Here are my key moments in football design from the year that was.
- Boro Futsal, finally, wore the shirt which Morgan O'Brien designed to win the DF competition back in '09. It may seem a strange choice as top highlight of 2011 but it means that DF's influence on the football world continues to grow.
- Much more exciting, for me personally at least, was Steevo's Liverpool away shirt getting (mass-?)produced in the Far East and appearing on eBay, then every football news website which pilfers from Football Shirt Culture and even featuring in the infamous video of the Manchester United fan in with Liverpool supporters during the Merseyside club's tour of Asia (blink and you'll miss it).
- 2011 also belonged to Portman Kunis United. The Dallas indoor team have, to date, given us four shirts - plus t-shirts - of almost unparalleled beauty in the amateur game. They're now almost as famous as Natalie and Mila.
- The three very different instances above both show that amateur kit design, when done well, can infiltrate the mainstream. 2011 even saw both Augsberg and, of greater note, Olympique de Marseille, offering up the opportunity for fans to design a change kit. We've actually progressed much further and quicker than I predicted.
- But then, occasionally, it can be done very poorly. No amateur designers to blame here, just a marketing campaign from Puma offering Tottenham Hotspur fans the opportunity to "Guess The Kit". Nice idea, only the final design, albeit classy, was devoid of very much detail - the leaked images didn't even have a sponsor! Congratulations to the entrant who went for a collar and two badges.
- 2011 was also The Year of The Bottler. No, I'm not referring to plastic bottles going into the production of Nike shirts (very good. You're part of the solution rather than the problem we're sure) but instead their choice of Monaco-style halves for Barça - but really stripes still unless you look really, really closely - adidas's well-publicised but barely noticeable sash on the new Spain shirt and, most annoyingly, Puma copping out of putting 'painted' stripes on the Newcastle shirt for a second successive season - despite triumphs elsewhere. In fairness, this season's shirt is actually quite brave and they still haven't put a black cat on a single item. Good going.
- Speaking of which, the new Scotland home kit from adidas was sublime. A complete bolt from the blue, apparently a Scot holds a high position at the company...
- Boots rarely get me going but the Umbro GT Pro II is a thing of wonder. Superfly shmooperfly.
- Finally, who could forget the moment that FSC was brought to its knees with a vicious hack-attack (if you'll excuse the terminology) just after featuring a leak of Nike's Manchester United kits for the 2012-13 season. Obviously someone very skilled, or someone who can pay lots of money to someone very skilled, wasn't too happy about the cat being let out of the bag. FSC, fortunately, lived to see another day.
And to look forward to in 2012...
- The mainstream press went loopy over it in '11 but this year we're due to be treated to the Under Armour Tottenham kit with inbuilt performance sensors. The juxtaposition of technology offering in-game player analysis accuracy the like of which we've never seen before and a football manager that will greet this information with the word "triffic" will sadly be denied due to Harry Redknapp either serving the country as England manager or perhaps time at Her Majesty's pleasure.
- Another long-awaited release from an American supplier is the Warrior Liverpool kit. Plenty of people think they know what it will look like but all will be revealed soon. adidas, your stripes will be missed.
- Euro 2012 will bring a whole host of new designs, several of which we've seen already - from adidas - but the big question may be whether or not Nike have had enough of allowing Umbro to continue with the England contract. The Tailored By releases have been lauded by the purists (the current goalkeeper kit is spectacular), but have they sold? Each and every shirt seems to be available at knockdown prices relatively soon after the increasingly frequent launches and lest we forget that France released shirts at a similar rate prior to the FFF leaving adidas for Nike. Perhaps it's sacrosanct and The FA will keep the white shirt English. We'll see...
- Whatever designs are finally settled upon, we know know fans and amateur designers have a bigger say than ever before and may that continue into 2012. DesignFootball.com and associated communities led by FSC will do our bit so to get involved in competitions and keep up to date with everything that's happening remember to Like FSC and DF on facebook and follow FSC, ViralFootball and DF on twitter.
- Oh yeah, and Man United fans, you can look forward to tartan home and away (blue) shirts to commemorate Scotsman Sir Alex Ferguson's 25 years in charge. Because for as long as leaks happen Football Shirt Culture will remain the best place to find them.
