Gavin Hope

All “white” on the night…

Mar 20, 2018Mar 21, 2018Posted in GeneralTagged Football, NFL, Puma, world cupLeave a comment

There has been some controversy over the past week with Puma’s release of the their International teams away kit portfolio ready for this summer’s World Cup in Russia. Those more eagle eyed of you out there will spot a trend in these kits…..

…..they all have white shirts.

There have been some reports and comments of this being “lazy” designing but is there more too it than that. Over the recent years we have seen more and more tendencies for kits to be released as a group. Cast your mind back to the 2010 World Cup when the Nike kits (including England’s Umbro kit – then owned by Nike) were showcased as a whole, then of course the Nike Vapour wear template launch again giving kits in the Nike stable an overall identity and moving into club kits we have seen similar ideas in particular with Nike’s recent 3rd kits across some of the major European teams, so it should not be a surprise other manufacturers want to tap into this idea.

However, can we trace this back further by moving to another sport, In American Football (NFL), where historically most teams wore their club colours at home and the away team wore a white version of their “uniform”, it seems this was due to games being televised and creating a dark v light contrast for black and white television in the 1960’s. Although we have now moved on to Ultra 4K HD where to core reason behind this is no longer an issue, there is still some remnants of this in the current NFL ruling when it comes to team uniforms…

….a team’s home jerseys must be “either white or official team color” throughout the season, “and visiting clubs must wear the opposite”. If a team insists on wearing its home uniforms on the road, the NFL Commissioner must judge on whether their uniforms are “of sufficient contrast” with those of their opponents. The road team might instead wear a third jersey….

Whether this choice is good or bad, they certainly have achieved something that will stand out as a whole in the tournament, push the brand before the country in some cases and has got people talking about this choice, which from that point of view is a win for Puma and their team of designers.

Kit Log – FA Cup, Quarter Final Update

Mar 19, 2018Posted in GeneralTagged England, FA Cup, Football, Football Kits, SoccerLeave a comment

FA Cup Quarter-Final weekend has now been and gone, so time to update the Kit Log for 2017/18 Cup….

I started logging kits from the 3rd Round, so below you will see the 74 games we have seen so far since 5th January.

Special call out to Reading, as I am sure you will remember had to change their shirts to their orange away shirts at half time in the 3rd round replay against Stevenage in January due the kit clash.

The only question risen from the quarter-finals was Chelsea’s choice to wear their black 3rd kit against Leicester, rather than their white away shirt which would have created a greater contrast to the home kit of their opponents.

The West Germany 1990 shirt theory

Mar 16, 2018Mar 16, 2018Posted in GeneralTagged 1990, Adidas, Football, Football Kits, Kits, West GermanyLeave a comment

Well I guess timing is everything, whilst writing my Italia 90 post today (see the post here) I was listening to the latest episode of Totally Football Show where resident host James “AC Jimbo” Richardson was discussing the Fabric of Football event that took place over last weekend (9th / 10th March) and mentioned an interesting theory about the West Germany Shirt used at Italia 90….

West Germany’s World Cup performances in the previous tournaments before 1990:

1974 – Winners

1978 – Group Stage

1982 – Runners Up

1986 – Runners Up

1990 – Winners….. (from the expectation by kit designers)

and here is that theory in graphical format…!!

German efficiency and expectation or just coincidence……

Kit Log – World Cup, Italia 90

Mar 16, 2018Mar 16, 2018Posted in World Cup Kit LogTagged 1990, Adidas, Football, Football Kits, Germany, Italy, Kit Geek, Kits, Soccer, umbro, West Germany, world cup2 Comments

Italia 90… the birth of modern football and Adidas Designs start breaking the mould….

The World Cup parade returned to Europe in 1990 with Italy hosting for second time after the 1934 tournament. The 14th World Cup was held between 8th June and 8th July within 12 host cities. the format was the same as previous World Cup in Mexico, see my Kit Log for that edition here – Mexico 1986

So we see 24 teams, taking part in six groups of four teams, followed by knock out rounds giving us again a total of 52 games to look at.

In terms of kits, the 90’s hit us in a big way at this World Cup and in particular Adidas who introduced some very views on the traditional international kits that we seen in previous tournaments, we also saw 19 teams wear both their first and second choice kits through the tournament.

At this point although not in a World Cup I do feel I have to make special mention to Euro 88 and those kits worn by The Netherlands and USSR, take a quick moment to reflect on those shirts…….. and now back into Italia 90!

Adidas, who supplied 15 of 24 teams kits really caught the eye with some outstanding kits and several different templates and styles gracing the pitch. Some more classic templates, think Netherlands, Ireland, Belgium and then some real “modern” designs for USSR, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and Colombia, not forgetting of course the eventual Winners West Germany who wore a kit that was then unique and instantly iconic, a kit that often comes into contention when discussing greatest kits of all time.

Another iconic shirt from the tournament was England, who only wore their home kit through out the tournament but thanks to efforts of Paul “Gazza” Gascoigne taking the team to Semi-Finals made this kit a real fans favourite. Umbro reproduced the shirt in 2010 including Gazza’s No.19 on the back (and yes, I do have this version of the shirt).

In that Semi-Final West Germany wore their away kit for only time in the tournament and again it was a classic kit, similar in design to previously mentioned Euro 88 shirts of The Netherlands and USSR and something if reports are to believed will be the basis of the German away kit at Russia 2018.

For me special mentions need to be made to Scotland, with a stunning pair of kits from Umbro, that away kit….. and also the Colombia kits from Adidas, again as mentioned with Germany, these kits are basis of the shirt that will be worn this summer in Russia.

