The brilliant Kit Bliss has been producing a list of the 100 Greatest Shirt Templates. Previously NIFG has produced some Alternative Kits, imagining how Northern Ireland would have looked had the Irish FA negotiated a different kit deal, or if a different colour or style had been utilised.
Over the next few months we will produce Northern Ireland versions based on each of Kit Bliss' template posts. As best possible, these will be matched to the contemporary colour schemes actually worn by the Northern Ireland players, while a few additional away options may also appear. Any acerbic comments will be those of JCD.
[Click on the links beside the numbers for more details from Kit Bliss]
100-96
- 100 Umbro 'Plume'
- Perhaps most familiar in yellow as a long-serving Spurs kit (as worn by Stephen Robinson in one of his few outings). Could easily have been selected by the IFA for NI from their then kit suppliers. Away in dark blue or white though?
- 99 Pony 'Affirm'
- US-firm Pony made an attack on the UK kit market with bold branding matched only by Adidas Equipment kits. A big tick was worn by Rowland & Hughes at West Ham and Magilton & Dowie at Southampton. This stripy away shirt may have raised eyebrows!
- 98 Hummel Berlin
- Hummel came to notice with their Denmark kits, arrived in the UK for a financially ruinous partnership w/Spurs then issued a white version of this kit to Sunderland, worn by Anton Rogan in the 92 Cup final. Navy for our away though?
- 97 Hummel Sirius
- A classic Hummel design never worn by the Danes! A shatter pattern ran through the background, and this is well imagined in the marine colour of NI's 2018 away kit
- 96 Umbro Porto
- Things were getting a bit crazy for kit patterns in the early-90s. It is a toss of the coin as to who got the better end of the deal from Umbro between Northern Ireland and Lithuania!?
- 95 Asics 'Akin'
- Another what could have been from actual suppliers, Asics. Also used by Villa it's Newcastle's 3rd kit that could easily be lifted to act as NI's 1st choice. Blue candy stripes to contrast the previous Umbro kits white pin-stripe
- 94 Asics 'Delete'
- Perhaps best remembered as the Norwich kit of Dale Gordon and Robert Rosario. Hard to see how it would work for NI, but the shadow pattern closely matches the then current Adidas template.
- 93 Umbro 'Cursor'
- This is an incredibly aggressive bit of Umbro branding to match that of Adidas, but never seen in Europe. Not hard to imagine the Bolivia kit of the time being re-badged for NI.
- 92 Umbro 'Quad'
- Used by Aberdeen and the World XI that faced the EFL in a 1987 Centenary Match, (a bit) similar to the template used for the Irish League's 89 US tour - not hard to imagine NI in it. Could blue have arrived on the away at this time?
- 91 Puma 'Coda'
- Notably used by Leeds, Lazio and Czech Republic, this bold kit coincided with some serious colour mash-ups from NI's actual kit supplies, Olympic and Patrick. Some quite cool across options I think and a chest band 15 years earlier than Adidas gave it to us!
- 90 Umbro 'Shatter'
- A fairly basic template in an era of basic Umbro templates, so these kits are fairly similar to some of NI's actual kits, e.g. the high logo to facilitate the number and the "spikes" also appeared on the 125th anniversary kit
- 89 Le Coq Sportif 'Quest'
- For people of my age St Etienne were an indie band, but before that they were an exotic football team famous for their stylish green kits. Handy for morphing into an NI kit really!
- 88 Umbro Parma
- This one doesn't really work as an international shirt, with the pattern broken to allow for a sponsor. Used by Oldham and Celtic (sort of) as an away kit, those offer another possible colour-way for NI too
- 87 Asics 'Light'
- Another Asics template that coincided with NI's deal with the Japanese firm. Not used by any British clubs, stripes on an NI home kit could have been an interesting departure!
- 86 Errea 'Victory'
- Errea were perhaps most noted as Middlesbrough's kit supplier through the 90s/2000s so here we have a great chance to go hoopy. The colours match those of the NI/Olympic kits, so lots of blue on the home and white/red on the away!
