American Football Worldwide - Haiti

[sc49erfan15]

I stick around the Caribbean for the series' next installment, Haiti!

Previously in American Football Worldwide:

• Uzbekistan
  
• Qatar
  
• San Marino
  
• Moldova
  
• Tanzania
  
• Mongolia
  
• Saint Kitts and Nevis
  

The Republic of Haiti is located in the Caribbean, about 50 miles east of Cuba, occupying the western third of the island of Hispaniola that it shares with the Dominican Republic. Haiti holds the distinction of being the second independent republic in the Americas (and the first in Latin America/Caribbean), and the first black-led republic in the world when it won its independence from a slave revolt in 1804. I always considered the Haitian Revolution to be one of the most important events in the Western Hemisphere, and stressed its importance when I taught World History. Since then, the nation has largely struggled through centuries of despotic leadership, U.S. occupation in the early 1900s, then more dictatorships under the François "Papa Doc"/Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier hereditary dictatorship from 1957-1986. Today, Haiti remains the poorest country in the Americas and it is estimated that 50% of the rubble from the disastrous 2010 earthquake has yet to be removed.

In stark contrast to their eastern neighbor where baseball reigns supreme, soccer is the most popular sport in Haiti. Haiti fared well in CONCACAF Championships in the 1970s, winning in 1973 and placing second in 1971 and 1977. The 1973 CONCACAF championship qualified Haiti for its only World Cup appearance in 1974, but finished last in their first round group and 15th of 16 overall. Haiti's performance at the Olympics has been interesting - despite sending athletes regularly to the Summer Games since 1972, Haiti has been medal-less since 1928. Haiti's only two medals are a bronze in team rifle in 1924 and a silver in the men's long jump in 1928. As for American football in Haiti - it's a longshot, but maybe not as much as, say, Mongolia. There are several Haitian-born players in the NFL (Gosder Cherilus, Vladimir Ducasse, Junior Galette) and many more with strong Haitian heritage (Jason Pierre-Paul, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, Elvis Dumervil, Pierre Garçon, to name a few) - however, all of these players got their start playing football in the US. But, if native Haitians decide that American football is their new thing...

I wanted to keep it pretty basic. The left part of the "H" logo is meant to suggest the outline of the country, without actually using its exact shape. The conch shell in the federation logo is a symbol of Haiti from the days of the Haitian Revolution known as the lambi. The lambi would be blown as a horn to alert slaves of impending danger, and is still used today to alert that a community meeting is about to take place. As for the uniforms, I wanted to keep it red/blue with white used only when necessary.

[thespleenenator]

Don't like that font. I know it flows with the logo, but it just doesn't look like it belongs on a football uniform. Change it to a block font and I think it'll be better.

[marble21]

I agree with above. Number font isnt suitable for a football uniform.

This does not limit you to only a block font though.

[Seadragon76]

It's not so much the font, which is OK in my opinion, it's the fact that you split it in half. Half red and half blue like the flag.

I also like the conch shell in the federation logo. Neat touch and you learn something from it.

[sc49erfan15]

I was a little iffy on the number font, myself. Changed that, and added shoulder numbers, decided it was too plain without them.