This is being posted as a college assignment.
It’s 10 o clock on a Saturday morning. Over the noise of me slurping tea and munching on toast I hear some enthralling dance beat. I finish my breakfast in time to shout out Golazo. A man shouts that as the intro ends and one of the best TV shows ever made about sport begins. Football Italia was channel 4’s programme showcasing Serie A in the 90s to the mid-2000s. James Richardson would report from beautiful piazzas in Italian cities, sipping on coffee and tucking away at pastries and gelato. On the Saturday show, we’d see highlights of the last week’s action and Richardson would report on transfer news or injuries or managerial sackings. The Sunday edition would feature a full length match live.
Serie A in the 90s to the mid-2000s was the best football league in the world. It was littered with superstars. The original Ronaldo played for Inter Milan, Zinedine Zidane pulled the strings at Juventus and Francesco Totti was on his way to cementing his position as the King of Rome. I’m a relatively young modern man when it comes to most things, but when it comes to football, I transform into a gammon. Football was better in the 90s and in the 2000s for many reasons, but one of the main reasons were the jerseys.
Over the past few years, football jerseys have made a comeback as a fixture of people’s wardrobes. More and more people are wearing them not just at 5 a side or training or in the gym. They’re becoming fashionable due to their colours and fit. However, it’s retro jerseys that are becoming in vogue. Along with the players and teams, Serie A jerseys of yesteryear were the best.
Football jerseys and vintage sports ware has been on the rise in the past four years. So much so, that is a regular vintage sports and street wear that takes place in the Back Page Pub in Phibsboro that is organised by three collectors Graham Keogh, Barrie McCormack and Barry Rojack.
Photo credit: Paul Cooney
The fair consist of stalls filled to the brim with jerseys and tracksuits tops. It’s not only football jerseys they sell; there were Rugby and GAA jerseys on offer too. All three sellers have had a long relationship with collecting football jerseys. Graham started “20 years ago when eBay came around and fuelled his passion.” This eventually led to Graham collecting play worn league of Ireland of jerseys.
Barry Rojack has collected them “since I was a kid, I collected everything, programs, shirts, everything. For Barrie McCormack, it started with his first jersey he got for his 12th birthday. It was the Ireland 1998 jersey. He went to Arnotts and panicked and got Townsend (Andy Townsend, former Irish captain) on the back, which cost his mum a “fortune, as you had to pay by the letter.”
Whilst talking about jerseys to me, Graham Keogh mentioned Lazio to me as one of the popular kits people desire. It surprised me as some Lazio jerseys have fascist symbols represented on their jersey as seen below.
Lazio European jersey 2015/2016
Photo credit: irishmirror.ie
Lazio’s third kit, only to be worn in Europe in the 2015 season, was all black with the eagle on the front. Le Monde led an article on their website with the headline 'Lazio will play in blackshirts', a reference to the paramilitary wing of the National Fascist Party in Italy during the 1920s and 1930s, who wore black uniforms. “Lazio have a particularly bad reputation due to the neo-fascist supporters of the Curva Nord. We must say that in Italy, this kit has very clear historical resonance.”
Not all Italian jerseys are controversial. Fiorentina’s 1998 jersey is one of the most popular retro jerseys. Portuguese playmaker Rui Costa and Argentine goal machine Gabriel Batistuta were the most famous players to have worn the iconic kit that can be seen below.
Photo credit: globalfootballshirts.com
The vintage sports and street ware fair in Phibsboro had retro Italian jerseys too. All three sellers were all in agreement whenever I mentioned Italian jerseys after the interview, a nod of the head and “yeah” was the common consensus.
Napoli home jersey 1992/1993 - €100
Photo credit: Paul Cooney
Sampdoria away jersey 1994/1995 - €200
Photo credit: Paul Cooney
These jerseys and more represent a beautiful time for football. The coverage wasn’t over saturated like today, the fees and wages weren’t astronomical. Countries didn’t fund football clubs (Qatar and Paris Saint Germain and Abu Dhabi and Manchester City). These jerseys were a sign of simpler times.
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