New 2011 Munster Rugby Jerseys Revealed

 

After much waiting, the results are in.  Adidas have released a very classy collection of jerseys which are in keeping with the rumours and with supporters' wishes.

07-09 home jersey providing inspiration?

The home jersey will be worn for the first time against La Rochelle in a pre-season friendly in Stade Marcel-Deflandre on Friday August 12th.  It is similar to many older jerseys, especially the 07-09 one (see right) while incorporating many nice touches.  The return to the traditional Munster white shorts is dividing opinion, as many are accustomed to the navy shorts.


Whereas before Munster fans were left to deal with the cringeworthy faux-Munsterism of "Wear with Pride and Honesty", now the inside of the collar is embroidered with the Munster motto, "To the Brave and the Faithful, Nothing is Impossible" - a much appreciated improvement.  Gone is the glossy embossed stag's antlers, instead replaced with four horizontal running bands made up of inscriptions of the six counties that make up Munster.  It is worth also noticing that Munster Rugby decided that Munster don't need to advertise how good they are through the absence of two ERC stars (thus putting to bed the rumour of an ERC diktat whereby all former Heineken Cup winners must sport such a star).

The alternative jersey is one that is bound to raise some eyebrows.  It comes as perhaps no surprise that Doug Howlett was chosen to model it, as one fears that typical Irish complexion would pale against its predominantly whitewashed colour.  It too has the Munster motto on the inside of the collar.  The navy/blue, yellow and green horizontal lines and red piping/logos represent the various county colours.  It has been compared to both Stephen Roche's cycling top and Google:

Not content with stopping there, adidas designed two very different training jerseys.  On the left is a very fetching navy jersey with gold trim, while on the right is a luminescent green jersey that cannot immediately be disregarded.  I say this because perhaps adidas were cleverly thinking that those who think the new Ireland Puma RWC jersey is terrible might just wear this green top to Ireland games?  Regardless, it evokes memories of not only Shrek, Slime from Ghostbusters, but also of the German football team's away jersey.

As the myth goes, the reason the German football team sport green as their away jersey is because after World War II, the Republic of Ireland were the first team to play them when many refused to, thus bringing them back into the international fold.  This has proven to be false on numerous occasions (apparently Switzerland were the first to play them, plus the colour of the DFB/German FA's logo is green), but it still makes for a great story.