What Cherie Blair, Meryl Streep and the senior Tipperary hurlers have in common may sound like an improbable riddle posed by an inebriated detractor of the team, but the answer is a top fashion designer.
The Tipp team will be joining the ranks of top soccer clubs on the fashion stakes after Louise Kennedy agreed to redesign the traditional blue-and-gold jerseys. Her father, Jimmy, from Puckaun, outside Nenagh, was a four-time all-Ireland medallist, three times with Tipperary, and once with Dublin while studying in UCD. "It is just because of my dad and the whole Tipperary association, and being involved with Tipperary Crystal. I have a great sense of being from Tipperary," she says.
Ms Kennedy, who opened a new store in Knightsbridge, London, last Thursday, will include the new Tipperary GAA crest, approved this week by the county board, in the newly designed jersey. The crest, to be registered at the Patents Office, incorporates the Rock of Cashel with a hurler and footballer, replacing the heraldic Butler family crest.
She says it will be a challenge because it will also include a sponsor's name, the jersey number and the county colours. "It is a matter of looking at fabric options and colour tones . . . a lot of jerseys have become very cluttered. There is a lot of design work going on the sleeves. It is very confusing." Mr Tim Floyd, marketing co-ordinator for the Tipperary county board, says the members are delighted to have Ms Kennedy's assistance. With a £250,000 debt, the board hopes to sell the jersey and other merchandise in a GAA shop to be located beside the Lar na Pairce Museum in Thurles.
"We have a three-year financial plan to sort it out. The problem we have at the moment is there is a gap of about £100,000 between expenditure and income annually. We have to arrest the slide first of all before we start tackling the deficit," Mr Floyd says.
The launch of the new jersey will coincide with the board having a newly signed sponsor after the three-year contract with Finches expires this year.
Mr Floyd adds that sales of jerseys could be a valuable source of income. Cork, which was in two all-Irelands last year, winning one, sold more than 30,000 of its jerseys.
"The replica jersey is a big thing when the team is successful. By registering your corporate crest, you have more control over it and more royalties from it. We have a young team at the moment and we hope it would be successful over the next couple of years."