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Can we talk jerseys?

Patrick

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Patrick

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I like buying jerseys for my kids.  My daughter sported a Houston Dash Beckie jersey and now wears a Man City #11.  Those were nice jerseys and didn't break the bank.  Today I went looking for a new Canada jersey for my daughter and I was shocked at what the CSA and Nike are peddling.  The jersey itself is about the most boring thing I have ever seen.   It's red or white, no design whatsoever, literally an off-the-shelf Nike Strike jersey, and the CSA logo is the ugliest piece of clip-art I have ever seen.  I mean, seriously a half soccer ball, a half maple leaf, and just in case you didn't get the subtlety of it they print "CANADA" across middle.  You can get this steaming turd, with no name or number, for the low low price of $110!!  What a deal!  And don't look to get a Sinclair #12 from the CSA 'cause they don't have anything for sale on their website.  Nada.  Nothing.  Can't even buy a CWNT poster for the World Cup.

Does the CSA really think this is going to fly off the shelves?   I can buy a plain red  Nike Strike jersey for 18GBP, so is the CSA logo really worth an extra $80?  I know marketing isn't something the CSA does very well, like who would want to buy a poster of a player?  Right? No one!  But you'd think getting girls hyped for the Women's World Cup would make the CSA think getting red jerseys on the backs of these kids would be a good thing.  At that price, I'll stick to Man City's product.

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BuzzAndSting Community Regular

BuzzAndSting

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I for one love the logo.

And for comparison the current Nike jerseys for other nations are in line with the Canadian jersey.

As for the design, Canada has had very simple jerseys for the last 25 years so I'm not sure what were expecting.

The deal was signed in January so I'll reserve judgement until I see the full suite of gear Nike produces for the NTs.

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Patrick Newbie

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1 hour ago, BuzzAndSting said:

I for one love the logo.

And for comparison the current Nike jerseys for other nations are in line with the Canadian jersey.

As for the design, Canada has had very simple jerseys for the last 25 years so I'm not sure what were expecting.

The deal was signed in January so I'll reserve judgement until I see the full suite of gear Nike produces for the NTs.

Well, there's no accounting for taste 🙂  but the logo isn't exactly a deep look in to the Canadian soul.  And it's not like Hockey Canada is any better,  their jerseys have a hockey player on the front in case you didn't know you were watching hockey.  Still, I would like something that brings some identity to the team, something a soccer ball and a maple leaf lack.  The French have the Coq Sportif, the English have the Lions, the Germans have their eagle, the Aussies have their 'roo, so what  does a soccer ball and maple leaf have that stands up to that level of tradition?  Why not try something interesting like a Canada Goose in front of the maple leaf?  Or a take on the arms of Canada, A lion and Unicorn each side of the leaf?  I simply don't think we need a soccer ball to remind people that the sport they're watching is soccer.

As for design, you say, yes!  Canada has had nothing but boring off-the-shelf designs for decades.  Maybe I shouldn't expect better from the CSA but that's just me, ever the optimist.  Still, the price is outrageous, the lack of any customization options is a total marketing fail, and the CSA seems unwilling or unable to supply even the barest of materials to inspire young players.  I can't buy a poster, or mug, or flag, or anything to show I support Canadian soccer. Is that acceptable to you?  Is it any wonder youth numbers are dropping in Canada?  We don't sell the sport!

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32 minutes ago, Patrick said:

Still, I would like something that brings some identity to the team, something a soccer ball and a maple leaf lack.  The French have the Coq Sportif, the English have the Lions, the Germans have their eagle, the Aussies have their 'roo, so what  does a soccer ball and maple leaf have that stands up to that level of tradition?  

We don't have the historical traditional imagery of the English lions and German eagle so no, it's impossible for us to have something of that level of tradition. The maple leaf and the ball do however represent the modern era of Canadian football and our only appearance at the World Cup so it does have some tradition.

38 minutes ago, Patrick said:

 Why not try something interesting like a Canada Goose in front of the maple leaf?  Or a take on the arms of Canada, A lion and Unicorn each side of the leaf?  I simply don't think we need a soccer ball to remind people that the sport they're watching is soccer.

All of these sound like terrible ideas to me.

38 minutes ago, Patrick said:

As for design, you say, yes!  Canada has had nothing but boring off-the-shelf designs for decades.  Maybe I shouldn't expect better from the CSA but that's just me, ever the optimist.

If you've followed the Canadian national teams for more than a few years and expect anything other than simple uniform designs than that's on you for getting upset. Besides, some of us like the "boring" designs. Although I'm not a fan of this particular Nike jersey I have liked almost, if not all, of the Umbro ones.

42 minutes ago, Patrick said:

Still, the price is outrageous, the lack of any customization options is a total marketing fail, and the CSA seems unwilling or unable to supply even the barest of materials to inspire young players.  I can't buy a poster, or mug, or flag, or anything to show I support Canadian soccer. Is that acceptable to you? 

Again, the price is in line with other Nike jerseys and I wouldn't say it's outrageous. MLS jerseys are in the same range. 

I agree that the lack of offerings at this point is disappointing and I do blame the CSA for that. From my understanding they didn't secure this deal with Nike until the very end or even after the deal with Umbro expired. Had they had everything in line earlier the could have had merch ready for the WWC and the GC.

46 minutes ago, Patrick said:

Is it any wonder youth numbers are dropping in Canada?  We don't sell the sport!

I find it hard to believe participation numbers are dropping in Canada, and even if they are I doubt it's because the CSA didn't have Davies or Sinclair posters available for a few months.

