Few things prompt greater debate among Irish fans than the launch of a new jersey, writes MARY HANNIGAN
REMEMBER THAT “I had a Macedonia” glow-in-the-dark orange away shirt from the last century, the one with green, black and white stripey armpits? “How could I forget,” says you.
When pictures of the creation first emerged, the general reaction among the football-supporting public was: “Ha, ha – good one. Now, show us the real shirt.”
Alas, that was it, leading to the suspicion that the designer had accidentally ingested a mind-altering substance before putting crayon to paper.
“What can I say? Criminal, dreadful,” said Mick McCarthy at the time, and while he was actually referring to that cataclysmic 3-2 World Cup qualifying defeat in Skopje, he probably also had in mind the shirt his players had worn that day. That’s 15 years ago now, when James McCarthy was only six, but some scars run deep, so when the Football Association of Ireland announces the official launch of a new away shirt it can still sound more like a threat than just a bit of news – especially for those who actually like to purchase and wear these things.
Yesterday’s official unveiling would have been old news to those who spotted the shirts on the interwebs over a month a go, but for everyone else it was brand new news. Not least, perhaps, for those whose credit cards had just recovered from buying the last brand new away shirt, launched less than a year ago.
That one was – ginormously controversially – black with a green horizontal stripe across the chest, a design that divided the nation almost as much as the Andy Reid debate. It did, though, promise “effortless function”, so that was a plus, and the manufacturers, Umbro, announced the black was a nod to our “identity”. “They should have put us in red instead,” some were heard to grumble.
Well, we’re back in white, the new away shirt, which will be worn – when required – in Euro 2012, for friendlies and for the team’s 2014 World Cup qualifiers.
Again, opinion will be divided, but anyone who doesn’t agree that it’s a thing of loveliness is wrong, entirely.
Jonathan Courtenay, director of football at Umbro Ireland, has been quoted as forecasting that “Ireland might possibly wear the kit against Spain and Italy in Euro 2012”.
For the superstitious among you – and we have to include Giovanni Trapattoni here, in light of his sprinkling of holy water on the touchline during the 2002 World Cup – this is not good news.
Ireland have worn white in seven of their appearances in major tournaments. How many of those games did they win? Divil a one. Drew three, lost three, and lost another on penalties after a draw. Worse, two of those setbacks were to two of our Euro 2012 opponents, Italy (at the 1990 World Cup) and Spain (on penalties in the 2002 World Cup).
Ominous, perhaps. Or maybe not. The new jersey, with its slimming vertical stripe ("it looks like half a set of braces," the less fashion-aware have noted) seems to have taken its inspiration from the one worn by Pele, Ossie Ardiles, Bobby Moore and Co in Escape to Victory. And you know what happened them: a gutsy 4-4 draw, and then they were free. Trap'd take that, any day.
