out of 17 teams at the time of publication, with three games remaining.