THE NIKE JERSEY AND THE LEGENDS MATCH
By Kennedy Gondwe
In football, there are certain watershed moments and iconic stripes that no matter what one says or labours to re-write history, they fail spectacularly.
Here are some examples:
Arsenal and the JVC jersey: no matter what you say, Arsenal supporters will always love that jersey. It’s iconic. If you see someone wearing an Arsenal JVC jersey, please give them respect, they are fossils.
Liverpool and Carlsberg jersey: no matter what you say, Liverpool upporters will always love that jersey. It’s iconic. If you see someone wearing that jersey, please give them respect, they are fossils or genuine supporters.
Manchester United and the SHARP jersey: no matter what you say, United supporters will always love that jersey. It’s iconic. If you see someone wearing that jersey, please bow to them, they are fossils and true supporters.
Those jerseys are still being sold today. Most of them not by the clubs associated with them but sports shops.
Here in Zambia, if we respected antiques, someone would have long printed that Orange Adidas jersey or the Reebok copper or white one.
Luckily, we have the Nike green jersey that’s not only beautiful but iconic because our heroes wore that jersey when we won the first ever Africa Cup.
History will neither remember failures and (perhaps) the curse associated with that strip I am avoiding to mention nor will it remember others like Umbro, Hummel, Kappa, L-Sporto.
If those Nike jerseys are available and being sold, let them compete with the present and past jerseys that could also be on sale. Let people decide what they want to wear on any day. No one should force fans what to wear, please.
So whether you like it or not, the Nike jersey is here to stay and will outlive you and me.
FAZ is clearly an aggrieved party if what I am hearing is correct.
Let them sue government, Barcelona Legends, Nike and write protestation letters to CAF and FIFA that Zambian Legends will be wearing the Nike strip for the match against Barcelona Legends.
After all, it seems that’s partly someone’s preoccupation and hobby.
DISCLAIMER: If what I write here is too much for you to bear, don’t blame me for catching wrong feelings. You’re certainly on your own.