Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Bury FC

I was hugely disappointed to hear today that Bury have been expelled from the EFL and have lost their place in League One. As we all know they have had challenges for a long time and have had their first six games cancelled this season. Nevertheless it was a disappointment when the official news came through.

I have many happy memories of Gigg Lane. As a Gillingham fan we have had some classic battles at their compact ground just north of Manchester. As a Swinton Rugby League fan, I enjoyed some great matches after we lost our Station Road ground. Whilst I was on my cycle ride, I spent four days at Bury and was treated to excellent hospitality. My friend Mark Catlin takes up the story.

Mark was the Commercial Director of Bury FC back in 2010. He is now CEO at Portsmouth. He has been a great supporter of The Shirt project and immediately offered Björn a Bury shirt when has was approached. It’s a nice shirt as you can see and this is now sewn into the massive shirt in South Africa. He also kindly introduced me to The Best Of Bury who have been very supportive too.

“Everyone at Bury FC is delighted that Steve has chosen to base himself at our club when he is in the North West. We are very much a family and community based club. As a follower of Gillingham FC for 45 years he understands how important the football club is within the local community. Steve is a football fanatic and will be doing all that he can to promote our Treasureline as he cycles around the town wearing a Bury FC shirt with pride!
 
Steve, both for trying to raise awareness for such a noble cause focusing on the sad plight of refugees and helping us to promote our Treasureline, which is a valuable source of income for our club, we thank you.
 
For those who do not know Bury FC we are a proud English league 2 football club. We have just celebrated our 125 year anniversary and have a strong bond between the club and our supporters, affectionately known as ‘the Shakers’. We have twice won the English FA cup and hold the record for the biggest FA cup final victory ever, a 6-0 victory against Derby County.
 
We are very excited about Steve promoting our Treasureline. This is a huge source of income for the club and also gives those who take part in it a fantastic opportunity to win £1000 each and every week, all for just a £1 stake!
 
Personally, and on behalf of the Shakers, we would like to welcome Steve to OUR family and hope that many of our fans will take the opportunity to meet up with him. We wish him well on his trip around the 92 league clubs and sincerely hope that he enjoys his time with us.”
 
So, yes, I have a very personal reason for being upset at the demise of Bury. There are now fears that Bolton Wanderers may follow soon and, in reality, there are a rack of clubs among the 71 remaining members of the EFL whose finances are perilous. I trust all will strengthen and that Bolton will manage to finish this season and that they will put all this behind them.

Retro Shirts

Delighted to get details from my friends at Copa of two new retro ranges they have launched. If you are a fan of Portuguese or football, these might be for you!

OFFICIAL SL BENFICA RETRO COLLECTION

Thanks to their glorious history SL Benfica is widely supported all across the world. The club’s honour roll speaks for itself, boasting records for most Portuguese League titles and Taça de Portugal trophies. Benfica also claimed two consecutive European Cups in 1961 and 1962 and have featured in a total of 10 European finals. This extensive licensed retro collection captures the essence of the club’s rich history. Our classic retro shirts recreate many of the club’s most celebrated shirt designs through the years. The collection also includes a retro jacket and a retro-inspired T-shirt. All retro items from the collection are packaged and dispatched in luxury gift boxes.

The collection can be found on copafootball.com, in our flagshipstore in Amsterdam and via selected retailers & online resellers worldwide

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NEW FC NANTES RETRO COLLECTION

Exactly one year ago our first retro collection with FC Nantes was launched, including the famous “Europe 1-shirt”. There was a musical footnote to that jersey: when football-mad Bob Marley was scheduled to perform at the club’s La Beaujoire stadium back in 1980, the reggae singer donned that Nantes shirt and captained his Wailers team in a 5-a-side pre-concert match against a selection made up of Nantes players.

This new collection consists of two retro shirts, a retro jacket and a pair of retro inspired casual socks. In the 1982 – 1983 retro shirt, Nantes comfortably won the Ligue 1 title with the most prolific attack and meanest defence in the division. The main goal threat however came from the deadly Yugoslav striker Vahid Halihodžic who hit 27 goals in 36 appearances to finish as Ligue 1’s top scorer.

This Nantes collection can also be found on copafootball.com, in the official FC Nantes fanstores and via selected retailers & online resellers.