- 85 Puma Momentta
- A widely used, but simple template. With white usually being favoured for NI away kits it is handy that at this time there were black and blue efforts to provide better contrast to the big block of white on the home shirt!
- 84 Puma 'Abidjan'
- Memorably issued to African teams at the 2012 World Cup, usually in a brown hue. Here we have NI in two shades of green with an alternative in blue/white
- 83 Nike Victory II
- NI had had chevrons on the away kit shortly before Nike issued this kit. With the large blocks of colours we'll need to be creative. The dark green/lime of the 2014 home kit and alternatives in black/emerald or white/dark green
- 82 Hummel Atlanta
- Another Danish-inspired kit. The blue kit actually follows the three-tone design used by Norway, and would probably provide a better contrast than green/white vs white/green
- 81 Admiral 'Enhance'
- Admiral's first appearance on this list with a kit familiar as Leeds' away and third kits when they were defending champions! Certainly works as a second choice, the green is a bit too disrupted on the home shirt for my liking.
- 80 Puma 'Axle'
- These shirts caused a stir in 2021 when released as away kits for some of Puma's biggest contracts - none of them featured a badge, just the team name in a variety of fonts.
- 79 Adidas Santos/National
- A familiar sight in European football, it is quite feasible that these shirts could have been used by NI when they signed up to Adidas in 1977. A classic now, the stripes were regarded as an imposition back then!
- 78 Hummel 'Glide'
- Denmark's Hummel kit for their historic Euro 92 win earning it classic status. The only flaw was that the home and away kit wouldn't offer enough of a contrast hence the blue NI away here.
- 77 Joma 'Streak'
- A simple shirt with paint splashed across the front - I wasn't familiar with it, but think it works! Also, brings Joma to the party for the first time.
- 76 Umbro Chevron
- Familiar one this time, having been used by Ballymena, Crusaders, Rangers and (of course) NI. Contrasting collar/cuffs on home wouldn't be standard but looks more traditional. Alternative away in black to match the next Adidas kit.
- 75 Lotto 'Grosso'
- Lotto were popular kit supplier across Europe, but this kit was familiar to the traveling domestic Windsor faithful as it served as Linfield's away shirt. No disguising the manufacturer whatever the colours.
- 74 Puma v-Konstrukt
- IMHO the best Puma template covered so far and it was popular with clubs in every major league around the globe, inc. Spurs, Lazio, Lech Poznan, Monaco and Independiente!
- 73 Puma Cloud
- A bit more of a teamwear-look to the next Puma template. Was particularly popular with African and Eastern-European national teams. Again it straddled a blue and white NI kit era so there's the options.
- 72 Adidas Campeon13
- A very familiar kit to a few NI internationals, the collar is a bit much for me tbh. Given the time-span, we have three possible colours for the away kits - which would you pick?
- 71 Adidas 'Horizon'
- At Italia 90 Adidas produced some exiting designs. This one was worn by the USA, USSR and Romania and could feasibly have been NI's next kit had they not switched to Umbro that year. Would blue still have arrived for the away?
- 70 Nike Striker III
- Worn by Finland against us in the Euro 16 qualifiers. As well as the traditional green/white offerings we take a look at it in black. A blue version would be identical to the Finn's away. Also worn by Linfield as an away kit.
- 69 Puma Formula
- Another template mostly familiar through a World Cup, as worn by Ghana in the Suarez handball match in 2010. NI in pin-stripes seems appropriate along with a shadow Celtic cross on the shoulder.
- 68 Olympic Sportswear Shine
- Of course, we got to see this one in the flesh at Windsor Park and famously at Lansdowne Road. Here we re-colour the away to more familiar white or blue.
- 67 Adidas Deviate
- Another "could've been us" shirt. I'd say it looks more modern than our '86 kit, so could've been a logical move, but Sweden actually went the other way!
- As worn by Spain, Crystal Palace and Wigan, as well as dozens of other teams across the world.
- Two slightly different versions exist of this template. One would take me back to Bulgaria and the other to Parma in the mid to late-90s.
