Fans will understandably be perplexed on Thursday evening, as Ireland face off with Finland in Dublin wearing jerseys in a colour other than green.
Kit provider Castore released what they described as a “hype kit” earlier this week, supposedly inspired by the famous win over Italy in New Jersey at the 1994 World Cup.
The new release came in for some criticism from sections of fans, with its price tag (€95) and lack of obvious similarity to the USA ’94 kit cited by some supporters. Another bone of contention was the assumption that it would not be worn in any games by the men’s national team, given that Castore only this year released a white away kit.
However, fans were left surprised on Thursday afternoon, when the official FAI Twitter account for the men’s national team confirmed that Ireland would wear the new “hype kit” in the final home game of 2024, a Nations League clash with Finland in the Aviva Stadium.
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Explaining why Ireland are wearing white jerseys for home clash with Finland
It appears as though the decision to wear the “hype kit” against Finland was made purely to promote the latest release from Castore – their fifth jersey in just under two years of providing kits for the Irish national team.
Ireland’s decision to wear white jerseys at home against a team that traditionally wears white has not gone down well with some fans.
The Ireland team has a history of releasing multiple jerseys in short cycles, though the production of two white kits in such quick succession has clearly gotten the better of a few supporters. There was a brief period at the beginning of the Stephen Kenny era when a common (and regrettably true) refrain was that Ireland had worn more different jerseys under Kenny than scored goals.
Thursday night was not the first time, however, that Ireland have worn a colour other than green in a home game.
Several times over the past 20 or so years have Ireland decided to promote an away kit by wearing it in a home game. They wore black in the final and decisive game of the 2011 Carling Nations Cup against Scotland, and wore white in a 2014 friendly against the United States in Dublin.
18 November 2014; Bobby Wood, USA, shoots past Republic of Ireland goalkeeper Shay Given, only for his attempt to go wide. International Friendly, Republic of Ireland v USA, Aviva Stadium, Lansdowne Road, Dublin. Picture Credit: Cody Glenn / SPORTSFILE
Just last year, Ireland wore black in their final game under Stephen Kenny. That was once again seemingly a trick from Castore and the FAI to promote their newly-released “third kit” – which was only worn once, and never in a competitive game.
21 November 2023; Adam Idah of Republic of Ireland shoots to score his side’s first goal during the international friendly match between Republic of Ireland and New Zealand at Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile
An example that sticks out from the rest is the 2021 home game against Qatar.
Taking place in the centenary year of the FAI’s establishment, the game saw then-kit designer Umbro debut a special commemorative jersey in the team’s original colours – blue.
Shorn of any visible sponsors, the kit was among the nicest that the Irish team have worn in recent memory and led this author to ponder whether Ireland should incorporate more blue into their kits in future.
12 October 2021; Callum Robinson of Republic of Ireland celebrates after scoring his and his side’s third goal during the international friendly match between Republic of Ireland and Qatar at Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Eóin Noonan/Sportsfile
Ireland are not the only international team to utilise home games to promote away kits, a regrettably common trend in modern football. There is also the argument that, on occasion, a home team switching colours can make a big difference for colour blind fans.
However, that surely cannot be argued in the case of Thursday’s game against Finland, in which fans were understandably left baffled by Ireland’s choice to line out in white jerseys.
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