Carling Nations Cup Kits

Maybe its just because I’m a Scotland supporter but I’m puzzled as to the lack of interest in the UK in the Carling Nations Cup. Despite the poor attendances I’ve really enjoyed following the matches (on the radio) and it brings back fond memories of the Home Internationals. Plus of course it gives us a chance to check out all the kits, apart from England, of  the “home” UK nations (plus the Republic of Ireland of course).

scotland-h-10-11scotland-a-10-11Umbro dominate the home nations international kits as they did in the early 90s with only Scotland outside of their roster. The Scots’ adidas kits are due to expire later this year with a new home design due in November but as mentioned elsewhere on the site they are good, sturdy designs from a well-used adidas template. The away is equally as smart as the home (worn against Northern Ireland) and mirrors the design exactly including the SFA crest watermark which for me is the only negative point of the kits. Disappointing to see both Wales and Scotland wearing their away kits in the week – perhaps the clash of shorts caused an issue and they both decided to change or of course it may be just an opportunity to give an airing to the change designs.

wales-h-10-11wales-a-10-11The recent Welsh kits saga where it seemed the FAW switched kit designers almost every few months has stabilised with these great Umbro designs, Umbro returning to Wales for the first time in approximately 20 years. The home 10-11 kit is minimal and elegant and follows an Umbro template that also appeared in the Premier League last year. Non-contrasting, layered V-neck design and yellow Umbro logo (anyone else noticed that Umbro are really favouring yellow/amber/gold branding on their shirts of late?) complete the shirt design which is accompanied by plain white shorts and those exquisite hooped socks. Curiously, the Welsh side wore this home kit against the Republic of Ireland with red change shorts, presumably to prevent a clash with Ireland’s white shorts. However, the Irish side decided to sport their 10-11 white away kit instead meaning the change was futile! The away 10-11 Wales design keeps it simple too and follows the basic red and white scheme and simply reverses the colours. The away shirt introduces a red collar with white neck.

republic-a-11-12The Republic of Ireland have been supplied by Umbro since 1994 and have benefited from some superb designs. There has been a few questionable offerings as well though but fortunately this latest 10-11 home kit is one of the best strips worn by the nation for some time. The shirt, worn in the emphatic win against Northern Ireland, features a simple white V neck and cuffs with white bands angling in from each side. The really smart touch comes from the subtle gold stitching throughout. The angled bands continue as shorts trim and those Umbro hooped socks are also worn. The Irish side have also just launched a new away kit due to last until next year. It sees the side return to black and is crafted from a new Umbro template that I’m sure we’ll see much of in the forthcoming season. Its a bold design that I think people will either love or hate! The main focus of the kit sees a large band stretching horizontally across the chest and continuing on each sleeve. The rest of the design is sparse with the shirt topped off with a neat button up ‘cycling jersey’ style neck.

n-ireland-h-11-12n-ireland-a-11-12Speaking of designs you either love or hate, Northern Ireland are also sporting a new Umbro away design in the tournament that clearly falls into that category. Worn for the first time in the 5-0 defeat to the Republic, the shirt sticks with the familiar white change colour scheme but is adorned with a large green and navy V across the chest topped off with a yellow Umbro logo (again!) Navy of course, has often appeared in the Northern Ireland kit palette. These bold designs have been very popular in recent years (ie Man City’s third kit) and it seems to be a clear direction Umbro are aiming for with their contemporary strips. Simple green shorts (ideal for mix and matching with the home kit) and white socks, trimmed with a green and navy band complete the outfit. The home design (to date worn against Scotland) is more sober and features a basic white crew neck and shadow stripes paired with green trimmed white shorts and plain green socks. The green appears to be a slightly warmer shade than that worn the country’s neighbours. Its a simple but effective design that is due to last until 2012 but with international lifespan dates being somewhat erratic this may not be the case.

21 Replies to “Carling Nations Cup Kits

  1. Umbro on form again as usual, I have both of the new Welsh shirts and they are quality garments, probably the best kits we’ve had for a good while. Makes a change from when our previous stint with Umbro, which ended in 1996 with a home kit featuring way too much green on it, and an away kit which often appears in the “worst ever kit” polls – dark bluey green with some red and white abstract nonsense on the front.