Kit Log – World Cup, Mexico 1986

Mar 13, 2018Mar 15, 2018Posted in World Cup Kit LogTagged England, Football, Football Kits, Kit Geek, Kits, Mexico, Soccer, world cup3 Comments

The Greatest ever kit (?) and hooped shorts….

In 1986 24 teams headed to Mexico, who stepped in to host the tournament when Colombia where no longer able to host the 13th World Cup and the first nation to host the tournament for a second time. As in 1970 the heat was a factor into the style of shirts worn by the nations taking part with lighter fabrics and even the return of some Airtex Shirts, yes Argentina I am talking about you…

A format change from the previous tournament and one that is the basis of the tournament that we see today, six groups of four teams with top two from each group qualifying and the four best third placed teams also qualifying for second round, for those that can not remember that far back (lucky you), think Euro 2016 and you will have an idea of the format.

One thing to call out straight away is Scotland’s shorts, as far as I can remember the only hooped shorts to grace the international arena and for me probably my favourite shorts ever, in fact this whole Scotland kit from Umbro is a thing of beauty.

The second highlight…. Denmark, a pair of kits that always gets a mention in the “Greatest Kit” debates, but more on that to come….

Other kits that deserve honourable mentions, France followed up their classic 1984 kit which we seen rebooted several times over the years with an under-rated pair of kits, another unique pair of Algeria kits, however this time with a Red Away kit. Iraq with a Sky Blue / Yellow kit collections, I believe these kits where chosen as lucky colours rather than being linked to history.

The eventual winners Argentina also had two classic kits, each taking their place in history with two of the greatest goals seen in World Cup History in Quarter Final against England (Away Kit) and the Semi Final against Belgium (Home Kit).

Denmark – Who wore four different variations of their classic kit, maybe one of the reasons it became so famous was its inter-changeability (if that is a word????)

England – The Quarter Final against Argentina is my first memory of watching a World Cup game, the 9 year old me was in awe of the whole spectacle, the memory of the giant spider shadow on the centre circle, Gary Lineker’s goal and that cross by John Barnes that seemed destined to be put away for Lineker’s 7th goal of the tournament but no… 6 goals for my hero and an exit from the tournament but this kit left a mark on me, for those who follow me on Twitter will know my love of England in Sky Blue and this my friends is the reason why….

Oh and I did not mention the Hand of God once….. oops!

Premier League Kit Log – 30 Game Update

Mar 13, 2018Mar 13, 2018Posted in Premier League Kit LogTagged EPL, Football, Football Kits, Kit Geek, Kits, Premier League, SoccerLeave a comment

Monday 12th March, has now seen each club in the Premier League hit the 30 game barrier for the 2017/18 season and here is the an update on the kits worn so far this season….

In terms of the stats around kits used….

Home Kit – 72% (65% full home kit, 7% Home kit variation)

Away Kit – 18% (14% full away kit, 4% Away kit variation)

3rd Kit – 10% (9% full 3rd kit, 1% 3rd kit variation)

Kit Log – World Cup, Spain 1982

Mar 12, 2018Mar 23, 2018Posted in World Cup Kit LogTagged 1982, Admiral, England, Football, Football Kits, Kit Geek, Kits, Soccer, Spain, world cup1 Comment

With the next World Cup just around the corner and over the next few weeks we will see the full complement of kits that will grace this tournament, I thought I would take some time and revisit some previous tournaments, starting with Spain 1982.

The tournament took place between 13th June 1982 and 11th July 1982, now from here I will not waste any of your time with the references to the games and the eventual winners Italy (or the controversy that surrounded the team before the tournament), those details can be found elsewhere and in much detail and accuracy than I could provide, all we are looking at here are the kits…. who wore what and against whom!

So my friends, I give you The World Cup, Spain 1982…

One thing to note about the tournament was the format, this was very different to what we see now, in this version of the World Cup the initial group stage (six groups of four teams) was then followed by second group phase that saw four groups of three teams with the winners of each group progressing to the Semi-Finals.

In terms of kits, you will notice a lot of pin-striped kits, most of these where Adidas kits and something of a popular template of the era and took us from the very plain kits of the 70s into a more vibrant age of football kit design. A couple of things that immediately spring to my mind when creating this log was the use of different kits in the same colour for a couple of countries. Both New Zealand and Czechoslovakia had both plain and pinstripe white kits over the course of their participation of the tournament.

England, not only did they remain unbeaten in the tournament but also had one of their iconic kit designs, which is instantly recognisable to football fans and was arguably a high point in the kit designs of Admiral.

There was also some interesting kit designs from Algeria and Belgium, who sported the classic tramline kit from Admiral, however this was transitional period for kit design with many countries including winners Italy remaining faithful to their historical kits and keeping it simple, however that was all about to change…..

Trying something new

Mar 12, 2018Mar 13, 2018Posted in GeneralTagged Football, Football Kits, Kit Geek, Kits, Soccer1 Comment

My interest in football kits that is something that has grown from one of those things that for years I used to just chat to friends and family about Then after a conversation with a friend suggested that used my strange obsession and knowledge to start some social media accounts to share these thoughts and then which then grew into a keeping a log of all kits used in my own little excel format…..

Well I think now is the time to expand to the next step and write more than 140 characters (well 280 does not have the same ring to it).

So, what’s to come…. well I am not too sure but I am sure there will kit talk, kit logs and whatever else comes up in our little world of Kit Geeks……!