End of an era

This Wednesday passed marked the end of Umbro and the FA’s contract of supplying playing kit to all of England’s national football teams. An affiliation that has some 50 years of association with Umbros wares even being on the backs of the famous 1966 World Cup winning team.

As modern football disposes with tradition in preference of profits it is little surprise that the swoosh will be gracing the right hand side of the shirt as opposed to the famous double diamond. There have been many articles in the press about how saddening it was that the North-West of England based sportswear brand had been replaced by the American giant and almost gave the impression that Umbro was a cottage industry that was yet another victim of the vicious recession.

Strange how we can be sentimental and have some form of patriotism about a brand that hasn’t manufactured any form of sports apparel in the UK in over 20 years. Umbro recently has given us some of the best football shirt design that I have seen since the mid 90s from adidas. Through local boy Aitor Throup’s vision for the England home and away shirts in 2008 /09 Umbro has really pushed the envelope. However, this was done in the early stages of Nike’s takeover of the brand and helped kit us out is some of our more forgettable tournament appearances. Crikey Mo, didn’t they make some terrible shirts too, see to the left!

So are we sad to see Umbro go? Sort of. It’s sad that yet again we have had a piece of our sporting heritage taken from us again, a constant that has been replaced by a swoosh and a sack of cash. Reversely though, how many UK factory jobs will we lose in this country due to it’s demise? I will let you answer that for yourself.