    Just a shame the team’s performances have dropped off the edge of a cliff recently. But we won last night against NI in their smart new “rugby league” style away kit in front of a crowd of about 12 people.

    I was as surprised as you are John about the Wales v Scotland match………. looked more like Poland v Sweden, and we were RUBBISH in the second second half!

  2. The Scotland kits are ruined by the huge watermark on the front I think, just a nice subtle one somewhere on the back would have been enough.

    I like the Wales home, though umbro could have made all the umbro logo on the away shorts yellow to fit the home kit, and am I the only one who wishes that the away was yellow with red or green trim instead of white?

    On the kits for Eire, the black shirt looks pretty good, but seems a bit pointless to be honest, I cannot think of a situation where a third would be needed, and the white away (which was pretty much the same design as the home) was a better kit than just a year long one I feel. I do like that template, I works well for the new Lille kit, though the mackems could have chosen a less eye watering colour for their new change.

    I love the Northern Ireland change, that V makes the kit, and the Saint Patricks blue looks good. The home is nice, but I would love to see pinstripes one day make a return…….

  3. You’re not the only one wishing the Welsh away kit was yellow, I was hoping for the same as yellow is our traditional away kit colour and felt a bit miffed at first about the choice of white as an away kit but it’s a decent kit.

    I saw the new Athletic Bilbao away shirt the other day, same design as the new Éire away shirt, but in green with white and red band across the front and sleeves (like the Basque flag). I thought that would look great as a Welsh change shirt, but the FAW would never consider using green for an away shirt again after the rotten results we’ve had wearing that colour!

    P.S. anyone noticed the odd front number placement on the NI away shirt? I’d have thought they’d place it below the V in the centre, but it was placed below the Umbro logo. Green on navy is hard to see at the best of times.

  4. Don’t think there’s a bad kit amongst that lot,very nice.If they want to continue the home nations cup then have it over a 10 day period at the end of the season between the world cup/euros,they got the year right but played some games in march??

  5. The Republic of Ireland wore a different kit in each of their three games, and will wear white away to Macedonia on Saturday despite there being no clash.

    The black isn’t replacing the white, they’re meant to be alternated according to the opposition, despite the fact that only a handful of other countries wear green, and none of them have so much white that a third kit should be necessitated

  6. A Perfect 4.

    Like the tournament itself Ireland is the winner though!

    A bit daft alright denis Ireland has to wear an away kit against Macedonia.I still have bad memories of that dreadful orange kit worn in the skopye disaster of 1997.

  7. Thanks Denis – I had a feeling something wasn’t right with the black kit being marketed as an away kit. I searched around online though and everyone seems to have it listed as an away.

    So, is it a third kit – or is the white now the third kit?!

  8. I remember that orange kit and ironically Macedonia had to wear their white away kit (which in turn forced Ireland’s keeper to wear a standard issue purple/yellow keeper top, cos the away keeper kit was white!). I remember Jason McAteer getting his marching orders in that match for a kung-fu kick that Nigel De Jong would have been proud of.

    I had a feeling the white kit would be retained in some way or another. And I thought the FAW were bad at marketing their away/3rd kits before, now the FAI are at it.

    Oh and P.S. I agree about the Nations Cup format needs a change, instead of a one host system, it should have it like the Home Internationals (home and away games), and they need to do something about the fixture dates and the entrance fees to get bigger crowds in.

  9. Has anyone seen the leaked pictures of the new German kits? OMG they are brilliant, it’s like Mexico 86 all over again!

    Classic Adidas, classic Germany!

  10. I’ve seen them Andrew, they are superb!

    Nice to see they’ve brought back green for the away kit. I’ve always associated Germany with wearing green when they don’t wear the usual white.

  11. @6. Denis Hurley and @8. John Devlin

    I wonder if Ireland are going to do that thing of wearing a change kit regardless, when they have an away fixture. You know, like Portsmouth did in 03-04?

    So, they’ll wear white. And if the home team wears white, they’ll switch to black. So, the lack of teams wearing green (and white), as Denis pointed out, isn’t really an issue.

    Also, and maybe I’m being cynical, but it would make sense from a marketing point of view of an away (and even third kit) – when Ireland often go through a whole qualification campaign without even needing an away kit, let alone third kit, due to the lack of teams who wear green.

