Foot.ie decides - Ireland's best keeper's jersey

[pineapple stu]

Another international window coming up in a couple of weeks - we ready to go again with another big decision?

I have 40 jerseys from the past 40 years selected and ready to do battle. From the madness of the 90s, to forgotten maroon efforts, to the ever-classic Euro 88/Italia 90 kit. Same story - head to head to head to head until only one remains.

40 is an awkward number, so I'm going to -

> Give the Euro 88/Italia 90 jersey a bye to the second round as the winner of both the best home and away kit
> Run 13 3-way ties for the first round, with the top two to go through. That means 27 progress in total
> Then 14 into the repechage to (a) reprieve five kits and give us a round 32 and (b) vote one kit as our worst ever goalkeeper's top.

I might start later this week and then it'd last all the way through the November internationals and probably up to the end of the month.

There probably are a couple of gaps in what I have, so if anyone has a kit they want to make sure is included, PM me a link to a photo.

As a taster to get everyone nice and confused, this really strange image still from a programme made in 2016 should be one of the bookies' favourites.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DfRg8_9W0AExiot.jpg

[tetsujin1979]

Eehhhmmm, what?
https://www.irelandsown.ie/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/packiesave.jpg

[pineapple stu]

Yup. Looks like some crowd doing a video put false colouring on it. I've no idea why

[Kingdom]

Nice one Stu.

[Fixer82]

Fair play. There’s been a lot of keepers jerseys/kits. Some of them absolutely mental.

Is it jersey or full kit we’re voting on?

[pineapple stu]

I'll let that row develop over the course of the thread. :)

I think the full kit is really the vote, but there's a lot more variety with the keeper's tops compared to home/away outfield jerseys, so I'd say the majority of the vote will come down to the jersey tbh.

[Fixer82]

I'll let that row develop over the course of the thread. :)

I think the full kit is really the vote, but there's a lot more variety with the keeper's tops compared to home/away outfield jerseys, so I'd say the majority of the vote will come down to the jersey tbh.

Look forward to it

[pineapple stu]

Right - slight change of plan. I had a look through the 40 starters again and spotted two duplicates. So I've pulled those and we're down to 38.

Putting them in pools of 3 to only knock out 6 kits seems a waste of time, and reveals all the kits too soon. So I'm going to start with 20 in round 1, and the other 18 get a bye to round 2. Round 1 will give 10 winners, and then four get reprieved in the repechage (this is to allow for potential finals in round 1, so we don't lose a genuine challenger too early purely through a bad draw)

I think I'll start tomorrow morning if that suits. Usual stuff - 24-hour voting period, another battle up in the afternoon, and I'll not run any over the weekend as it's quieter generally

[Kingdom]

Will you send us all pm's when you've uploaded them too? thanks a mil. or even drop me a text message - mwah!

[pineapple stu]

No PMs so far. I must have yere full trust when it comes to digging out the obscure of the obscure. :)

[pineapple stu]

OK, let's see how this goes!

Our first battle is a proper clash of eras. No Bazunu v Kelleher debates here - instead, we've Bazunu v Peyton. Which one stays in, and which one goes out? 24 hours to vote, and in the event of a tie, I get casting vote (or if I dd vote, then my vote is discounted) Reasons are encouraged to get a bit of chat going.

https://www.thesun.ie/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2019/12/NINTCHDBPICT000212284797-e1575744277881.jpg?strip=all&w=639

https://img.rasset.ie/0017760e-1600.jpg

Next match goes live around 6pm.

[jbyrne]

Bazunu

always thought a full black gk kit makes the keeper look a lot more imposing!

[tetsujin1979]

Close call between the two, and there's nothing particularly wrong with the kit Peyton is wearing, but the black is better

[passinginterest]

Bazunu gets my vote. Not a fan of the round neck on the other one.

[Kingdom]

Disappointed that I found clash 1 randomly. I was expecting a pm, email, or message via carrier-pigeon.

Anyway, Gerry looks dashing in that GK jersey, and I've a small bone for anything Adidas, so Orange (is the new Black!) gets my vote. I'd wear that on a night out in Brussels and not look out of place

[pineapple stu]

GDPR means I can't PM anyone - you know that :)

I'm unsure on these two myself. The modern jerseys are generally very bland and I don't see myself voting for too many of them. But I do like the all black (though I think a Campos special is generally taken to be more - well, distracting at least, which is worth a goal on occasion). The Peyton one evokes memories of the Euro 88 sticker album, so it's a classic - yet looking at it now, it's not all that great, even before you get to the nipplage.

I'll vote Bazunu here, though I may well reprieve Peyton when the time comes.

[Eminence Grise]

Yeah, those nipples. I think that must have been taken just before FIFA banned male nipplage because it provided extra grip on the jersey. :D

I think a little nostalgia in my vote... GP's looks like a proper ye olde-fashioned keeper's jersey so there's my vote. GB's looks like the sports kit of some special forces unit (but it needs McClean's balaclavas to be a sure-fire winner!) - I like it too, but I'd say I'll have a chance to vote for it for a later round.

[sadloserkid]

Peyton's for me. The new one is very boring lads.

[elatedscum]

Bazunu. Love an all black keeper's kit

[pineapple stu]

4½-3 to Bazunu at the moment (with my vote the half, so we can't have a tie)

Still loads of time to vote, and another tie going live around 6pm, which is another retro v modern tie.

