Prelude: A Story of Fandom in 3 kits

As I sit at my computer writing this, I confess myself disappointed. When I had the idea of doing an NWSL kit ranking piece, I imagined every person I asked to contribute being as excited about the opportunity to rank this year’s kits as I was. In truth, maybe people don’t care as much about kits in this league as they do in other football leagues around the world. In retrospect, there were signs that I should have read. The NWSL kits will always take a back seat to the one kit that matters most to some fans…the USWNT kit. In fact, I venture to say that a good percentage of this league’s fans aren’t really even fans of a team, but rather a player or a group of players. In their minds, maybe the only kit that matters to them is the national team one and the club kit is seen as some kind of foreign, temporary uniform only to be worn for a brief period in a player’s career and just as likely to be one kit in a set of many. I get that. Additionally, there may not be a truly great kit in the set of current NWSL jerseys. Racing’s home kit is polarizing and suffers (but maybe ultimately benefits) from what I will explain later as the “Bruised Banana Effect”. The restrictions put on the kits by the league doesn’t do anyone any favors, but I still thought maybe people cared more than they actually do.

I can’t change anyone’s perspective, so I can only give you mine. I will pick 3 kits (from Arsenal of course) that explain my love of kit culture and how the love of kits enhances my enjoyment of the beautiful game.

ARSENAL HOME 12-14

When Arsenal announced this kit in the summer of 2012, they were in the midst of an 8-year trophy drought and shortly after releasing the kit, sold their captain and talisman Robin Van Persie to the hated Manchester United. I was in year 2 of what I will call my full Arsenal fandom. I followed them as best as I could through the 2000’s but that was limited to reading results online and catching a rare match on TV. By the time 2011 rolled around, the Premier League was easily assessable through ESPN and Fox Soccer Channel, and I was able to see just about every match. I won’t rehash too much here, but the 2012-2013 Arsenal squad may still be one of my favorites and in the calendar year of 2013, they won more points than any other Premier League team (which ultimately nets you zilch but is a fun factoid). I hold this jersey dear, because it was the first jersey I ever ordered directly from Arsenal. I still have the beautiful presentation box it arrived in.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Jack Wilshere, and Mikel Arteta

However, the jersey I ordered no longer fits (weight loss not weight gain), so I had to subsequently find a smaller size on eBay. Regardless, this jersey is special to me because I always think of this when I put it on.

Aaron Ramsey’s 2013-14 season is one of my fondest sporting memories. He started the year as question mark in the midfield and ended the season as Arsenal’s Player of the Year. My black cat is named Ramsey after him. I’m never not happy when I watch this video.

Racing corollary: I’m not saying it will be the same journey, but I feel the way I do watching Sav DeMelo develop as I once felt watching Aaron Ramsey recovery from a horrific leg injury that sidelined him for a year and turn into one of Arsenal’s best players in the span of 15 or so months.

ARSENAL 2003-2004

I actually don’t remember what exactly prompted me to buy this kit. I was a casual Arsenal fan during their Invincibles season, and I can’t even be sure that I bought it in 2003 or 2004. Regardless, this kit is special because Arsenal won the Premier League in the 2003/04 season with a record of W26-D12-L0. There have been teams that have won the league with more points and more victories, but their trophy isn’t gold.

I am probably the rare Arsenal fan that acknowledges that while their undefeated season is unique, it doesn’t mean that they were the best Premier League side ever. However, that kit represents invincibility and whenever I am feeling particularly frustrated by Arsenal’s current form, I tend to wear that one to remember better times.

Racing corollary: Other teams might win the Women’s Cup, but they can never win the first one, nor will theirs be cast in bronze. When I think of last year’s light kit, I think of that trophy.

THE BRUISED BANANA EFFECT

I am hoping for a few last-minute surveys to be completed, so this could change but as things stand Racing’s Home kit is just out of the top 5 from a ranking perspective. It truly is a polarizing kit. Three surveys have it ranked as the best kit in the league and 2 have it either last or next-to-last. I would argue that even if you hate the kit, it is of more value to at least attempt something bold, but I opened up the survey to get differing opinions so I will live with it.

When Arsenal released its 1991 Away kit, much of the footballing world ridiculed it. It was definitely a product of the times.

It was widely beloved and widely derided, and honestly Arsenal had as many successes as they did failures in this jersey (they won two trophies in 93 while this was still their away kit but won both of those in their home kits.) The Chervon pattern actually ended up being used as a template by Adidas called “Italia”, but it will forever be associated with Arsenal.

Racing Corollary: This one should be crystal clear, but it’s important to note why. The Bruised Banana kit is now almost universally beloved by Arsenal fans. The originals are hard to come by on eBay and for years went for around $400 a piece. The one question that Arsenal fans wanted to know when the team signed a kit deal with Adidas in 2019 was: would the Bruised Banana be coming back? It did in a slightly more muted form on the pitch.

Just about the entire footballing world embraced this newer version of the Bruised Banana kit, but frankly we didn’t care. By this point Arsenal fans knew what the Bruised Banana meant. It was our secret code. We always knew it was cool. If you finally came around to its coolness, that’s OK, but we don’t sweat it. Arsenal markets an entire Bruised Banana collection now highlighting the original chevron pattern. Racing has the same thing with the butterfly and lily or “Ali Kit”. If you like it, that’s cool. You have taste. If not, we may just have to wait 30 years, but the rest of the world will eventually come around.

Stay tuned for the 2022 NWSL Kit Rankings coming soon…