England can't afford brand snobbery and Umbro deal is a good one - Andy Goode
England fans can’t afford to be brand snobs at the moment and the RFU should be commended for getting the best deal possible with Umbro. Despite only being announced this week, it’s a good job the contract was likely signed a little while ago as you can almost guarantee it would be less lucrative if it was negotiated in the current coronavirus climate.
I suspect the union thought it was revealing a bit of good news amid the gloom, but I got messages on Twitter calling it “an absolute disgrace” and “bargain bin stuff” to cite just a couple of examples. Clearly, social media is going to attract extreme reactions, but there does seem to be a negative perception of Umbro and a lot of people reacted negatively because of its association with football.
You don’t spend almost 30 years as the England football team’s kit provider if you are a second rate brand and prior to that successful period in football, Umbro did actually support each of the home nations in rugby and also the British and Irish Lions when they won in New Zealand in 1971.
So, Umbro does have rugby heritage and it is also an English company based in Cheadle near Manchester, albeit now owned by an American firm. You’d think that would make many England fans happy. Everyone is going to have their own opinion and we will have to reserve judgement on the new England kit until we actually see it, but you can be absolutely certain that the RFU will have done their due diligence on this and not just taken a punt.
Signing personal deals is a bit different to unions or clubs agreeing kit deals, but there are still similarities and I can remember taking a whole year to transition from adidas to Reebok in my playing career. A bigger offer was put on the table but I had to be sure that I was going to be as comfortable and kick as well in Reebok boots as I was in my existing boots, so I spent a season training in the new ones alongside the old ones in order to make sure it was right.
https://twitter.com/AndyGoode10/status/1257698141668814848
I also had an even bigger offer from Gilbert but I just couldn’t get on with their boots at all so I didn’t take it. Clearly, an Umbro shirt as opposed to a Canterbury one isn’t going to affect performance in the same way but the RFU will have seen prototypes and done their homework.
Some form of committee involving a few England players will also almost certainly have been involved in the process to make sure they were satisfied with the standard of playing jerseys and training kit. A picture of Sam Underhill and Tom Curry wearing an Umbro-branded England top was leaked, prompting a flurry of abuse online, but that was almost certainly just training gear and not something to get hot under the collar over.
There are a plethora of kit suppliers involved in rugby nowadays and, as a union or a club, you have to put the contract out to tender and go with the best deal on the table. People tend not to like change but switching kit companies is commonplace. I wore everything from Cotton Traders to Kappa during my career and plenty of people had negative perceptions of some of those brands, but it obviously won’t bother the players one bit or have any bearing on how successful they are on the pitch.
Off the pitch, though, it could have a small impact on how successful the RFU is in the coming four years. Obviously, if kit sales end up being down, they will take a hit but it looks like a very good deal on the face of it. England’s previous deal with Canterbury was said to be worth £5million per year, the same as this contract is reported to be worth, but changing supplier isn’t something teams do just for the sake of it, so it was the most financially viable offer on the table this time around.
The RFU have already said that losses could surpass £100m depending on how the current situation around coronavirus pans out and when rugby returns, so these are vital funds for the grassroots game as well as the England senior team. They can’t win really because people are always saying how the RFU and rugby in general are slow to innovate or change and then when this happens people are up in arms because it’s not traditional and it’s just not rugby.
It will be interesting to see what the new England shirt looks like when it is unveiled, although I suspect white and not too dissimilar to previous ones will be the answer. If I was on the players’ committee, though, I’d definitely be lobbying for a return to a baggier fit with long sleeves and a collar!
Joking aside, where rugby is right now and indeed where the world is right now, £5 million per year for a kit deal is not to be sniffed at. People will have to put their preconceptions to one side.
Comments on RugbyPass
late hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
4 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
24 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
24 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
24 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
24 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
9 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
9 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
28 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
24 Go to comments