Kerry travel to face Meath in the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship this weekend, so we’re going back to an infamous inclusion in their kit canon.
In 2000, a kit era in Gaelic games came to an end as Kerry and adidas parted ways after an alliance dating back two decades in various guises – see here for the comprehensive story of the relationship, as outlined by Adam Moynihan.
The Kerry County Board signed a new deal with O’Neills, meaning that the Dublin firm had a monopoly of all 34 (London and New York the extras) counties’ strips, though this would quickly end again as Azzurri and Gaelic Gear emerged in 2003.
The first kit worn by Kerry under the new partnership was fairly restrained compared to others at the time, with the addition of elements of the crest to the sleeves the only real flourishes.
In that first year, a change strip was not required but the 2001 season would throw up the need for an alternative.
A quick recap for non-Irish readers: historically, the All-Ireland Gaelic football and hurling championships have been split into four provincial competitions. Kerry is in Munster, where Limerick are the only other county with green in their strip – and, at the time, games between the two were not considered clashes.
In times past, when provincial champions met each other in the All-Ireland semi-finals or finals and clash of colours arose, they would wear the colours of their respective provinces. For instance, Kerry wore the blue of Munster with Offaly in Leinster’s green in 1972 and the same happened against Meath in the 1986 All-Ireland semi-final, despite the fact that Meath’s usual kit is also green.
That 1986 game remained the last time Kerry had had to change in a championship game but that run came to an end when both they and Meath won their provincial titles in 2001 and advanced to the All-Ireland semi-finals.
The previous year, Meath had worn an unusual gold jersey with minimal sleeves against Offaly, but instead they donned a reversal of the new kit that had been launched for 2001.
Instead of blue – or green with gold trim, which they were somehow allowed to nominate as their official change strip – Kerry opted for a completely new departure. On the Monday before the game, top Kerry journalist Murt Murphy reported in the Evening Echo.
His article revealed that, for the first time, ‘the Kingdom’ would be playing in white jerseys with green and gold trim. Kerry chairperson Seán Walsh gave the background to the decision reached in conjunction with O’Neills.
“They have come up with a hybrid jersey that we are very happy with,” he said.
“It will be predominantly white but it will have green and gold trimmings and there will be an element of green and gold on the sleeves. It will only be for that one day so Kerry fans will not be asked to buy it. However, if we were to beat Meath then it would become a collectors’ item.
“The problem is that our registered second colours are green with gold trimmings and they are the Meath colours. So we decided this time around because of the importance of the traditional green and gold to the Kingdom, we would do something about it. Kerry play better in green and gold in Croke Park so we feel it was necessary to come up with something new.
“It may be just tradition but we felt our players and fans wanted green and gold and we were only too happy to oblige.”
Kerry’s goalkeeper Declan O’Keeffe wore a green shirt with the same sleeves as his team-mates while Cormac O’Sullivan of Meath, who usually wore gold, was in blue. Pre-match, the television commentator noted that the Kerry jerseys were the same as those worn by Ireland against Australia in the International Rules series, but there were notable differences.
With much excitement around the meeting of the past two All-Ireland champions, there was an attendance record for an All-Ireland semi-final of 61,295 but unfortunately for Kerry, it was a day to forget as Meath won by 2-14 to 0-5. Meath struggled to build on that performance though, losing to Galway in the All-Ireland final.
Given the position of supremacy occupied by the championship in the collective mind compared to the secondary national league competition, it may be thought that the the white jerseys were a one-and-done phenomenon but, the following spring, they were called upon for another meeting with Meath.
This time, it was a Division 2 league semi-final in Limerick and, wearing plainer shorts than the previous year, Kerry triumphed by 0-11 to 0-8 to restore some honour to the kit.
These shirts also lacked the inclusion of championship sponsors Bank of Ireland below the GAA logo on the right breast.
Kerry went on to beat Laois in the league final and almost made it a double that September, losing to Armagh in the All-Ireland final.
The next time they had to change away from green and gold in a championship match was the 2009 All-Ireland semi-final, again against Meath. By then, blue – albeit a darker shade – was back en vogue, though perhaps it was not ideal for the match officials to wear black.
