In Australian rules football, a banner is a large crêpe paper and sticky-tape banner constructed by each team's cheer squad. It is hoisted before the start of a match, and typically shows an encouraging or celebratory message to the team; then, as the players take to the field, they run through the banner, breaking it. Traditionally, the captain, or a milestone-achieving player leads the team when breaking the banner. Tracing its origins to the 1930s, the concept of the Australian rules football banner is unique in world sport, and has become standard at all AFL matches. Construction Banners are made from crêpe paper and sticky tape, and are attached to two long poles which are used to hold the banner up for the players to run through. Banners are generally at least 8–10 m long, and over 3.5 m or 4 m high – crêpe paper is not strong, and so a lot of sticky tape is used to keep the banner together, particularly at the poles. There are two general ways that the banners are taped together: taping parallel lines every six inches along the length of the banner for its entire height, or; taping in both directions to produce 1 ft square panels. With extra tape on the edges and at the pole, this makes the banner a fairly sturdy construction which the players have no trouble breaking through. Thicker tape is used at the top of the banner, and thinner tape at the bottom. This enables players to run through the banner and not get caught in the tape. 4 inch thick tape is the thickest tape most cheersquads use, and 1 inch is the smallest. Some cheer squads, such as that of Carlton, have a permanent upper half made from cloth, and tape crêpe paper only across the lower half through which players run. Each week, they will reuse the top half by taping new letters to it. In 2014, some teams created full fabric curtains rather than use crepe paper. A small split in the lower centre area allowed the players to pass through it. The fabric could be reused each week, saving money and time. However, this limits the design options. Most banners have one base colour, which in the past was almost always the team's main colour, and writing in the team's secondary colour or colours; for example, Essendon, who wear black with