Gareth Davies tells us everything about the new Umbro AFCB's kits

With the new season here, the Cherries will be resplendent for the 2017-18 campaign in three brand new playing strips. In an exclusive piece for Cherry Chimes, the club’s very own kit expert Gareth Davies gives us his thoughts on Umbro’s first endeavours.

JD Sports’ association with AFC Bournemouth has been something that has always divided opinion. A second-rate kit supplier to some, purveyors of pure brilliance to others. Whichever tendency your opinion lent towards, they are, after nine seasons, no longer in charge of the Dean Court kit cupboard.

It’s hard to believe that the first JD deal was struck by the much-maligned Sport 6 group way back in 2008. Whilst Baker, Savi and co were in charge, Bournemouth once again lurched from one crisis to another, although two positive things they did do, ironically almost by accident, was dispense with the hapless Jimmy Quinn and replace him with Eddie Howe and also get JD on board.

The events of New Years Eve 2008 have of course been well documented throughout our recent rise, but how the kit deal came to fruition is a little bit more of a mystery, but to my best knowledge, Sport 6 had actually agreed a deal in principal with Spanish supplier Joma, but due to financial uncertainties, they pulled out at the eleventh hour. I actually saw CAD drawings of what Joma designed for us and both kits were very acceptable, but it wasn’t to be and we chose JD instead – or rather they were the only option available.

Our first set of kits, due to the incredibly short timescales involved, were the same as JD produced for Luton Town, just with an altered colour scheme. They were nothing earth-shattering, but smart and functional all the same. In total, JD produced 24 different sets of playing attire for Bournemouth over nine years.

Sub-branded as Carbrini (twice), Fila and then simply as JD for the last two seasons, they blessed with some of Bournemouth’s best ever kits and very few failures either. From an aesthetic point of view JD were, at times, virtually flawless, but it was perhaps in other area’s where they were a real let down.

Supply issues were a constant cause for discontent, whilst some supporters also claimed quality of products was a problem too, although I never agreed with that particular notion. It was obvious then, with the club now becoming an established force in the Premier League, that when JD’s contract ran out in June that they wouldn’t be coming back.

Attentions turned to who would replace them and I know from speaking with the club that this process began way back in the Summer of 2016. They explored various options, but finally settled on a five-year deal with Umbro. If I’m being totally honest they weren’t my first choice as I would have edged towards Under Armour or New Balance, but nevertheless, Umbro are a very sound choice indeed and its reassuring to see a long-term deal in place as well.

  

Official AFCB Bournemouth photo: Umbro sand sculpture unveiling.

The partnership was announced with the unveiling of a giant sand sculpture which was novel and innovative, clearly demonstrating what a forward-thinking club we have become regarding major announcements with the subsequent player unveilings of Defoe and Ake further adding substance to that particular statement.

The biggest plus point to agreeing a deal with someone like Umbro is that now supporters really feel the club are in partnership with a proper kit supplier, opposed to a high street sports chain that made kits almost as a side-line. Umbro quite rightly used the ‘Choice of Champions’ tag line for many years after supplying England’s 1966 World Cup winning team and since that halcyon day for English football, almost all the top clubs in World football have been resplendent in kits carrying the iconic diamonds at some point.

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Sadly, Umbro were the victim of a disastrous deal which saw the brand sold to Nike in 2008 and just four years later, Nike announced that they wanted to concentrate on other areas of their operation so all Umbro clubs and National Associations were transferred to Nike and the future for the Cheshire based company was uncertain.

With clubs such as Manchester City and the English National side now being forced to wear Nike’s dreadful generic templates, Umbro were thankfully rescued by the Iconix Group and by 2014, were back supplying Premier League clubs again in the shape of Everton. West Ham followed suit a year later and with Bournemouth their latest acquisition, Umbro start 2017-18 in partnership with three PL clubs. Not quite at the levels they enjoyed 25 years ago when over half of the PL’s inaugural members were supplied by Umbro, but refreshing to see the brand making real progress forward again.

In an industry dominated by templates and a peculiar clamour for clubs to be supplied by either Nike, Puma or Adidas, the Umbro deal with Bournemouth is both reassuring and refreshing, but have they lived up to their hype?