Gillingham FC

My beloved Gillingam. I started watching them in 1964. They were in the old Division 4 and fifty five years later they are still in League One, although we did have some glory years in the Championship a few seasons back and once even finished in the top half.

We have YET another new manager, Steve Evans …… I wish him well.

Bedale AFC

I always love the quirky stories behind football shirts. Who can ever forget Sevilla’s cucumbers or Getafe’s burgers?

Well, the story of Bedale AFC’s new shirt is very impressive. So impressive, in fact, that even the BBC chose to run the story. Enjoy!

CD Montesinos

It’s always good to hear from my friends in Spain. This is CD Montesinos, who play in the village of Los Montesinos about 45 minutes from Alicante.

What is special about this team is their huge expat following. At home games they are always more than half the fans and at away games they are usually 90% of the crowd. Good luck guys. I feel a longer blog coming on.

FC Midgetland

I am not sure how serious my friend was who sent me this to add but if there is such a team, I wish them well.

FC Midtjylland

…and taking it back to a more serious level, here if the FC Midtjylland squad from the Danish league. An impressive photo and an attractive shirt. The Danish league is itself quite quirky. Shall they play in the summer like Sweden or winter like Germany? No, they have two half seasons and play in the autumn and the spring. Good trivial pursuit question!

Saffron Dynamo

New Saffron kit kindly sponsored by Premgripp and JenkinsAndJenkins

2018/2019

With the 2019/2019 season just days away in the UK and Spain, most of the clubs have presented their new kits. As is becoming, sadly, the norm, many clubs have launched multiple new kits with only tiny differences from previous seasons.

The clubs are chosen for no particular reason and are added in no particular order. If you have images (non copyright!) of your favourite club or your favourite shirt, please send it across. I will be pleased to add it.

Whilst I am here, you might also like this story from Duckpond United and their “famous” kit.

BRENTFORD FC HOSTS 92 IN 92 VISIT

Brentford Chairman Cliff Crown welcomes visiting police officers on challenge

Brentford FC

“We are three serving police officers from Sheffield, South Yorkshire and we took on the challenge of visiting all 92 football league grounds in 92 hours.

One car, 3 cops, 92 grounds, 92 hours, 2,400 miles. We are taking on this challenge to raise money for The Children’s Hospital Charity, which supports Sheffield Children’s Hospital.

Sheffield Children’s Hospital is one of just three standalone specialist children’s hospitals in the UK. More than 269,000 patient journeys are made to the hospital each year and its work changes children’s lives from across the UK and around the world every day.
The Children’s Hospital Charity has recently launched an appeal to transform the Cancer and Leukaemia Ward at the hospital.

The Cancer and Leukaemia Ward treats children from babies through to 19 year olds, is one of twenty principle treatment centres in the UK, and cares for patients who have other blood problems such as bleeding and inherited disorders. They treat around 25 bone marrow transplant patients every year, staying for 6 to 8 weeks at a time in isolation. Other patients can be treated for longer periods, sometimes over a year.

The problem with the ward is that, whilst the care received is excellent, the facilities are not. Children who suffer from cancer can develop post-traumatic stress disorder, but this the tension and anxiety can be relieved by creating a new home from home with space, privacy and natural light to make isolation a place of sanctuary and calm.

The transformed ward would create private patient rooms with en-suite facilities, giving patients a place to make their own and space for a parent to sleep comfortably alongside them. The redevelopment will increase the ward footprint, with larger bed bays and more isolation rooms. It will also expand the space for children to play and more than double the size of the ward classroom; ensuring illness does not interrupt patients who wish to continue learning.

We will start this challenge at Barnsley Football Club at 8pm on Friday 12th July and finish at Bramall Lane at 4pm on Tuesday 16th July. Thankfully, we like each other’s company as we will be sharing the driving to visit every football league ground and grabbing a photo to share with our social media followers.

We will be driving over 2,400 miles in a car and riding bikes to reach the London clubs. We will be eating and sleeping in the vehicle to complete the challenge to make sure we stick to our 92 hour limit.

We have a few social media profiles where we will be posting up-to-date tweets and videos on our journey – doing our best to get clubs, local celebrities, businesses and our wider followers to promote this great challenge and the charity we are raising money for.

We would love it if you could support us in any way possible.”