[ltfc_2004]

Bazunu much nicer strip! gets my vote

[pineapple stu]

So Bazunu v Peyton is still open for votes until the morning, but in the meantime, here's the second match. It's Bazunu again, and this time up against the 1994 World Cup qualifying kit.

https://i2-prod.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/article21489060.ece/ALTERNATES/s615/0_GettyImages-1337844298.jpg

https://i.pinimg.com/474x/d9/c0/b9/d9c0b9befc0d005b7305292bfc51e087.jpg

[EAFC_rdfl]

Peyton for the first, it looks warmer regardless of nips.
Bazunu for the 2nd, bonners is like a big bag

[ontheotherhand]

Same here - Peyton for the first, but primarily due to the better crest. Bazunu for the second but there's not much between either of Bazunus and Peytons. I'd probably rather wear Bazunu's all black kit myself but again Peyton's crest is better. Bonner's jersey is offensive.

[pineapple stu]

Bonner's jersey is offensive.
Oh, the 90s were only getting started!

A glorious age for keeper's jerseys, the likes of which we'll never see again

[sadloserkid]

The green looks horrific on the Bonner one. I like an ugly shirt but there are limits. Bazunu by default

[Eminence Grise]

Match 2 - Bazunu.

Bonner's looks like it was bought two sizes too big ... and he shrank in the wash!

[ontheotherhand]

Oh, the 90s were only getting started!

A glorious age for keeper's jerseys, the likes of which we'll never see again

The problem is that Bonner's isn't offensive enough to cross the line into outrageous and therefore good. It's just ugly. Looking forward to the '94 and '95 masterpieces though!

[the 12 th man]

Bazunu's jersey's class

[jbyrne]

bazunu again v bonners

[SkStu]

Peyton for the first, it looks warmer regardless of nips.
Bazunu for the 2nd, bonners is like a big bag

Agree with this.

[elatedscum]

Bazunu again.

[pineapple stu]

Great battle in the first match, as Peyton's orange comes from 3-0 down to triumph 6-5.

It's a whitewash in the second tie though, with Bazunu 8-0 on Bonner. Votes taken till this evening on that one.

Next up though, Alan Kelly sports another slightly wacky 90s offering (but we're not gone full LSD trip yet), and he's up against Shay Given giving out about something.

https://i.pinimg.com/474x/ce/59/8f/ce598f6e638a69c7091bf296d2acdcad.jpg

http://cache.boston.com/bonzai-fba/Globe_Photo/2009/11/19/soccer539__1258649232_1854.jpg

[Kingdom]

So Bazunu v Peyton is still open for votes until the morning, but in the meantime, here's the second match. It's Bazunu again, and this time up against the 1994 World Cup qualifying kit.

https://i2-prod.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/article21489060.ece/ALTERNATES/s615/0_GettyImages-1337844298.jpg

https://i.pinimg.com/474x/d9/c0/b9/d9c0b9befc0d005b7305292bfc51e087.jpg

Cant see Bonner's but assume it is the yellow with black shoulders and green adidas stripes coming diagonally from the hips to the solar plexus as good ol JR might say?
If so, throw them both out, and keep Bazunu from match1.

Rd 3 - Given that I can't see Kells jersey, I'll go with Shay. Very reminiscint of the third kit vs Wales that I want to be adored.

[pineapple stu]

That's the one. I think it's a Pinterest link - there's been problems with Twitter images before, so maybe Pinterest is the same? No idea why that'd be the case though

[jbyrne]

given thanks.
the kelly one looks like it has a winking face on it

[Eminence Grise]

It does, doesn't it? Give a child nightmares this time of year, that would.

Shay for me in this round. The unremarkable triumphing over the hideous.

[passinginterest]

Bazunu and Given. I'm having the same issue with some images not showing on the PC. Can see them fine on the phone. Presume pinterest or whatever is blocked for me.

[pineapple stu]

I'm going to have to cast my half vote for Kelly here. That Given one is boring, and the red border on the Kelly top is lovely. Yeah, it looks like a face, but that's going to distract the forward more than an all-black effort.

Kelly for me. Can't have the 90s gems going out too early! (Wait till ye see what's up in the evening match too. And no, it's not that one)

I'll vote for Bonner by default in the other one because I really don't like how bland and generic modern keeper's tops are. It's all the exact same design (ie none) done in a different colour.

[sadloserkid]

I'll go Kelly over Given too. They're both lousy but Given's is offensively dull for me, a glorified training kit.

[John83]

Peyton for the first, it looks warmer regardless of nips.
Bazunu for the 2nd, bonners is like a big bag
Seconded on both counts. EDIT: Seems I'm too late on the first kit.

Given in the 3rd round.

[Fixer82]

Match 2: Bazunu
Match 3: Given

[SkStu]

Given

[the 12 th man]

Given for me,Kelly's is like a type of Hi-Vis jacket.. ;)

[EAFC_rdfl]

match 3, Kelly's cause it made me laugh! The absolute state of it.

[elatedscum]

i'll give it to Kelly. Still think the first two kits in the first round were the two best so far... an opening round final perhaps

[pineapple stu]

I think I can blow up match 2 slightly early - 10 for Bazunu versus my solitary half. Cue the "You wouldn't have voted that way if it was Kelleher" comments! :p

Round 4 sees the 90s get even 90s-er, as Alan Kelly wears...I'm not sure what, and he does so against Paddy Kenny in another generic dark top thingy.

https://www.sportsfile.com/winshare/w540/Library/SF24/024139.jpg

https://img2.thejournal.ie/inline/676211/original/?height=528

[EAFC_rdfl]

Kelly again. The white looks well.
He has the same shorts as in game 3, so maybe the one in game 4 is the away version

[SkStu]

Kelly in this round.

[John83]

Kelly again. The white looks well.
He has the same shorts as in game 3, so maybe the one in game 4 is the away version
Could be; looks to have the same pattern in different colours. It's much less of an eyesore than the game 3 one, if so. I'll go Kelly on this one too.