Following on from last week’s article which drummed up a lot of debate (people clearly feel attached to their jerseys) we decided to turn our attention to the top 5 jerseys in BUAFL at the moment.
Once again this is just for fun and we are not fashion experts! If we missed your team of the list we do apologise and feel free to send us your respective team’s photographer’s details so we don’t miss you out in the future.
Note: Teams who use kits from American Universities are automatically ineligible from the list. Support your local kit maker’s people! First off, honourable mentions:
Greenwich Mariners – I’ll admit I had no idea that Greenwich had new kits and wouldn’t have give them a mention this week, but after being told by two members of our team to include them I did! I had to see picture evidence first though.
Compared to their old jersey (all navy with white and orange stripes on the sleeves) the new jerseys actually look quite smart. Once again an all navy jersey, but now with gold and white stripes down the side of the jersey and over the top of the arm just above the sleeve numbers. Even the gold and white numbers looks impressive on the dark backdrop.
Portsmouth Destroyers – Clearly Portsmouth followed the example of look good, feel good and play good as they won the National Championship. One of our writers pointed out “It’s funny how the top teams look the best”.
With their main colour as black the Destroyers also added purple stripes and trim to their jerseys and bottoms. White numbers with purple borders (they love their purple as it’s featured on the away kit as well), without doubt though the most impressive thing about the Pompy jerseys and I didn’t realise this until I looked closely at the pictures is the U logo at the bottom of the collar! Top marks for the man who came up with that idea.
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| Photo courtesy of Gary Neesam. |
5. Hertfordshire Hurricanes
Is it just me or do the Canes seem to have had this kit for a long long time? Despite not changing their jerseys for a while Hertfordshire still earn a spot in our rankings due to a number of votes from our writing staff. Rumour is that due to their AU we could soon see the Herts wearing a dashing purple number… great…
With forest green as their main colour the Herts jersey also features a white stripe down both sides of the jersey as well as a white stripe above the university name. White numbers with a black border makes the numbers stand out on these jerseys, giving them a much cleaner feel. Unlike some of the other teams on this list the Canes jersey don’t feature sleeves numbers or the kit makers’ advertisement, which isn’t a bad thing. As they continue to look good despite never being changed, Herts steal the last spot in our weekly top 5.
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| Photo Courtesy of Mike Hinton |
4. Birmingham Lions
Since when have the Dillon Panthers played in Birmingham? Just kidding but the new Lions kit is clearly a copycat of the Friday Night Lights jerseys (FNL the series, not the film). We’re not saying that’s a bad thing, in fact we are saying quite the opposite and praising Birmingham for the new jerseys.
Sticking with their usual blue the Lions have gone with white sleeves down the side of the jersey and white numbers with gold borders. Unlike the Dillon Panthers, Birmingham has a small University of Birmingham logo on the jersey. Kukri make an appearance (even though the kit maker was Touchdown teamwear), as well as a KMPG advertisement where names would normally feature.
Hopefully the Lions #33 lives up to the reputation of the #33 from Friday Night Lights (Ed: and one of this writers idols...)...Tim Riggins
3. Worcester Royals
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| photo courtesy of Paul@photographers-united.com |
3. Worcester Royals
I was told the reasoning for the sweet Worcester jerseys was because (Ed: as well as having an amazing designer..) “if we look smart as a team then we will play better as a team and win” This person was way off the ball, but hey at least the team got good jerseys.
With the main colour being royal blue, the kit designer added white stripes over the sleeves. The Royals also include both of their logos on each shoulder as well as sleeve numbers. The universities name features on the front as well as the teams sponsor (Tentec) and kit supplier (Scimitar) on the back. The lack of stitched numbers stopped Worcester from being ranked higher.
2. Leeds Celtics
Photo courtesy of gallowayphotography.co.uk
It seems whoever was in charge of getting a kit design for the Celtics just copied the Cambridge Cats and changed the main colour from red to a mintish green. Either way it seems to work well for Leeds.
Normally we’d criticise the font used for the Celtics numbers, but somehow they seem to suit this jersey. Also the white numbers with a black border work well instead of copying what other teams try to do and use black numbers with a white border.
With just the team name, kukri logo and numbers on the front, back and sleeves the Celtics earn the number 2 spot with a jersey that shouldn’t be liked (colours wise) but somehow is. Well done Leeds.
1. UWE Bullets
Picture pending permission
It took me quite a while to decide the final order for these rankings and in the end I had to go with UWE as the best jersey in BUAFL this moment.
The UWE jersey is like the other jerseys on the list with a stripe down the side of the jersey (black jersey with a red stripe) players numbers on the front, back and sleeve, a Kukri logo (once again), but unlike all of the other teams on the list the UWE team all have names on their jerseys, which gives themthe crown this week.
Now I’ve heard that names is a bad idea in case someone has to borrow another person’s jersey, but if you have enough players (and money) to not need jersey swaps then go ahead and put names on the jerseys. The fact the stripes on the jersey and bottoms also make this kit design look smart.
