HARARE – Fans erupted in fury on Thursday after the Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA) and British kit sponsor Umbro unveiled the new kit for the country’s national team and junior sides in chaotic scenes in Harare.
Confusion reigned after models strutted in wearing a kit previously condemned by fans – a pretend-Barcelona design with dominant yellow and flowing red stripes.
There was more. An all-green jersey, with some cultural styling on the sleeves. Then a white oddity of the same design.
Ridiculously, came a monstrous green number with slanting red stripes. A high school team would feel disappointed if offered.
There was one more. A plain yellow offering with fading lines in the chest area. Too basic.
So which was which? Fans wondered.
Fans were left to guess which of the kits will be used at home, away and in training.
Star FM’s Steve Vickers thought the yellow jersey will be the home kit. That leaves the plain white and green to compete for away kit. One of those should be the training kit.
“Is this what took Umbro months to produce? Such a plain and lifeless kit? This is fraudulent,” said The Chronicle’s sports editor Dingilizwe Ntuli on Twitter.
“This is a cruel joke on Zimbabwe football fans. What have we done to deserve this?” quipped ZiFM sports analyst Mike Madoda.
The five-kit debacle is believed to be connected to an earlier design of the kit – the red stripes on yellow – which was roundly rejected last month, prompting Umbro and ZIFA to go back to the drawing board. It is believed Umbro had already printed thousands of the strip, which ZIFA says will be a fans’ kit, retailing for RTGS$174.
“This Warriors kit is a national fraud. Where in the world have you ever seen a fans’ kit and a players’ kit? Is the fans’ kit not supposed to be a replica of the national team kit?” journalist Nqobile Tshili said on Twitter.
Zimbabwe travel to Egypt in June to plat in the African Cup of Nations, in which they are drawn with the hosts, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda.