Another Puma template, the "Ultimate", as worn by Fulham & Lazio. The most stand-out feature are the mis-matched sleeves, slightly reflective of NI's then Umbro kit.
19 years before the aptly named Patrick (though pronounced Officer Crabtree style) supplied the IFA. It was popular among English clubs including Jim Hagan's Birmingham. Reimagined in the colours of NI's 99-04 kits- 62 Reebok Elevate
- A Reebok shirt I first remember Chile wearing in a friendly against England. Lots of slight variants, but here are four era-appropriate #NornIron interpretations.
- 61 Umbro Beam
- A kit most familiar as being worn by England, Linfield and Azerbaijan. How'd #NornIron have looked in these Umbro efforts?
- 60 Adidas WorldCup Dress
Another Adidas template that could've been ours. For the away we've taken inspiration from Middlesbrough's chest band.- 59 Adidas Ascend
- See also Tribal Colours - What If? and Alternative Kit History
No.58 in the @KitBlissNZ Greatest Templates and another which could easily have been ours. Indeed Davo and Brunty got to wear it at Southampton and West Brom respectively. A variety of contemporary colour options realised here in. https://t.co/IHw1SfqhRr pic.twitter.com/4AKnrnRbt9
No.59 in the @KitblissNZ Greatest Templates.
— NIFG (@jcdnifg) May 4, 2023
A widely used Adidas template, notably by Arsenal and Germany. @80tribalcolours had provided a graphic before in an alternative colour - which do you prefer?https://t.co/bmv0Klg0O9https://t.co/fleQjvOsczhttps://t.co/Y5mtlrBkB5 https://t.co/vzY3OPkvqi pic.twitter.com/i4pzalK2I5
— NIFG (@jcdnifg) May 28, 2023
- 57 Hummel Madrid
- Perhaps most familiar as Spurs' kit for the 1987 Cup final, it was also used by Linfield and many others. Elegantly simple imagined here in #NornIron's usual colours.
- 56 Matchwinner Piazza
- A kit very much of its time! Really struggled with colours, so green, blue and white for the home and the away is "inspired" by the 2022 away.
- 55 Nike Vapor I
- The Vapor I template was the go-to for Nike's stable at Euro 2016 and beyond. It featured subtly contrasting sleeves in most instances so we've pictured that on the home. On the away the navy sleeves are less subtle, but can be seen as a nod to Adidas' actual Euro 2016 home offering. For many it was controversial, usually as it was provided with shorts to match the shirt which proved an odd look for the likes of England and France. Pictured is Josh Magennis in Nike's preferred configuration along with a more traditional look.
- A style very familiar to Northern Ireland fans, having been supplied to the Irish FA in green and blue versions from 1990-1992. As alternative colours we can look to the late-90s for a red-and-white and to 2010 for black (not really an option in the early-90s as black was reserved for the referee). A third colour-way option could be orange, which bears great similarity to the Netherland's Euro 88 winning shirt, and for cultural reasons has been used for many fans' productions.
- 52 Adidas Regista 16
- Wow, this one has hoops and stripes! From 1991-1993 it was worn by the likes of Schalke and on the international stage by Luxembourg. The chest band was obviously designed for sponsors and would be quite suited to a front number, though these weren't used outside of major tournaments and Luxembourg didn't make Euro 92 so there's no real-life visualisation of that. The blue/white away sees an "unofficial" continuation of the stripes through the chest band and the edging switched to green which was unseen on any actual jersey where this was always black.
Count by Manufacturer (50 kits to date)
- Adidas - 11 [NI kit supplier 1977-1990 & 2012-date]
- Puma - 9
- Umbro - 9 [NI kit supplier 1960s-1977, 1990-1994 & 2004-2012]
- Hummel - 5
- Asics - 3 [NI kit supplier 1994-1998]
- Nike - 3
- Admiral - 1
- Errea - 1
- Joma - 1
- Le Coq Sportif - 1
- Lotto - 1
- MatchWinner - 1
- Olympic - 1 [NI kit suppliers 1998-1999]
- Patrick - 1 [NI kit supplier 1999-2004]
- Pony - 1
- Reebok - 1
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