2011-12 soccer kits

[Saintsfan]

Didn't want to start a new topic for this, but this is interesting. Gareth Bale in a GB strip! (for those that don't know, he's Welsh)

Check the full story HERE.

ps: the uni itself is pretty awesome, imo.

Well... it's not very strange that a Welsh supports GB because Wales is member of Great Britain.

In almost every sport, the British associations participates separately but in the Olympics games, all the Brits come in an united team.

The Welsh, Scottish and Northern Irish FAs have been adamantly against a GB team at the Olympics, and indeed their opposition has been one of the main reasons that Britain hasn't had a soccer team in the Olympics for a Llloooooooonnnnngggg time.

And actually in many sports GB compete as GB (track and field, swimming, basketball, cycling, gymnastics are all sports were GB competes as GB.)

[Gothamite]

Well, Notthern Ireland isn't in Great Britain, so I can see why they'd mind.

But yes, the four nations have clearly defined football borders, and aren't used to competing as one unified group.

[Saintsfan]

At the risk of pulling this towards a sports in general conversation, politically it will be interesting to see how 7s Rugby is handled. There is a proud history of the British Lions playing together, so the Scots and Welsh will be less freaked by the thought of a combined British team. Ireland is the issue their. The Irish rugby team represents the whole of the Island of Ireland, Ulstermen play for Ireland. It will be interesting to see what happens. The same problem exists in Boxing I believe and their I believe Northern Irish boxers box for Ireland in the Olympics.

[Jhero34]

Well, Notthern Ireland isn't in Great Britain, so I can see why they'd mind.

But yes, the four nations have clearly defined football borders, and aren't used to competing as one unified group.

North Ireland is part of Great Britain but the Republic of Ireland is not

[crashcarson15]

Well, Notthern Ireland isn't in Great Britain, so I can see why they'd mind.

But yes, the four nations have clearly defined football borders, and aren't used to competing as one unified group.

North Ireland is part of Great Britain but the Republic of Ireland is not

Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. "Great Britain" refers to England, Scotland, and Wales.

[DEAD!]

Well, Notthern Ireland isn't in Great Britain, so I can see why they'd mind.

But yes, the four nations have clearly defined football borders, and aren't used to competing as one unified group.

North Ireland is part of Great Britain but the Republic of Ireland is not

Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. "Great Britain" refers to England, Scotland, and Wales.

... and that was today's geography lesson.

[ffdb38]

Well, Notthern Ireland isn't in Great Britain, so I can see why they'd mind.

But yes, the four nations have clearly defined football borders, and aren't used to competing as one unified group.

North Ireland is part of Great Britain but the Republic of Ireland is not

Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. "Great Britain" refers to England, Scotland, and Wales.

So does Northern Ireland compete separately in the Olympics? In the Olympics the team is referred to as Great Britain not the United Kingdom.

[crashcarson15]

Well, Notthern Ireland isn't in Great Britain, so I can see why they'd mind.

But yes, the four nations have clearly defined football borders, and aren't used to competing as one unified group.

North Ireland is part of Great Britain but the Republic of Ireland is not

Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. "Great Britain" refers to England, Scotland, and Wales.

So does Northern Ireland compete separately in the Olympics? In the Olympics the team is referred to as Great Britain not the United Kingdom.

At the risk of pulling this towards a sports in general conversation, politically it will be interesting to see how 7s Rugby is handled. There is a proud history of the British Lions playing together, so the Scots and Welsh will be less freaked by the thought of a combined British team. Ireland is the issue their. The Irish rugby team represents the whole of the Island of Ireland, Ulstermen play for Ireland. It will be interesting to see what happens. The same problem exists in Boxing I believe and their I believe Northern Irish boxers box for Ireland in the Olympics.

(Depends on the sport. Then again, throughout the history of the Olympics, the situation regarding how much control the United Kingdom has had in Ireland has fluctuated.)

[Conrad.]

Interesting leak over at Fball Shirt Culture:

Full Blog Entry

[aawagner011]

I think I might love it. I've always wanted to see us do this. The ghost sash is so minimal that I don't think you'll ever really see it except when looking quite up close. I would love to see this matched with blue shorts. Hopefully they don't wimp out and they will give us a navy blue shirt instead of another white shirt for the alternate. It would be great to have two kits that feature strong amounts of color.

[pcgd]

Ok although I really like that, I just want the US to "own" something.

