I’m a bad person. Back in February, Mikey Traynor floated the notion of a Republic of Ireland kit in the Nike 2002 stylings.
The intention was to do that on St Patrick’s Day, doubling up with these:
On St Patrick's Day, #fantasykitfriday could hardly be anyone else – Ireland in France 1998 style, requested by @tontonzola365 pic.twitter.com/V4jKFHTX0R
— Museum of Jerseys (@museumofjerseys) March 17, 2017
Instead, time ran out and the Nike kits weren’t able to be done. It was welcome therefore, that a gentle reminder from Mikey recently:
Also, always wondered what Ireland would look like with it, maybe it's one for @museumofjerseys
— Mikey Traynor (@mikeytraynor) August 11, 2017
In reality, Ireland’s Umbro kit at the 2002 World Cup featured navy as the third colour but only very sparingly – to translate that to this style would have made the shirt look too Northern Ireland-y.
Instead, the decision was taken to go with the more traditional orange, using the template worn by Brazil (there were a few options as Nike altered elements for different countries):
And then reverse the green and white for the change kit:
Incidentally, for those interested in real Ireland kits, Eddie O’Mahony is soon launching a book on the history of the shirts, using examples from his considerable matchworn collection. He has asked Museum of Jerseys to provide artwork and it is a pleasure to be able to accede to that request, so keep an eye out in the autumn.
