Wellington Phoenix go ‘All Black’ For Anniversary Kit
0Press Release:
Wellington Phoenix will be going ‘All Black’ for their special edition 10-year anniversary kit as the club partners up with retail experts Football Central, to deliver the historic jersey to fans.
There’s a bit to take in there. Warriors fans will wince at the “special edition” bit. However, the thing of note here is the bit in quotation marks with the Initcaps. “All Blacks”. At first that seems like borderline copyright sniping, but read on and you’ll find adidas….
The kit has been designed by apparel partner adidas; and will contain a marine and wind feature celebrating the club’s Wellington origins, a map of New Zealand that reinforces the Phoenix’s status as the only professional football club in the country, and most significantly the names of 93 players who have represented the side over the past decade, carefully etched into the predominantly black shirt.
Putting aside shirt design hyperbole, which transcends every single sports organization in the 21st century, the bit about including all of New Zealand is significant. Part of the terms & conditions around the contract extension last year was that the Phoenix needed to ensure the following of the Phoenix was more national.
The kit will be fully unveiled in December and worn by the team on five occasions throughout the Hyundai A-League season, the first being the match versus Western Sydney Wanderers at Mt Smart Stadium in Auckland on Saturday 17 December.
The adidas designed shirt will be available for purchase at Football Central’s official Wellington Phoenix merchandise store, as well as pop-up shops at all Phoenix home matches – including Auckland, New Plymouth and Hamilton.
This is where it makes more sense. Given the desire to expand Phoenix support throughout New Zealand it does make sense that for those Home-Away-from-Home games there is a kit that Aucklanders, Tronites etc can identify with. The “All Blacks” reference mentioned above is not accidental and is pitched at the casual football fan. But remember, somehow, the All Whites often play in All Black themselves.
Just no one mention the Kingz.
People will complain, you wait, but there’s a fair bit of sense to this.
Here it is.
