The Blizzard Magazine T shirts and review

For this post I have picked out some nice merchandise from the recently launched football magazine, The Blizzard.


I have been reading issue one of the Blizzard since the weekend on my laptop on a PDF and on my phone via the Kindle app and I have really enjoyed it.


The highlights for me in issue one are David Winner talking with Dennis Bergkamp about his greatest goals and how the non-flying Dutchman saw the pitch during a game.  This article is absolutely fantastic in dissecting Bergkamp's goals for Arsenal and Holland.  Rather than stripping these goals of their mystique the article reinforces the beauty of football, from the vision to try a particular pass or the skill in stopping the football dead while in mid-air.

Another great piece in Issue One is David Farrar's article on Denmark's 1992 European Championship story.  I loved that this piece looked at how the Danish players felt for their Yugoslavia counterparts, something that is often overlooked in the fairytale story of the Denmark triumph in 1992.  Farrar does a nice job in giving a more nuanced and interesting image of the Danish squad in 1992 rather than the usual 'coming off the beach to win' image.

So, plenty of good reading material and a nifty range in Blizzard T shirts.  The above t shirt design looks very smart and I love the mascot of the magazine.

And any t shirt that features the phrases 'zonal defence' and 'man-to-man marking' never be a bad thing!

Many thanks to the folks over at the Blizzard for permission to use the images of the t shirts.

Sports items under the hammer this weekend! - Community - Ballymoney Moyle Times

Sports items under the hammer this weekend! - Community - Ballymoney Moyle Times

The next stage for sponsorship?

In the week that Manchester United announced a sponsorship deal for their training kit is it just a matter of time before football clubs start selling naming rights to their loos?


Naming Rights Sink to a New Level - Prospecting - The Chronicle of Philanthropy- Connecting the nonprofit world with news, jobs, and ideas

Glentoran Football Club - 2011-12 kits launched this Sunday

Glentoran Football Club - 2011-12 kits launched this Sunday

Villarreal CF Home Shirt 2010-2011

For my debut La Liga (and Puma) shirt on the blog and the home shirt for Villarreal, AKA El Submarino Amarillo or The Yellow Submarine.

Bright yellow kits might not be to every one's taste but I must say I am a big fan of the distinctive Villarreal kit.

And below is a great goal scored for Villarreal by Cani.

Robbie Savage shirt challenge

Nike logo 40 year anniversary | Logo Design Love

Nike logo 40 year anniversary | Logo Design Love

Inventor Colm McMullan promises football app revolution

BBC News - Inventor Colm McMullan promises football app revolution

The upside of Jürgen Klinsmann's retro numbers game - When Saturday Comes

When Saturday Comes - The Half Decent Football Magazine - The upside of Jürgen Klinsmann's retro numbers game

Argentina Home Shirt 2011-12

Like a few other posts in the blog, this one takes me back to the first World Cup I remember watching: Italia '90.  In fact, this post takes me back to the very first World Cup match I remember watching and my relationship with Argentina.



I can remember the shock of Cameroon beating the reigning champions in the first match of Italia '90.  I was excited to see the underdog prevail in this match but my overriding memory of coverage of Argentina at this time was constant references to the infamous 'Hand of God' goal in 1986.  


I don't know if this is the same for other people my age but I think this always made me think of Argentina in a negative light despite players like Maradona, Canniggia and Ariel Ortega.

So it is not much of a surprise that it has take me a few years to get my first Argentina shirt.  I absolutely love the iconic light blue and white stripes.  This Adidas shirt does the simple things well and the gold trim just below the colour is a nice, simple touch.  Recent shirts like this season's AC Milan and Barcelona have gone for very thin stripes but for me I prefer these wider stripes.

And with beautiful flowing football like this great goal at the 2006 World Cup how could you not appreciate the beauty of Argentinian football?

ADIDAS 2012 OLYMPIC FOOTBALL NAMED... THE ALBERT

ADIDAS 2012 OLYMPIC FOOTBALL NAMED... THE ALBERT

Midnight Street Soccer Kicks off again in Castlereagh! | communityni.org

Midnight Street Soccer Kicks off again in Castlereagh! | communityni.org

Wellington Phoenix shirts to cost fans more | Stuff.co.nz

Wellington Phoenix shirts to cost fans more | Stuff.co.nz

Bafana Bafana Afcon jersey to be unveiled soon - Times LIVE

Bafana Bafana Afcon jersey to be unveiled soon - Times LIVE

Blackburn Rovers announce shirt sponsorship deal with Prince's Trust charity (From Blackburn Citizen)

Blackburn Rovers announce shirt sponsorship deal with Prince's Trust charity (From Blackburn Citizen)

ARP : Umbro.com

With all the cool kits Umbro have been producing lately it will be interesting to see what comes from the  ARP and Umbro collaboration.


This project is attempting re-imagine classic Umbro designs with modern technology which is a very ambitious aim.  Hopefully they will be able to bring these designs up to date without eradicating the essentially cool aspects of the classic designs.

Carrick Rangers Uhlsport Shirts

Another visit to the Irish League for this post to follow on from my previous post about the new Crusaders kit.


Carrick Rangers have just launched the new kits below for the start of the season which kicked off last Saturday.

Made by Uhlsport these kits are very smart looking, the home shirt is on the left above and the away shirt on the right.  I have always associated Uhlsport with goalkeeping kit but I do know they also make kits for for AFC Liverpool.


If you want more information about the shirts or Carrick Rangers you can visit their website here.


Thanks to both Carrick Rangers and Bobo on Twitter for helping with the images of the shirt which are sourced from this page on the Carrick Rangers website.

Schoolgirl Sophie Robertson gets her name on Ayr United’s shirts

Schoolgirl Sophie Robertson gets her name on Ayr United’s shirts

Aberdeen man’s quest for all international football strips

Evening Express - Article - Aberdeen man’s quest for all international football strips

Fantasy football birthday card

Just a quick post for a birthday card I found the other week.

Quite a laddish card but thought it was pertinent as I try to get my fantasy football team sorted for the new season.



Also, must be noted these are quite radical formations ;)

Pele Sports T shirt

I first became aware of the Pele Sports range from Twitter and I was surprised to see they have a shop open here in Belfast.  I subsequently learned from this article in the Belfast Telegraph this the first Pele sports shop in the UK.


Being a bit obsessive, I of course had to have a quick look at what was on offer in the shop which is split between Pele sports and MBT footwear, though I must admit the footwear was not something I paid much attention to!

I picked up this pretty cool black t shirt while in the shop.  Out of all the merchandise I though this was the nicest in terms of t shirts though I also liked the futsal style shirts.  I liked the image on the shirt and the yellow tongue is a nice touch as are the three stars as part of the Pele sports logo.

And here is some footage of Pele in action in the 1958 World Cup: