50/50 Shirts

[ExiledAjax]

This article is ostensibly a piece on half-and-half shirts (I had no idea these aberrations existed) but it grows into a discussion of how and why football clubs are becoming more commercial, more disconnected, and more global.  Given it's publication it is reasonably long, punctuated by the odd typo, and has a sarcastic tone.  However, it raises some interesting points that I suspect many BCFC fans will identify with.

One highlight that summarises it nicely:

"...what exactly is a football club when it's cutting ties with its local area, trying to attract a more affluent fanbase than its traditional working class one and generally more interested in running itself like a business above all else? Well, it's just a brand. A brand that plays football. Standard Chartered with a stadium. And that's where it gets a little bit worrying."

I would say that I am not personally against Bristol Sport or Lansdown's multi-sport model.  I think that in the long term it will benefit the club and the city, and I trust SL not to cock it all up. However, I know that some fans don't share this view.  This is just a pretty well thought out article from a source that provides a fresh view on the subject.

['Orns]

That looks like a grown man in that pic

A young child I could (maybe) understand, but how someone older than 13 can claim to support two teams is beyond me. And it looks ******* awful

Maybe in the future we'll see Bristolians who support R*vers as their 'little' team and City as their 'big' team?

[Chivs]

I'm all for this.  We should take Rovers white shorts and our red shirts and combine them for the "United in the Bristol City" team.  

(I'd lose the first 3 words in the new team name for the sake of brevity)

[phantom]

I have seen a half England half City shirt was pushing the boundaries - can't see any other reason why it would be done

[bartolona]

Half home and half away shirt ? Seen a few of these about, not seen a City one though.

[Slacker]

Just for a bit of fun can anyone mock up a City/Bristol Rugby one?

[Roe]

I think if you're worried about football becoming too commercialised, you're far too late. It's already gone and have been for a long time. If you want that local club feel again you'll have to start following a non-league/amateur club.

Personally I think given the way football is at the moment, I'm very happy that our backers are to be Bristol Sport and seem to be very much about promoting and improving professional sport in my city. I'd much rather that than have Malaysia plastered over whatever coloured shirts happen to suit a few people thousands of miles away. Cardiff is just one example but I'd wager that the majority of the 92 pro clubs in England aren't sponsored, backed or owned by local people or companies any more.

[1960maaan]

That is the Fugliest thing I've seen in a long time, and just wrong.  I remember when I was (a lot) younger I saw club/England shirt and thought City/England might be good. As the last time I wore a City shirt to a game was the Freight Rover final Vs Mansfield , it's a no from me !

I don't get why you would want to wear an opponents shirt ?

[ExiledAjax]

That is the Fugliest thing I've seen in a long time, and just wrong.  I remember when I was (a lot) younger I saw club/England shirt and thought City/England might be good. As the last time I wore a City shirt to a game was the Freight Rover final Vs Mansfield , it's a no from me !

I don't get why you would want to wear an opponents shirt ?

I think the ugliest thing about is how they've moved the Brighton badge over to the middle just so its on there.

[Marina's Rolls Royce]

I don't get why you would want to wear an opponents shirt ?

Because since Ellis saw us play he can't get over it.

[BS30 Reds]

That is just wrong on so many levels, that and half and half scarved fans shouldnt be allowed in the ground

[WhistleHappy]

I think the ugliest thing about is how they've moved the Brighton badge over to the middle just so its on there.

...reckon they should be made with two fronts and no backs, that way the dipsticks who wear 'em can turn them around at halftime like the teams and support the other side.

...perfect doncha think?

[A Horse With No Name]

I reckon if you put your mind to it you could come up with some weird or even naughty sponsors names this way. This one says  ly srates . Anyone like to have a go?

[Pezo]

...reckon they should be made with two fronts and no backs, that way the dipsticks who wear 'em can turn them around at halftime like the teams and support the other side.

...perfect doncha think?

I would question anyone's love for their football team that may buy these. Its the sort of person that would turn up "wanting both teams to win because in the end football would be the winner" and saying things like "I support football"

nice supporters really are a plague making football embarrassingly sterile.

I cant see a scenario where this could/should/would be acceptable.

[Chivs]

I would question anyone's love for their football team that may buy these. Its the sort of person that would turn up "wanting both teams to win because in the end football would be the winner" and saying things like "I support football"

nice supporters really are a plague making football embarrassingly sterile.

I cant see a scenario where this could/should/would be acceptable.

I've never been called a plague and sterile in the same sentence before. 

[WhistleHappy]

I would question anyone's love for their football team that may buy these. Its the sort of person that would turn up "wanting both teams to win because in the end football would be the winner" and saying things like "I support football"

nice supporters really are a plague making football embarrassingly sterile.

I cant see a scenario where this could/should/would be acceptable.

....caters nicely for fickle glory hunters who always want to be on the winning side... Swap shirt around according to who's in the lead at any given moment ...everyone's a winner!

Guess those sort of non commital indecisive 'fans' could achieve similar by wearing a standard vintage Italian shirt from the early 1940's - and still end up losing! (Oops controversial.. no offence  ) 

[redfred]

Unless it's just the way the picture was taken, it looks more like a 65/35 shirt to me?

[YorkshireSection]

Half home and half away shirt ? Seen a few of these about, not seen a City one though.

it'd look like someone who got his head kicked in after a night on jagermeister. 

Its a no from me.

[And Its Smith]

A majority of football fans are a plague apparently.  Without them there would be no football.  What a plague.

[Olé]

This is a symptom of a wider problem, which manifests itself when someone asks you who your football club is, you tell them, and they reply "Okay, but who's your Premiership team?". WTF. I hear this all the time. In London especially. I don't understand why you're required to have a Premiership Team and why people who have never seen football through anything more than a pub TV or their armchair, have the cheek to ask people questions like that. But it's so endemic I've occasionally found myself going "Well Arsenal play some decent st..." before recoiling in horror at what is coming out of my mouth and correcting it to "No they're all a bunch of **nts."

The thing is, as surprising as I find it, there are plenty of proper City fans who WOULD have an answer to that question. There are plenty of City fans with Spurs as their second team, and plenty with Liverpool and Everton. 80's kids. It wasn't long ago that Spurs scores would register an audible cheer at Ashton Gate during half time. I'm not sure what drives someone to feel an allegiance to two different clubs in the same country, in the same pyramid, in the same competitions. Maybe it's just my OCD. 

Oh, and the half and half shirts look like sh*t too.

[ExiledAjax]

This is a symptom of a wider problem, which manifests itself when someone asks you who your football club is, you tell them, and they reply "Okay, but who's your Premiership team?". WTF. I hear this all the time. In London especially. I don't understand why you're required to have a Premiership Team and why people who have never seen football through anything more than a pub TV or their armchair, have the cheek to ask people questions like that. But it's so endemic I've occasionally found myself going "Well Arsenal play some decent st..." before recoiling in horror at what is coming out of my mouth and correcting it to "No they're all a bunch of **nts."

The thing is, as surprising as I find it, there are plenty of proper City fans who WOULD have an answer to that question. There are plenty of City fans with Spurs as their second team, and plenty with Liverpool and Everton. 80's kids. It wasn't long ago that Spurs scores would register an audible cheer at Ashton Gate during half time. I'm not sure what drives someone to feel an allegiance to two different clubs in the same country, in the same pyramid, in the same competitions. Maybe it's just my OCD. 

Oh, and the half and half shirts look like sh*t too.

My personal experience - as a kid I grew up in Bristol and then Somerset.  My dad doesn't really like football* and didn't bring me up to follow any team at all.  As a result I, as a kid in the 90's, was a follower of Man Utd.  This was basically because at school we all did Panini football sticker albums, they were Premier League teams only and so you had to follow a Premier League team.  I followed Man U because at that time they were winning everything, the class of '92 were gods amongst men, and my cousin liked them as well.  What can I say? I was an impressionable 7/8 year old who's dad didn't give a hoot for football.  As a result my first memory of football is Man U losing to Everton in the '95 cup final.

As I grew older I realised the absurdity of supporting a team from a city I'd never even visited and that I had absolutely no connection to.  Therefore, at about age 15, I decided I'd start following Bristol City (obviously I never even considered Rovers).  We lived in Hotwells when we were in Bristol and in fact could hear Ashton Gate on matchdays if the wind was blowing in the correct direction.  Anyway, long story short I am now a clear cut City fan. 

I guess the point is that while I hate to admit it I still have a soft spot for Man U.  This is a soft spot rooted in the misery of a 7 year old watching Dave Watson lift the FA Cup in 1995 (don't worry, Mum got me a copy of 442 magazine to cheer me up).   Since then I've also worked in Manchester for 6 months and lived about a mile from Old Trafford, I even still have my old Man U towel!  But I'd never buy a 50/50 shirt and wouldn't say that they're my 'Premier League team'.  As I say, it's a soft spot, nothing more.

Well writing that was cathartic.

PS. I must say that being in London I'm yet to experience the "Okay, but who's your Premiership team?" question.  I've actually found quite a range of teams supported.  For example, in my office of about 50 we have Pompey, Brentford, QPR, Fulham, Barnet, Southend, Bristol City (me), Middlesbrough, then two mates of mine support Wolves...we do also have a few foolish Arsenal fans, but at least they're both from North London.

*Although in recent seasons I've been taking him to at least one game at Ashton Gate (normally the Boxing Day fixture if BCFC are at home that day) and he's actually quite enjoyed it - even the 1-1 draw with Oldham in Nov '13.