Coventry 1978. Arsenal 1991. Hull city 1993. These words are enough to strike fear across the football shirt world.
These are not notorious firms of hooligans, nor even the scenes of particularly calamitous defeats. No, they are examples of that most dreadful football kit design disasters who earned their place in football’s Hall of Shame.
Every now and then, some wild-eyed idiot in a club's marketing department gets together with a cack-handed graphic design student to create something awful.
Maire Ofeire, who has a lot of interest in football kit design, will make a random Top 10 Hall of Shame followed by a random Hall of Fame Top 10 on FSC every week.
Enjoy part 1..
10. Ajax 1989-1990
A design that appears to be typical of the time. Unfortunately it is not very nice.
9. Kaiserslautern home 1990-1991
Sometimes zigzag works, sometimes it won’t. Sadly for Kaiserslautern, this didn’t.
8. Arsenal away 1990-1991
The infamous ‘bruised banana’ kit sported by Arsenal in the early 1990s.
7. Huddersfield Town GK 1993-1994
I think you could say the Huddersfield Town’s Goalkeeping Kit of the 1993-1994 season is a cacophony of colour.
6. Tiburones Rojos de Vercruz 2000-2001 away shirt
The Mexican club seem to have hired a rugby designer to create their 2000-01 home shirt.
5. Melbourne Victory (2007-2008)
Another club who seem to have hired a rugby shirt designer.
4. Scotland 1986 Umbro
Scotland may have exited the Mexican World Cup at the group stages but they certainly left a lasting impression with this combination.
3. Hull 1993-1994 Matchwinner
Known as the ‘Tigers’, Hull took their nickname to the extreme during the early 90s.
2. York City 2002-2003
One can be forgiven for thinking that this is more suitable to Ascot than Bootham Crescent.
1. Caribous of Colorado 1978
This fetching shirt, complete with fringing, was sported by NASL side Caribous of Colorado in 1978. The Denver based team lasted a mere season and counted NFL place kicker Matt Bahr amongst their ranks.
The newly formed side of ’78 complied the worst record in the league, winning 8 and losing 22. Fortunately for the players, the team folded and moved to Atlanta the next year, leaving this jersey to top many ‘Hall’s of Shame’.
