Umbro land Premiership club kit deal a week after snapping up England
Umbro’s recent re-emergence in the rugby kit supplier market has taken another big step forward with its confirmation of a deal with Bristol Bears. The Umbro brand came in for much scrutiny last week when it was announced that they have secured a four-year deal to take over from Canterbury and become the kit suppliers to Eddie Jones’ England.
The sports clothing manufacturer had old traditions with rugby, supplying kit to England and the British and Irish Lions in the 1980s, but it had long since become associated with England football and the RFU’s deal was negatively received by a number of rugby fans.
Seven days after the announcement of that £20million plus deal, it has now emerged that Umbro have also broken into the Gallagher Premiership market, securing a long-term deal with Bristol Bears to take over its kit requirements following its six-year association with Bristol Sport.
The length of the contract or its value hasn’t been confirmed but Jon Lansdown, Bristol Sport chairman and Bears director, told the club’s website: “We are very proud of the kits that Bristol Sport have produced, over the past six years. Since the Bears rebrand, the innovation shown in designing and creating the team’s jerseys has led to record sales.
“It was important for us to maintain that individual appeal, but also to push on to the next level, which is why the partnership with a globally recognisable brand like Umbro is a great fit.
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“Umbro have been designing performance products for almost a century. Their expertise in logistics, resourcing and scale are going to be a huge asset in helping us to meet demand and to grow the Bears identity and vision.”
Sam Lucas, head of sponsorship at Umbro UK, added: “We have stated our intention to credibly support rugby through our partnership with England rugby. “Joining forces with Bristol Bears, an exciting club, on a journey to great things, complements this on a domestic and regional level.
“At the same time, the partnership helps us to deepen our connection with the sport, its fans and the wider rugby community. The club’s rich history echoes our own. Over the years we have created elite-level products and are looking forward to bringing this experience to bear through our relationship with the club.”
"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"
– @AndyGoode10 talks @EnglandRugby kit ???
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) May 7, 2020
Bristol’s switch to Umbro is the second change in the kit supplier market to the Premiership this week as Worcester revealed on Monday they are moving from VX3 to O’Neills for the 2020/21 season.
The arrival of Umbro and O’Neills on the Premiership scene for next term further highlights how the English top-flight doesn’t have a dominant player in the kit supply market as there were eleven different suppliers to the league’s 12 clubs in 2019/20.
PREMIERSHIP KIT SUPPLIERS 2019/20
Canterbury – Bath
Samurai – Exeter, Sale
Bristol Sport – Bristol (Umbro for 2020/21)
Oxen Sports – Gloucester
Adidas – Quins
Kukri – Leicester
BLK – London Irish
Macron – Northampton
Nike – Saracens
Under Armour – Wasps
VX3 – Worcester (O’Neills for 2020/21)
Comments on RugbyPass
The Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
3 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 Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 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
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 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.
30 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 comments