    As far as the Nations Cup goes, I only watched one game – Republic of Ireland versus Northern Ireland – and was dissappointed to see both teams wearing white socks. Surely Northern Ireland could have worn the green socks from the home kit to help differentiate.

    @11. Jon.

    Is it true that Germany dropped green as the away colour after losing 5-1 to England in 2001, whilst wearing the green kit? I’m sure I heard that somewhere…

  12. I heard the same rumour when Germany revealed their new kits for the 2002 World Cup. I recall a number of message boards at the time saying something about the DFB were angry at the 1-5 defeat and blamed it on the kit, so they commissioned a dark grey change strip.

  13. The yellow Scottish one is a bit of an eyesore. Was in Spar in Dublin the morning after the ROI v Scotland game and there was a woman in there wearing it. It being the morning, my eyes weren’t fully awake, my eyes saw the bright yellow and I was thinking, “Ah c’mon love, it’s too early in the morning for that…”

  14. Just a couple of points regarding the Wales kits.

    The match detail print under the crest is in gold/yellow to match the colour of Umbro logo on the shirt. The idea was to go back to having gold/yellow numbers as Wales had in the late 60’s & early 70’s with Umbro and of course later with Admiral. But because the kit contract is with JJB’s not directly with Umbro & JJB’s had printed so many of the white numbers with incorporated FAW crest for the Champion kit then they had to use these up first! I kid you not!!

    The red shorts were worn with the home shirt against Republic of Ireland and N.Ireland just because thats what the kit men preferred, so just because! Originally the red shorts were not going to be worn at all with the home shirt, hence why the Umbro logo is white not gold/yellow. A few supporters have complained that they don’t like Wales in red shirts & shorts with the retro hooped socks, so next season looks like they will get their wish.

    The new kit will be worn for the August friendly against Australia and will be a completely new shirt design, not just the change to the new FAW crest. So are Wales going the same way as most of the others supplied by Umbro, a regular season change?? Looks like it, which is a real shame.

    But the real shame will come with the unveiling of the new away shirt. As a traditionalist Wales should be in yellow for their change colour, oldies say with green trim, but i really liked the last Kappa yellow shirt with a red trim, looked superb imo. All i can say at this stage is be prepared for a shock, it is a shocker!!

    But somebody is bound to like it!

  15. Don’t get me started on the numbers we use on the shirts, they are awful. Why JJB had them made out of felt (cost?) I don’t know, but its little wonder they’ve been offering shirt printing for free on Wales shirts lately. A mate of mine had a shirt printed and as soon as they put the shirt in the carrier bag it was ruined because the numbers had a noticeable crease where the shirt had been folded. I had to chuck one of my shirts away (shame) after one of the numbers peeled off and tore away after been worn several times.

    Anyway I heard rumour too from a mate down south (us northerners always late on hearing ANYTHING!) about a new home shirt coming in August, mainly because of the badge change…….. so does it mean we’re back to all red, or sticking with the traditional red-white-red? I’ll be glad to see the back of the hooped socks though, I’d have preferred a plain red pair.

    And as for the away shirt, you’ve got me worried. I hope it isn’t green or white……… or like Kappa did in 2004, I hope it isn’t BLUE either!!!

  16. The official numbers on the England players shirts -you can not buy these anywhere commercially- are the best and most functional numbers on any shirt. heat sealed on perforated material (not vinyl/pu/plastic)

    Felt is a decent material to use for players shirts but not on replica’s. Material retains the dirt, difficult to clean and JJB’s quality was poor, those numbers once heat applied should out last the shirt.

    The new away shirt is not green, but be prepared to be both shocked and disappointed. Then make sure you let the wonderful marketing/commercial guru Jonathan Ford know your feelings about his great choice and lack of total understanding of history!

  17. So it isn’t green, it isn’t yellow, nor white, or blue…….. and I doubt black because we’ve used it before in 2005.

    Hmm, it must be grey then…….. though it wouldn’t surprise me given the rubbish football we been playing of late. Anyway, the FAW has always been a joke, but since that muppet Ford took over its been going downhill even more rapidly (the badge change is bad enough).

  18. Looks like I was right about the Welsh away kit being grey, albeit a dark shade (slate grey, to be exact!), though what has happened to the team? We’ve started winning matches!

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