With the return of Super League upon us, to coincide with the imminent increase of pie sales and the M62’s carbon footprint we have decided to have a butchers at Wigan Warriors’ effort for 2014.
The team affectionately known as ‘The Cherry & Whites’ have had some questionable shirts over recent years and this seasons efforts could well go a long way to explaining why Sam Tomkins decided to leave the idyllic banks of the River Douglas for that absolute hellhole known as New Zealand… ahem…
Manufactured by the ever reliable ISC the first thing (well the only thing actually) that strikes you about this garb is the hideous diagonal striped pattern which has replaced the traditional hoops. It’s reminiscent of the shittest tie your Geography teacher could have unearthed in his annual trip to Matalan, or perhaps one of those dreadful bedlinen sets that all mothers bought for their witheringly ungrateful sons from the Littlewoods catalogue in about 1987 – either way, it’s a mess.
Thankfully, the main Houses For Homes sponsor brings some welcome relief from the diagonal gash (er we mean slash, actually… do we?), which dominates the front. We have to admit the back of the shirt is far better, as ISC have opted for a very simplistic white with red sides and actually looks rather nice if not ironically a little like a St Helens shirt!
With a home kit quite so risible, surely the designers at ISC would want to keep things pretty simple and lovely for the away to appease the rampant traditionalists, right? Er, well… not quite…
In essence this little number is a far superior shirt from the home jersey but that was never going to be difficult…Common sense has prevailed and it is at least adorned with horizontal stripes – what a novel idea! – and is much less vom-inducing as a result.
Having said that, all is not rosy in this particular part of Lancashire. While we have to admit we are fans of the ‘slimming’ black panels on the side and the stylish aforementioned white stripes adorning the front and back of the shirt, the main beef we have with this garment is the colour. Purple? Honestly?
We understand the necessity for an outlandish away shirt (and Wigan have had a few) but it has to be said purple is a gamble.After all, traditionally, the only people who can pull purple off are goths, wizards and Prince, and we’re not sure The Artist is a Wigan fan, to be honest.
We accept that on the field, with the man mountains squeezing themselves into a skin-tight player’s-issue jersey like so much rubgy sausage, the shirt will probably look pretty cool, especially when combined with the compulsory full-sleeve tattoo. However we’re not so convinced that, even with the help of slimming side-panels, it’ll look quite so fetching on a XXXL fan with a Boddington’s in his hand on a wet and windy Friday night…
SHIT/GOOD RATING: SHIT
Danny Speed
Rugby Shirt Watch 