Their first home kit production is blissfully simple, which is entirely what I and many others expected from Umbro. Some have said that the design doesn’t differ enough from 2016-17, but scratch the surface and there are obvious changes. Whilst I loved last year’s collar and buttons, we have now gone back to a rounded neck which is becoming the norm within the industry now as retro seems to be creeping out of kit design a little, although Umbro don’t appear to be using the mandate that the majority are following.

Official AFCB photo. The new Umbro home kit.

Whilst JD threw the kitchen sink at their branding, Umbro are far more restrained and the discreet diamonds on both sleeves make a refreshing change from those superfluous ‘iconic JD roundels’ - another reminder that kit intricacies from days gone by are still considered an important part of a kits make-up by Umbro.

The actual design is just so traditionally Bournemouth, and whilst I do agree that it’s similar to last years, without being overly radical, updating such a unique arrangement like red and black stripes year-on-year is a very tough ask. Discreet alterations rather than anything too far-fetched is the best policy and that is something I am certain Umbro will adopt for their next four home shirts and beyond, although I wouldn’t be averse to at least one very left field design either.

The only downside perhaps is the sponsors branding looking a little overbearing and fussy, although it does fit well with the design so I’m not unduly worried about that and it seems, although there has been no official confirmation from the club, that we won’t have a sleeve sponsor this season either. The PL have of course finally allowed a secondary sponsor on all playing kits, but haven’t enforced the rule of a solid back panel for all striped kits as was erroneously reported by some twelve months ago.

The away ensemble has somewhat surprisingly split opinion as for me this is a real masterpiece and nestles itself nicely within the very best change strips Bournemouth have ever worn [Ed-Cherry Chimes loves it!]. The blue shade used is fresh and possibly lighter than those showcased by Bourne Red in 2003 and Scoreline in the late 80’s. The contrast of using a darker blue as a secondary hue makes for a winning combination also.

Dickie Dowestt rendered in the same colours as the kit has proved to be a controversial choice to some, but I like the uniformity that this brings to a kit. It is an alternate combination after all, so I have no problem whatsoever with something a little different. A red and black crest would look odd in amongst the colours used, although we did use a traditional crest on last year’s away shirt.

One facet to this shirt that makes it an unmistakably Umbro production is the sublimated pattern printed into the main body. Despite mentioning that retro is seemingly on the wane in football fashion, Umbro have used it and to good effect within this particular offering. I haven’t actually seen the shirt in the flesh yet, but the pattern looks similar to that used within many early’90s Umbro kits and it appears to use parts of our crest also. For those who think the home shirt is a little bit plain and boring, well here is something a little more creative.

Given Umbro’s almost safety-first mantra when designing a kit nowadays, I hadn’t held out an awful lot of hope for something utterly bonkers for the third kit. If I had my way, it should be compulsory for all kit suppliers to rip up the rule book with third kits, no boundaries, the crazier the better.  

There was of course the usual Bournemouth clamour for green and black stripes, but I never have been and never will be a fan of this combination. Also, I don’t consider one diving header- albeit a very good diving header – as enough justification to use this design again. We did resurrect it in the late ‘90s, but the players and then manager Mel Machin hated it so much that part way through its second season of use, it was unceremoniously ditched for all white.

White was never going to be on the agenda this time round either as it’s a well-known fact that our manager isn’t a fan of white kits. He must be endeared by the use of day-glow yellow though as for the second year running, this retina scorching shade is contained within our third kit palette.

Albeit a little toned down compared to last years questionable ‘Ghost Green’ effort, I am still not a huge fan of any colours like this being used in a football kit. One positive is that the kit is predominately black though and the bright colour is merely a sidekick this time round. I won’t admit to being a huge fan, but then it’s not unacceptable either although it does have a training shirt look rather than an actual playing jersey.

Overall though Umbro have left off where JD did in the respect that they have produced bespoke and widely accepted playing apparel for AFC Bournemouth. Whilst unfair to judge success on just one season too, from the launch, to reveals, on sale dates and availability, Umbro seem to be delivering and long may the improvement off the field keep apace with on-field accomplishments at Dean Court too.

Gareth is the author of ‘Shirt Tales’ which is returning to the match programme this season after he wrote the ’30 Years On’ feature last season. You can follow Gareth on Twitter: @garphied

Thanks to Gareth for sharing his great knowledge on not just Umbro but all the historic details of AFCB kits and the previous labels they have used.