Federer Rules Wimbledon In Arsenal Third Shirt

No wonder Roger Federer looks in anguish, he’s just realised he’s wearing a copy of Arsenals newly unveiled third shirt.

In the absence of a World Cup or a European Championships, a year ending with an odd number can mean a slow summer without football. So therefore much of the focus in football turns to transfer dealings and the unveiling of new kits for your beloved team and for the rest of the league.

The chance to get a preview of how your team will look next year provides a little bit of excitement in a summer of sports where everyone has to wear white and the play can be stopped by rain. The kit is unique to your team, or at least that was what I thought before watching the Wimbledon final on Sunday.

Nike have clearly decided that they deserve a lazy summer. A summer with as little work as possible and so they have churned out a series of shirts that bare a striking similarity to each other.

Admittedly there are little differences in the detail of the shirts, such as Federer’s gold trim on the collar and the buttons on the shirt, but take that away and you are left with a third choice shirt the Arsenal fans could be proud to wear.

When Arsene Wenger’s boys pull on the jersey next year, I’m sure they will feel confident that they will be able to ace the opposition 6-0 6-0 6-0.

This could be a problem though if they line up against Aston Villa though and Martin O’Neill’s side insist on wearing their newly unveiled away shirt, which is also designed by Nike and bares more than a passing resemblance, as shown above by James Milner.

Again little details have been altered, as this time the collar is replaced by blue trim around the neck and arms, but the pinstripe unique to tennis/Arsenal/Villa remains.

Now I’m not denying that any of these aren’t nice as I like them all, in particular the new shirt of my beloved Villa I think looks great.

However I do feel that is has been cheapened by the fact that Nike have decided to roll at a range of new kits all based around a white shirt with delicate pinstripes and then change little details and claim it is a new shirt specifically designed for your club or even your tennis star.

Perhaps I expect too much, but surely a company with vast resources, money and designers such as Nike could come up with three different designs?

The sportswear giant claim on their website that Arsenal’s shirt is a bespoke design and they do so without succumbing to using flowery language to describe a white t-shirt.

“Home or away, Arsenal mean business. Now the club’s new season 3rd kit has a killer pinstripe running through it – razor-sharp lines that reflect the team’s true London style and unwavering hunger for glory.”

However, I feel this blurb could also be used to describe Federer’s “unwavering hunger for glory” or reflect Villa’s “true Birmingham style,” whatever that means.

Posted By Dan Mobbs - Tuesday July 7, 2009.
Tags: Nike, Arsenal