Barnsley Home Kit 1989-90
Posted by John Devlin
As anyone who has read my books will confirm, I’m not one eager to negatively criticise kit design as I realise that such a matter is always subjective. Having said that, it is difficult to find anything too positive to say about this truly extraordinary shirt from the kit design era that taste forgot: the late 80s/early 90s. Made by Beaver International who specialised in lower league outfits, the jersey dispenses with the club’s traditional all-red colour scheme and is instead white with a red yoke liberally adorned with a bold display of stars – a motif rarely seen on football shirts. Topped with thin shadow stripes, a wrapover V-neck and the sponsorhip of Shaw Carpets it is, it has to be said, probably the least popular of all Barnsley kits over the years.
Worn in: Two excellent wins over eventual Division 2 champions Leeds United (1–0 at home, 2–1 away). Also worn in a 7–0 drubbing at the hands of West Brom.
Worn by: Paul Futcher, Steve Agnew, Owen Archdeacon.
23 Responses to “Barnsley Home Kit 1989-90”
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December 9th, 2009 at 4:42 pm
I can remember in the 92-93 season, Shoot used to have a ‘Good, Bad and Ugly’ section, picking three kits from a club’s history.
No prizes for guessing what category this was in…
December 9th, 2009 at 4:46 pm
Just submitted a comment, which didn’t appear, then tells me I’ve already submitted it if I try again?
December 9th, 2009 at 4:47 pm
What I said was…
Were the stars supposed to represent something or was it just a random adornment? The 2 big stars make it look like a pron mag in a petrol station! (one assumes…ahem)
December 9th, 2009 at 4:49 pm
oooh…wonder if it was because I used the pron word (but spelled correctly)? I’ll shut up now…
December 9th, 2009 at 4:56 pm
Hmm…very strange Rich – I’ve no idea why the stars are there – maybe some Tykes fans can shed some light on the matter? And get your head out of those magazines – the’yre no good for you you know!!
December 9th, 2009 at 4:59 pm
Yeah they’re not now cos all I can picture is Barnsley players! MY EYES!!!!
December 9th, 2009 at 5:16 pm
Speaking of stars on kits, I did like the USA kits from the 94 world cup, both based on the flag.
December 9th, 2009 at 10:09 pm
Rich, I tried typing the correct version of pron too and it didn’t work!
December 9th, 2009 at 10:54 pm
Try google…works fine there
thanks for solving the mystery tho Denis.
December 10th, 2009 at 12:02 pm
Ahhh, Rich, Denis – I’ve just remembered – the ‘p’ word was one I’ve added to my spam list! Thats why your comment didn’t come through.
December 10th, 2009 at 3:30 pm
Didn’t Northampton have a starred kit more recently? Something about forces bring them more lucky, I think I heard?
December 13th, 2009 at 6:43 pm
I’ve had a little dig around Amir but can’t find any mention of Northampton’s stars kit. Any idea when it was worn?
December 13th, 2009 at 8:15 pm
Amir…you have a very good eye for detail…The 1998/99 Prostar kit Northampton wore did indeed have stars on…one on each sleeve and loads on the front…all part of the Prostar branding. Hope the link below works…
http://www.oldfootballshirts.com/img/season_shirts/northampton-town-bilinmeyen-forma-tipi-s_12897_1.jpg
December 13th, 2009 at 8:17 pm
My God! I have NEVER seen that kit before – isn’t it bizarre? Thanks Rich…
December 13th, 2009 at 8:32 pm
Had a quick scoot round the interweb and found something that looked like it could be ‘remembered’ as a star pattern on the chest. On closer inspection, it turns out the bit on the chest wasn’t star shaped in the end, but happened to consist of loads of stars instead
December 16th, 2009 at 7:29 pm
who’s barnsleys striker? evil knievel? thats one awful shirt!!
December 17th, 2009 at 5:00 pm
I remember this shirt when I was a kid and even then I thought it was a shocker. Mad to think that in Barnsley’s history every home kit design has been quite restrained, apart from this one.
Anyway its funny how someone mentioned a petrol station – white six-pointed stars on a red background looked a bit like the symbols used for leaded petrol at the time (2 or 4 star)!
January 9th, 2010 at 1:17 pm
Barnsley played in a navy shirt and white shorts at Elland Road that year.The result was five star performance, i suppose ?
January 26th, 2010 at 8:36 pm
Just seen a picture of Wilson Palacios in a Honduras kit .Looks to have five stars on the upper chest ?
February 4th, 2010 at 9:34 pm
Port Vale couldn’t wear their first choice away white shirts at Barnsley in October 1989 because of the large amount of white on these Barnsley shirts. Instead, they had to borrow Barnsley’s blue away shirts (the ones mentioned as being worn at Elland Road). Port Vale must not have brought their yellow away strip with them. So Vale ended up wearing blue shirts, black shorts & white socks! However, it didn’t do them any harm as they won 3-0.
Yet in the return fixture, Barnsley did wear these red shirts at Vale Park while Vale wore their first choice kit of white shirts, black shorts & white socks.
The following season (1990-1) Barnsley’s red home strip used the same design as the blue away of the previous season. So for the 1989-90 season, Barnsley home away strips had completely different designs!
February 4th, 2010 at 9:35 pm
“Port Vale couldn’t wear their first choice away white shirts at Barnsley”
Sorry, meant their first choice (home) white shirts!
March 9th, 2010 at 10:01 pm
Thanks for that info Roy – you certainly know your stuff!
April 9th, 2010 at 5:40 pm
Thanks, John. All painfully in the memory!