Joey Smith, curator of the excellent Pyro On The Pitch and the author of the just-as-good Cold War Classics series on this site, had a vision in his reverie:
@museumofjerseys #FantasyKitFriday idea that came in a dream: Ireland 1994/95 3rd kit in the adidas style of Bayern that year with the diagonal stripes, with orange replacing red and black replacing blue, and including the Opel.
— Pyro On The Pitch (@PyroOnThePitch) May 28, 2018
Essentially, what he was looking for was a slightly earlier version of the 1997-98 Umbro Ireland away.
That kit was infamous for featuring in a game against Macedonia in 1997 – when there was no change needed – when Jason McAteer was sent off and Ireland lost 3-2, denting their World Cup qualification hopes. While sometimes referenced as kit used only once, it did also have game-time in a home friendly against Mexico in 1998.
The first outing became shorthand for disasters, so much so that the worst player in training would have to wear a goalkeeper top with ‘I had a Macedonia’ on the front.
Incidentally, before FKF became the all-conquering behemoth it now is, and before we learned how to use Adobe Illustrator, David Morrissey requested this colourway on an earlier Ireland kit:
As requested by @dweeter1983, the Republic of Ireland 1990 style in the colours of the away worn v Macedonia in 1997 pic.twitter.com/GuOOOCgywx
— Museum of Jerseys (@museumofjerseys) March 31, 2016
Joey’s suggestion is for a few year later than that. While it’s the Bayern home style, with its contrasting sleeves, that he wants, the actual Bayern away of that time wasn’t a million miles away.
In keeping with the real thing, we have ramped up the black and kept green as a trim. If, in an alternate universe, a fussy governing body had decreed that Ireland’s white away didn’t provide enough differentiation against Northern Ireland in 1993, this would have been a viable alternative.
Or then, maybe wearing orange in Windsor Park wouldn’t have been seen as a good idea.