You could "own" white over blue (or red over blue), but have failed to do that. You could "own" the sash, but have failed to do that. Now you could "own" red hoops...I doubt they'll do that either and continue to be the branding mess they are.

[aawagner011]

Ok although I really like that, I just want the US to "own" something.

You could "own" white over blue (or red over blue), but have failed to do that. You could "own" the sash, but have failed to do that. Now you could "own" red hoops...I doubt they'll do that either and continue to be the branding mess they are.

I feel the same way about having an "ownable" and "identifiable" look. However, if the alternate jersey features only a sash, then can we say this is not just a fad for the US, but maybe the start of a tradition? Or who knows, what if this is the alternate jersey and the home is just the sash? Just food for thought.

[gdu]

Interesting leak over at Fball Shirt Culture:

Full Blog Entry

Thanks for posting.

Not a fan based on this picture, but mostly bc of the cutout for the numbers. Never have liked that look.

I do hope this means they make them in authentics, though, since they only did for th alts this year as far as I know.

[Digby]

Yeah, it's not bad and it's different than most other int'l kits, but I agree that the US needs to pick a traditional look and stick with it.

Plus, I really liked the red shirt/navy shorts away kit from this year, and I hoped that would become a new tradition. This shirt makes me assume that we're going back to navy shirts for the away. Oh well...

[Billy B]

Count me in the group that just wants the US to get an identifiable look for the club. I thought we might see that with the sash, but it looks like that won't be the case. I really do like what we can see from this kit though.

[AJM]

Seattle Sounders 2012 (third?)

Seattle third Confirmed...it's Super Cyan. http://todosobrecamisetas.blogspot.com/2011/11/seattle-sounders-adidas-super-cyan-3rd.html

[gdu]

Seattle Sounders 2012 (third?)

Seattle third Confirmed...it's Super Cyan. http://todosobrecamisetas.blogspot.com/2011/11/seattle-sounders-adidas-super-cyan-3rd.html

Gross.

[Snazel]

Gross.

Yeah the Sounders are pretty clueless. If you've ever heard Drew Carey speak about the sport, you realize he thinks he's an expert, when in fact he's only really been following the sport now for 6 or 7 years. Those kinds of "fanatics" in any sport are dangerous, and you get stuff like this.

I LOVE the Sounders...(I have season tickets), but their marketing schemes are AWFUL.

Their own supporter groups have more sense of how to market the club than the organization. In fact, I'll go further and say a large part of the Sounders success is because of the marketing efforts of their supporter groups and IN SPITE of their own marketing schemes.

For example, Drew was convinced the team needed to be called the "Emerald City Greens" and it was really the supporters that had to convince the franchise to adopt the moniker "Sounders". The supporters have been asking for a retro NASL-style alternate, (with a modern update perhaps similar to what Toronto did in baseball). This is what the marketing idiots in the Sounders HQ took away from that idea.

Great team to watch though and great to see MLS slowly get a little traction.

[Conrad.]

yeah, SFC is my favorite MLS club too, but they gotta stop with these dumb uniform choices...first the Electricity, then this past season's grey away kits, and now this Super Cyan ugliness. just make a white "fauxback" alternate kit and be done with it.

[Snazel]

yeah, SFC is my favorite MLS club too, but they gotta stop with these dumb uniform choices...first the Electricity, then this past season's grey away kits, and now this Super Cyan ugliness. just make a white "fauxback" alternate kit and be done with it.

Yeah I agree. I believe one of the supporter sites had a great pseudo-design for a retro-kit (but with a modern twist). Here it is:

And while that's not perfect either, it is much closer to what the Sounders should have unveiled. The one above has a much stronger connection to the club's history.

But I think the cynical thought here by the Sounders is, they can continue to try "cutting edge" designs (and see which ones hit the lottery), then later they can fall back to a safer, more obvious design that pays homage to their roots. It's like taking extreme bets with the house money, then going to safer bets when the house money dwindles.

So in short, part of the Sounders problems is their own damn success. They literally think they platinum right now, so why not be even more bold and stupid?

Right now, the key is fans like you and I need to punish the franchise and STOP buying their merchandise until they wise up.

Here's another shot of the "fan variant" that is vastly superior to what the franchise actually unveiled today. Again I don't think this fan variant is perfect, but it's a superb starting point to developing a solid 3rd kit: