Foot.ie decides - Ireland's best home kit

[pineapple stu]

So as suggested on the Umbro kit thread - let's give this a go!

Same idea as the Best Goal (https://foot.ie/threads/257368-Foot-ie-decides-Ireland-s-best-goal!) thread - I've gone back over the last while and found what I think are our last 27 home kits, going back to 1976. It's straight head-to-head until we get a winner. I'll start off round 1 with an open draw of 12 ties and 3 byes. That'll give us 15 going through, and I'll do a wildcard round for all the kits that got knocked out for the last spot in the final 16. That'll allow for any mishaps where the two best kits get paired together in the first round. After that though, once you're out, you're out.

I'll start on Wednesday morning - just to give people time to see that the tournament is on the way. Same format as last time - 24 hours for a match, but I'll start a new bout every 12 hours (roughly). So there'll be two open most of the time.

I think we all knew Ronnie was going to win Best Goal - shin or no shin - but I expect this one will be a lot more divided!

[pineapple stu]

A reminder so that I'll post the first pairing on this tomorrow morning.

Rules are simple for those who missed the last tournament. Vote for your favourite and the most votes wins each round. In the event of a draw, votes with no reasons are discounted (reasons are really there to get a bit of chat going). If it's still a draw, I'll have casting vote.

The advantage of the wildcard in the first round actually means that as well as Ireland's best home kit, we can also decide Ireland's worst home kit - two competitions for the price of one! :)

The first round tomorrow is a derby of sorts - two kits from the early noughties.

[Fixer82]

The Winner gets a New Balance jersey :wink:

[pineapple stu]

OK, let's get this underway and see where we end up.

In the green corner, we have the 2003-04 kit, with the horizontal stripe effect of green on green -

https://m0.sportsjoe.ie/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/26162647/inpho_00105725.jpg

And in the other green corner, it's the 2002 World Cup kit (worn from 2001 to 2003), with the white pinstripe effect down the sides -

https://i2-prod.irishmirror.ie/incoming/article10564630.ece/ALTERNATES/s615b/inpho_00074712.jpg

But if you had to wear one, which would it be?

Voting on this open until this time tomorrow roughly. In the meantime, there'll be two 90s kits going head to head from this evening.

[Fixer82]

World Cup 2002 for me

[passinginterest]

2002, probably helped by world cup nostalgia, because it's not a great kit. The stripes with the sort of fade effect is all a bit too much.

[jbyrne]

tight call. the better memories I have of the WC02 shirt just about swings it for me

[tetsujin1979]

+1 for 2002

[the 12 th man]

Prefer 03-04,don't like the white seams in the 02 one but it's a terrible shame to vote against such an iconic picture when you consider what Robbie is just about to do..:cool::cool:

[Eminence Grise]

Tight call between two non-classics.

2002 swings it for me.

Maybe it's the long sleeves in the 03/04 jersey. Maybe it's the horizontal stripes that make the jersey look too busy and distracting - there are four pieces of info on both (logo, FAI logo, number, match info) but 2002 looks less cluttered. Hats off all the same for the matching horizontal stripes on the jersey and socks, even if it does feel like the designer doubled down on the ugly.:cool:

[John83]

2002 for me too. I never liked the horizontal pin stripes.

[pineapple stu]

2002 is the one with the horizontal pin stripes though?

[elatedscum]

2002 definitely

[John83]

2002 is the one with the horizontal pin stripes though?
I'm referring to the effect on the 03/03 kit. Perhaps I'm using the wrong term for it.

[IsMiseSean]

03-04 kit for me.

[Kingdom]

2003-04 kit, with the horizontal stripe effect of green on green vs 2002 World Cup kit (worn from 2001 to 2003), with the white pinstripe effect down the sides -


2002 WC kit.

[nigel-harps1954]

2002 for me

[pineapple stu]

So that one stays open until the morning, with the 200 kit holding a big lead.

It's back to the 90s for the next pairing. We have this offering from 1992 to 1994, which was basically the exact same as the Liverpool kit of the time with green instead of red -

https://i2-prod.irishmirror.ie/incoming/article21796312.ece/ALTERNATES/s1200c/0_inpho_00025680.jpg

(Easy to forget Kevin Sheedy scored the first goal of the 1994 qualifying campaign actually)

And then an effort from 1998 to 2000 which Gary Breen seems particularly delighted with -

https://m0.sportsjoe.ie/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/20170226/1998.jpg

[jbyrne]

92 to 94 for me.... even if it was a bit generic at the time

[tetsujin1979]

A few teams had it around that time, Sweden wore it at Euro 92
https://ssl.c.photoshelter.com/img-get2/I0000ed7_75VpIqg/fit=1000x750/g=G0000bNkQn4ZA5sw/Sweden170692.jpg

[John83]

92 to 94 for me.... even if it was a bit generic at the time
92 to 94 for me.... even if it was a bit generic at the time

Damn, seems Dahamsta hasn't enabled that feature. My vote is the same as jbyrne's, except possibly a different colour.

[nigel-harps1954]

98-00 for me I think..that could change in the morning though.

[passinginterest]

92-94. It might be generic but the simplicity works.

[bennocelt]

2002 World Cup kit for first vote
and
92 to 94 for second vote, cheers

[boovidge]

WC kit and 1998. Wish we would bring back that badge instead of the awful one we have now.

[pineapple stu]

Actually sod it - there's no reason why I shouldn't get a vote too. So tie-break is decided by (a) discarding votes with no reasons and (b) discarding my vote (which is very similar to giving me a casting vote in the event of a tie).

