Dublin GAA officially unveiled their new O’Neills playing kit at an event at official sponsors AIG Insurance’s Head Offices in the capital yesterday.
The new jersey has a lighter look with white collar and trim replacing the navy used on the version which has been used through the first two seasons of Championship football under the AIG Banner.
AIG used one of the limited number of opportunities where they have permission to wrap their Liffey facing building on the North Quays to reveal the new look from early morning.
The most recent Dublin jersey is the biggest selling shirt in GAA history and the new model is expected to eclipse that with Lifestyle Sports forecasting that it will sell 55,000 in the first year.
That would make it second only to the new Irish football jersey for the Euro’s and a reflection of Dublin’s dominance is that it is expected to outsell the second biggest GAA seller Cork by as much as six to one.
The new jersey takes its inspiration from Dublin jerseys of the past especially that of the 1950’s which was worn by Kevin Heffernan and his generation of players. It reflects the #DrawnFromHistory social media campaign which has been active ahead of the launch leveraging the power of players on social media including Bernard Brogan.
#heffo‘sArmy https://t.co/ZdHh6IS8FX
— Bernard Brogan (@bernardbrogan) May 12, 2016
“The Dublin jersey is key to our identity and we are delighted to launch this new version,” said Dublin GAA Commercial Manager Tomás Quinn.
“We are very aware of the heritage and history of previous Dublin teams and the jerseys they wore and we believe this is a modern version nod to those teams.”
“We have great support from our partners AIG who continue to help us try to deliver the best for all Dublin teams on the pitch and all Dublin supporters off the pitch.”
“The jersey will be worn across all four codes and we look forward to seeing it in action this summer.”
“We are very proud to see our name on such an iconic jersey,” added AIG general Manager Declan O’Rourke.
“It has been a real honour to be associated with the success of Dublin GAA over the last two years. We’re delighted with the new look jersey and hope to see Dublin’s stylish teams wearing it to success in the championship season ahead.”
There had been rumours, quite solidly based we understand that Dublin GAA was close to switching to Adidas this time round, syncing the relationship that is growing through AIG with the All Blacks but in the end the decision was taken to remain with O’Neills.
Many looking at the shirt and the familiar three stripes might wonder would an Adidas version have looked much better.
The story on why O’Neill’s have use of the three stripes is based on a 1983 Supreme Court ruling when it was determined that the stripes were a generic fashion statement and O’Neill’s was within its rights to use them in Ireland.
Dublin Jersey’s that might be sold in New York or London would only have two stripes, though as would jerseys produced by O’Neill’s for those two County sides.
