Whether it’s five-a-side football, netball or hockey, creating a sports team with friends is a great way to get fit and have fun. The feeling of unity that you get feeling you are on par with the bromance of Messi, Suarez and Neymar is an unbeatable feeling. Inevitably, this unity arises partly due to a shared hatred of a player or the opposition for probably an insignificant reason. An opponent has a lopsided beard or their arms are too hairy for example. Definitely, this means that they are an evil person, right?
However, there is another important aspect of unity. This feeling also arises from a shared love for your team, seeing each other as one, rather large, family. What better way to show this unity to each other and intimidate the rivals that you create your own custom printed sports shirts? Oh, and for those of you who don’t want to get fit, fear not. You can still get this feeling from, of course, creating a FIFA Pro Club. What better feeling than knowing your pals are at home, shouting at the TV, all wearing the same shirt?
New year, new you:
We’re coming up to the end of the year and the time for deciding on those New Year’s resolutions is fast approaching. Whether it’s to lose weight, feel better, or simply a desire for a lifestyle change, every year the ‘time to get healthy’ resolution is consistently the most popular. For many, however, this feeling probably lasts for a few hours. Let’s face it, the inevitable hangover on New Year’s Day means healthy eating and the daily dose of physical activity is likely to go straight out of the window. So, how do we ensure to keep the promises we made to ourselves? We propose three easy steps: plan ahead, make it fun and get others involved. Creating your own sports team is a great activity that incorporates these three attributes.
Why wait until January 1st to start the fun when you can start now whilst ensuring the likelihood of keeping the resolution once and for all. Creating your own team requires a lot of planning. Deciding on the squad, each player’s roles, what competitions you will enter, where and when you will play…the list goes on. One of the first issues you may encounter may be the kit. Realistically, the chances that you squad all supports the same team are incredibly unlikely. Cue the arguments about shirt colour and stripe orientation. Whilst we can’t you much in this respect, we can help you deciding what you should definitely avoid. Hopefully, this will create at least some agreement in the kit decision. So, here we count down what we believe to be the top five worst football shirts of all time.
5. ATHLETIC BILBAO, 2004:
What’s more intimidating to a rival football team than a giant bottle of ketchup running towards you? What’s a better way that to show your team spirt than to show your shared love of tomato sauce? Or maybe, just maybe, this shirt is just a no go. Designed by Basque artist Dario Urzay, this shirt was intended to mark Athletic Bilbao’s centenary. It was designed with the works of Bilbao’s famous art museum, the Guggenheim in mind. Whether it was the artwork itself or the café’s sandwiches, we’re not so sure.
4. COLORADO CARIBOUS, 1978:
Of course, this shirt has one accessory that nearly all football shirts are missing. Tassels. Not to mention the beige colouring that gave the players an almost-naked look, making the kit appear as some sort of tasseled crop top. Unfortunately, this kit was only worn for one season and didn’t serve the team too well. They lost 22 of their 30 games, proving that, perhaps, tassels aren’t such a good idea after all…
3. HULL CITY, 1992:
Perhaps the prime example of why kit designs should not take so much inspiration from the club’s nickname, at number three we have Hull City’s tiger-themed kit. In 2007, this shirt won the award for the most hideous in a poll of 1,000 Sky viewers. Whilst tigers are renowned for being a fierce, strong animal, perhaps this proves, in football at least, they’re not so grrrr-eat. Ha!
2. CD LUGO, 2014:
Keeping up with the intimidating animal theme, at number two we have CD Lugo’s 2014 kit. Another fierce, strong animal was featured here, the oh-so-scary octopus. While the sentiment on the shirt was nice her, the design not so much. In homage to the local Galician cuisine, CD Lugo announced two new limited edition kits in 2014, one of a glass of beer and one of an octopus. An innovative idea for a kit design that could be used for a British sports team. Why not create your own shirt with a picture of uh, mushy peas?
1. CD PALENCIA, 2016:
Last of all we have a kit that perhaps looks better in the flesh. Budum dum chh. CD Palencia’s 2016 kit took a rather anatomical theme, with a shirt and shorts depicting bones and muscles. Whilst for the outfield players the colours are meant to look realistic, for the goalie, a purple version was used. There’s no denying the fact that, whilst this kit may appear ugly, it certainly looks intimidating. It also succeeded in changing the idea of football kits. For a third division team, this kit certainly helped to get them trending worldwide.
So, there you have it. Yes, it’s unavoidable to say these shirts are not a pretty sight. They’re probably not the kit style that’s going to make you look like a sophisticated sports playing celebrity. However, if you do chose a kit that represents a type of food or an animal, at least it will create some feeling of unity. Even if it’s a unified feeling of looking like a bit of an idiot.