Not gone on the 2003 kit at all to be honest. Bit too much in the way of loops. The white pinstripe of the WC kit is a lot classier.

Also I remember at the time thinking the 1992 kit was just a rip off of the Liverpool one, so I never really warmed to it because of that. But the 98 one has a cool design built into it, so I'll vote for that.

[Fixer82]

1998-2000

The 1992 kit was the Liverpool away kit with white shorts

[pineapple stu]

They had slightly darker green I think, but effectively the same thing alright.

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/4c/a0/e3/4ca0e3c30145c3309bfd52af4623778b.jpg

I've found Spain and the US with variants of the same thing as well.

[Fixer82]

bottle green as opposed to emerald or kelly green. few subtle differences but the big gaudy stripes made it impossible to notice anything else in all those kits


They had slightly darker green I think, but effectively the same thing alright.

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/4c/a0/e3/4ca0e3c30145c3309bfd52af4623778b.jpg

I've found Spain and the US with variants of the same thing as well.

[Razors left peg]

92 for me

The earlier one 2002 hands down. Its my favorite kit we've ever had

[elatedscum]

92-94 - very 90s adidas, very nice

[the 12 th man]

92-94 for me,too much happening in the other one.

[pineapple stu]

So first result is in, and the 2002 WC kit has romped to a 12-2 win over its immediate successor, which does still have a second chance as our first kit into the wildcard repechage at the end of this round (or it may yet end up being voted the worst home kit ever)

Tight match in the 90s derby, and votes taken all day on that one still.

Next up, we have the Stan kit, the one worn from 2006-08 -

https://m0.sportsjoe.ie/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/20173510/20061.jpg

And that has come out of the hat against the current kit (or is it now the old kit?) -

https://media.buzz.ie/uploads/2020/09/03204731/1924985.jpg

[Kingdom]

92-94 for me over 98. Neither is awful, but I prefer the alternates of both kit actually for their infamy!

98 was the start of a series of let downs by Umbro after an excellent opening shot for the Euro 96 jerseys.

In regard to the earlier vote, I stand by my 2002
Vote, because I just hate the other jersey. That period was a series of expensive and **** friendly games in Lansdowne, and bigger all in terms of notable victories.

[Kingdom]

.
Next up, we have the Stan kit, the one worn from 2006-08 -

https://m0.sportsjoe.ie/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/20173510/20061.jpg


The 08 kit for me is a peach and underrated. Disregarded because of Stan, unfortunately.
The NB efforts -that one particularly - reminds me of the bile that used to come out of my stomach when indeveloped acid reflux/alcoholism in my early adult years.

[pineapple stu]

But get down off the fence here Kingdom. Say you absolutely had to choose between the two - which would it be? :p

[passinginterest]

I actually quite like the NB kit so giving it my vote. I know the gold is controversial but I like a collar on a shirt and I like the general simplicity of it. It goes against my yellow belly nature not to vote for Kevin Doyle though!

[Eminence Grise]

92-94 gets my vote
OK, so it’s United States of Generica in some respects, but the design is simple and effective. No fussy collars, the adidas logo is neatly contained in the neck v. Maybe one of those jerseys where for all that there are few things to really like about it, there are far fewer to dislike.

98-00
Good in its own way, there’s a bit of effort to make it stand out, but it’s just too busy.


06-08 gets my vote in R3
More traditional green and a fairly plain design. Arguably too much white in all the logos and it needs a stronger splash of orange for contrast, but a decent, understated effort.

Current/old kit
Wrong green, the gold is just plain awful. Its only good for hiding in long grass.

[the 12 th man]

06-08 in round 3,gets the job done without shouting about it.

[Fixer82]

06-08

The NB one looks like a South African jersey. Or an Australia away jersey. Awful

[nigel-harps1954]

Don't like the way the colours went with NB. Too dark. 06-08 for me.

[John83]

06-08 for me. The gold on the other one just looks wrong.

[Tipp Townie]

Hi all! I've barely posted in 10 years but there's nothing like a 'best kit' vote and a match v England to get me back in the mix! :D

I've missed the vote for WC02 v 03/04... prob would've gone for the WC anyway as its a classic, even though i didn't love the neck or the cut...

92-94 v 98-00: I was never keen on how generic the adidas looked, but there's just far too much going on with the shading on the later kit, its a bit of a mess and even late-90s me didn't like it. So its 92/94 for me.

06-08 v 19-20: Tough choice as i like(d) them both quite a bit. I seem to be in the minority re. the NB effort, but never mind. So i'm voting 19-20

[Razors left peg]

06-08

[elatedscum]

19-20 for me. I like the all green jersey, shorts, socks. Unusual shade of green but i think it fits with the collar in a sort of 1940s aesthetic

[Eirambler]

92-94 kit in the earlier match, there was something about those three striped kits that I always liked.

And the Stan kit in the second match up. Mainly because I hate the NB kit.

[pineapple stu]

So that's a 10-4 win for Kevin Sheedy's top, and Gary Breen drops into the repecharge. Still taking votes (and indeed creative terms of abuse) on the third match.

Old v new for the fourth match - it's the 2017-18 kit (with some loops on it I think if you look close enough)

https://d2x51gyc4ptf2q.cloudfront.net/content/uploads/2017/10/06212933/murphy.jpg

And it's up against what I think might be a heavy-hitter in this - the Italia 90 top (worn through Euro 92 qualifying as well)

https://m0.sportsjoe.ie/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/20171153/1990.jpg

[backstothewall]

My votes...

2002
1992
Current
Italis 90

[the 12 th man]

Italia 90..the shamrock:cool::cool:

[Razors left peg]

Italia 90