2012-2013 Wales Home Kit: Oh, no…
The Football Association of Wales (Cymdeithas Bêl-droed Cymru) has released the country’s new 2012-2013 home kit and as much as I want to love it, it’s just…not…right. Since the national team was formed in 1876 Wales has done a very good job keeping its home kits simple and classy (you can see them all starting here). There were a few horrific aberrations in the 1970s and 1990s when some green and yellow trim were introduced, but basically since 1901 the home kit has been red shirt, white shorts, and red socks and they’ve used their away/change/third/special kits to indulge what I can only imagine is a sense of humor very unique to Wales.
It took me a long time staring at this shirt to figure out where it goes wrong, but I think I’ve got it now: The template is fine- it has a nice “retro” feel to it- but the yellow stripe and the Umbro logo need to be white. The green trim around it is fine, but the combination of the yellow and green is just too reminiscent of the hideous 1976-1979 Wales kits (home and away) made by Admiral. If they look familiar to you it’s because Coventry City F.C. used the same template in chocolate brown and white (including a very “70s” white, wing collar) as their away kit during the same period and it is generally considered to be one of, if not the, ugliest kit ever worn by any club anywhere. What’s that? You don’t believe me? Okay…
Maybe the Wales kit isn’t that bad after all…
That just happened.
Anyway, back to this Wales kit…
If you’re wondering, the rest of the new kit is red as well. The shorts have the FAW crest (which is one of the best anywhere, by the way) on the right leg and yellow numbers and the Umbro logo on the left leg. The socks are red with a yellow cuff.
Nope. Just don’t like it.
It would be improved with a white stripe, but I still like it.
Too bad we’ll never have a chance to express proper outrage outside of the construct of a World Cup qualifying campaign for them.
They also don’t qualify for Europe, so that’s nice.
I have absolutely no problem with it whatsoever. I think every pizza parlor should have uniforms for their employees.