This was the story and I am delighted that my local club, Brentford, welcomed these police officers. The excellent www.brentfordfc.com says …

Griffin Park played host to some special visitors last week. Three police officers from South Yorkshire Police visited all 92 League Clubs in 92 hours to raise funds for Sheffield Children’s hospital Cancer and Leukaemia ward appeal. They were at Griffin Park last Monday, 15 July, and were welcomed by Cliff Crown, Brentford FC Chairman.

Jamie Henderson, James Thorpe and Wednesdayite Scott Sarson are aiming to raise £25,000 for the hospital by driving and cycling the 2,400-mile journey. Griffin Park was one of the later stops on their journey, which started on Friday 12 July and finished on Tuesday. They finished on home soil, at Sheffield United’s Bramall Lane ground.

Sheffield Children’s Hospital is one of just three standalone specialist children’s hospitals in the UK. More than 269,000 patient journeys are made to the hospital each year and its work changes children’s lives from across the UK and around the world every day.
The Children’s Hospital Charity has recently launched an appeal to transform the Cancer and Leukaemia Ward at the hospital.

The team have raised more than £11,000 so far and are still collecting. For more information on the challenge and to donate visit their fund-raising page here.

I hear from my friends at Copa that they’ve added two new items to their official AS Roma collection. Get ready for summer the Italian way with the AS Roma Retro Polo and the AS Roma Retro T-shirt. Daje Roma! 

The shirts are part of the official AS Roma retro collection, which is produced under licence from the Serie A giants. There are classic retro shirts and jackets based upon many of the club’s most memorable teams from the 1930s through to the 1980s, along with a selection of club retro T-shirts and My First Football Shirts® for the younger fan.

Both shirts can be found on copafootball.com, in their Flagshipstore in Amsterdam, in the official AS Roma fanstores and via selected retailers & online resellers.

NEW GEORGE BEST T-SHIRTS

We have added 7 new T-shirts to the George Best Collection, our own unique tribute to this towering figure who changed the face of the game forever. Much more than just a genius player, George Best was a major cultural icon and the first footballer to bring glamour and style to the sport, back in the 1960s.

The COPA George Best collection is made under license from Best Promotions LLP and features a range of T-shirts that pay homage to one of the game’s most legendary and recognisable figures.

The inspiration for this collection is a selection of famous photos from the archives of IMG and the private George Best archive. These superior quality Best garments are Made in Europe and boast our very own COPA supersoft touch treatment for maximum comfort.

Two bestsellers of the earlier collection are now available in a new colorway as well.

Our complete George Best collection can be found online through copafootball.com, in our Flagshipstore and via selected retailers and online resellers.

New AS Roma Collection

With the start of 2019 just a few weeks away, it’s time to launch the first part of our new AS Roma collection. Made and designed in strong collaboration with the club.

This third collection consists of five new classic retro shirts and a retro jacket to take you back to the 1930s up and until the 1980s, and relive the rich history of the club. All the retro items are packaged and dispatched in luxury gift boxes.

Two of the retro shirts are specially designed with a women’s fit. The collection can be found online on copafootball.com, in our Flagshipstore in Amsterdam, in the official AS Roma Stores and the official asroma.com webstore and via selected resellers.

Stay tuned as part two of the new AS Roma winter collection will be launched soon as well.

Cycling? How Awesome is this? Want one? 🙂
https://teespring.com/NeverCyclingSixtiesMan

Just for Fun

Occasionally I come across something I feel I want to share. It maybe not quite be about “The Shirt” or any shirt.
It is probably only something I think deserves more eyeballs. Enjoy!

Steve

Roy of the Rovers – Melchester Rovers

539 career goals. 10 league titles. 10 FA Cups. 4 European Cups.

There’s no doubt about it: Roy of the Rovers is the stuff of legend. To the generations of readers who followed Roy Race’s exploits in his comic every week, the Melchester Rovers number 9 remains the definitive football superstar – a hometown hero with the lethal left foot, who never played dirty and always pulled it out of the bag at the last minute.

Roy is returning with a brand new comic soon, but the legacy of the world’s greatest fictional footballer hasn’t been forgotten. For the first time in decades, the 1980 Melchester Rovers shirt – arguably the greatest Rovers shirt of all time, with that striking yellow stripe – is back.

The Melchester Rovers retro shirt can be found online through copafootball.com, at royoftheroversofficial.com and via selected resellers.