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1 hour ago, BuzzAndSting said:

We don't have the historical traditional imagery of the English lions and German eagle so no, it's impossible for us to have something of that level of tradition.

You're right.  We actually have to start that.  As for the '86 run, as fun as it was it doesn't stir the hearts of Canadians anymore.  Maybe a logo that old is in need of redesign.  I mean, if nothing else, uniforms have advanced an awful lot since those days.

 

1 hour ago, BuzzAndSting said:

Again, the price is in line with other Nike jerseys and I wouldn't say it's outrageous. MLS jerseys are in the same range.

And here we are back at accepting low expectations.  If I can buy a brand new jersey from Man City for less than an MLS jersey there is something terribly wrong.  The leagues in England don't gouge the shit out of their supporters, they actually try to encourage them.  They subsidize away game tickets, you know.  And here we sit accepting that we should pay more for boring, badly designed, generic uniforms from 5th tier teams.  Sheesh, no wonder we get what we get.  

 

1 hour ago, BuzzAndSting said:

I find it hard to believe participation numbers are dropping in Canada, and even if they are I doubt it's because the CSA didn't have Davies or Sinclair posters available for a few months.

An yet they are.  Just sat through a meeting where that was discussed at length.  The reasons are myriad, cost being a major factor, but also the professionalisation of clubs has a big part to play.  We have taken the fun out of the game by pushing development much too early, and worrying more about individual development as opposed to kids playing with their friends.  Maybe  a poster seems like a small thing to you, but to a child the ability to idolize and emulate a player is huge in their motivation to play.  I coach a U11 girls team right now and I am shocked at how little the CSA has done to promote the World Cup, or the player on the team, or even the event itself.  My girls can barely name a Canadian player.  My daughter can because I made posters for her and I bought an Umbro jersey when it was on sale, and I took her to games when the national team was in town.  It takes effort to build support and part of that effort is making supportive products available and affordable to kids.  the CSA is a total failure at that.  Until we start demanding better we're going to continue losing players.  

 

Edit:  Just to show you how ridiculous MLS and CSA jersey prices are look at Atletico Madrid's pricing.  Even full price they put ours to shame.

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In all honesty, I'd rather have that on the jersey than the CSA logo.  I'm not sure we would want to go with the beaver as a symbol for our women's team, memories of the Surrey Beavers Soccer Club girl's and women's teams come to mind, but why not the Canada Goose?  The Cobra Chickens sounds like an awesome nickname, way better than Lionesses or Kangaroos.

40 minutes ago, dyslexic nam said:

beaver.jpg

 

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apbsmith Experienced

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I really like what Nike did with the England's women kits. Two tone color, shirt and sleeve. They then took the color of the sleeve and embed the flowers of each county on the main part.

Would be really cool, if Canada jerseys took a symbol of each province+territory and embedded it:

Either (bird, animal, or flower). I guess not every region has an "animal", so you could pick the bird or mix and match.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Canadian_provincial_and_territorial_symbols

These Canada kits are nothing special, but we can only go up from here :). I do think, you would get tons of casual fans also purchasing the jerseys if they did something similar to the England kits.

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22 minutes ago, apbsmith said:

These Canada kits are nothing special, but we can only go up from here :). I do think, you would get tons of casual fans also purchasing the jerseys if they did something similar to the England kits. 

Not for $110, though.  The English jersey is amazing, and it is a customized Nike jersey.  I can buy it from England, with my daughter's favourite player name and number, for less than a plain Canada jersey.  And I can't get it from the CSA, and I can't get it with an official font player's name and number.  

That's the real shame of it!  I know girls who would love to wear a Canada jersey, and have a favourite player, but the cost and the lack of any marketing make it hard.  I keep complaining about the lack of posters so I found the picture of the Canadian Women's team and printed up a bunch of copies.  I put the names and numbers of the players on the back, laminated them, and gave them to my team.  The first thing they did was look for a player with their name, or the player who played their position, or the one that wore their favourite number.  These girls are interested if you give them a chance to be interested. 

As a ps:  Have you seen the Chinese Women's jersey?  Wow! What Nike did for them, ranked miles below Canada and not in the World Cup...

 

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9 minutes ago, Shway said:

Is the authentic women's jersey different from the mens authentic jersey?

I want an authentic jersey, but i don't know if I'll fit in a Womens large lol... 

https://www.sportchek.ca/categories/fan-shop/international-soccer/canada/product/canada-soccer-womens-nike-authentic-home-jersey-332966393.html#332966393=60

Just so you know, the price says $200 but in the cart it drops to $150.  Still, it looks like the women's jersey listed has a deeper V than the men's,  but pictures of the women wearing the jersey makes me think that the "authentic" jersey shown may not be that authentic.  I'd do some photo comparisons before buying.

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1 hour ago, Patrick said:

Just so you know, the price says $200 but in the cart it drops to $150.  Still, it looks like the women's jersey listed has a deeper V than the men's,  but pictures of the women wearing the jersey makes me think that the "authentic" jersey shown may not be that authentic.  I'd do some photo comparisons before buying.

in my photo comparison, the red looks deeper on the womans authentic. And it looks like it hugs at the waist.

I'll just go with a mens jersey.

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29 minutes ago, JuicyHam said:

Is there anywhere you can get clearance Umbro kits? I'm assuming no but I figured I'd ask because like many here I'm not going to pay that much for such a bland Nike Canada shirt. 

They never sold them online, the shop just disappeared but I imagine the left over stock was liquidated at RMP Athletic. That was where everything from Umbro was shipped from.

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