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Specialis That Are Truly Special

Umbro Limited Edition England Away Specialis

When we revealed the limited edition red Speciali boots a couple of weeks ago, a lot of you were understandably excited about them, and interested to know when they’d be available to buy. The good news is – they’re out now.

You’ll have to be quick to snap up a pair though, as there’s only 300 of these limited edition Specialis available. As you can see from these pictures, the boots come in a very special presentation box, complete with everything you’d need to keep them in tip-top shape – leather care, a boot brush and shoe horn. Head over to Pro Direct now to take a closer look and to grab a pair for yourself.

If red isn’t your thing, but you still fancy treating yourself to a pair of very special Specialis, there’s also some of our limited edition boots customised by artist Stuart Semple and fans around the world still available. The boots, which have been worn by Darren Bent, Deco, Michael Owen, John Terry and Gael Clichy, add a spark of individual personality to the classic Speciali look.

Umbro Speciali Boot Designs - Eat My Gooooaaall!

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Mud, Sweat & Beers: the story of an average five-a-side team

Mud 2

The latest story from our struggling five-a-siders…

This week’s match saw us pitted against “Gumtree FC”, an encounter that would surely be billed as a relegation dogfight if it were broadcast on national TV, which for the record, I think it definitely should have been.

The Juicebox’s position hasn’t changed for many weeks now, what with us holding the whole of the league up on our shoulders. Gumtree FC – who must have found their players through the website – were only three points ahead of us sat in seventh, and although their goal difference was 8 to the better, a victory would have gotten us right back in the mix.

No sooner had we kicked off than we had conceded a quick fire double, we started too slow and paid the ultimate price. 2-0 down and we’d barely even kicked off. I tried to think positive “At least its only two!”, I screamed at my teammates.

David was trying to get out of his tracksuit bottoms to be substituted on, but what for most people is quite a basic manoeuvre, he managed to make look like a challenge equal to climbing Mount Everest. He couldn’t pull them off in time and as a result remained on the bench for a while longer.

He eventually got onto the pitch around the time we managed to go 3-0 down. Catching us on the counter attack with a long-ball and using the no offside rule to their advantage, a lone striker rounded Alex to roll the ball into the net.

Finally, what had seemed like a rather lengthy first half drew to a close. A team talk was in order, and seeing as the armband rotation had fallen on Alex this week, he took it upon himself to get the team motivated, “ch-ch-ch-changes?”. He had somehow managed to combine his love for David Bowie with the idea to makes some substitutions. Genius.

It didn’t take long for the rest of the team to get into the Ziggy Stardust mood with Kilshaw making an exquisite cross-field ball perfectly reach Olly’s feet, who managed to pull out a left footed rocket, bound only for one place. The back of the net. 3-1. We were buzzing.

That buzz was to be short-lived as they struck again. 4-1 down and damn near doomed. This would not do. Again Alex came with words of wisdom. “We could be Heroes! Just for one match!” Lifted by the spirit of Bowie, we played with a bit more grit and determination, and a lot more sparkle. Then Locky scored a solo scorcher, using his silky skills to get the ball past three members of Gumtree FC, before dragging their keeper out of position and sliding the ball into the net. 4-2. Game on.

It wasn’t long before we were back on the attack, this time with Kilshaw searing up the wing. He put a cross into the mixer and Rob stormed in at the front to bundle the ball home. 4-3.

Time wasn’t on our side, in fact time was very much against us – the final whistle blew soon after. A 4-3 loss was not so bad, and if the first half hadn’t counted at all, we would have won 3-1. We were clutching at straws. Maybe next week Bowie will sing the Juicebox onto the field? Or we’ll just lose again?

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This Year’s Best Premier League Shirts: Vote For Your Favourites!

Blackburn Rovers Home KitManchester City Home KitWest Ham United Home Kit

Our friends over at football-shirts.co.uk have been running a great competition this season to find the most popular kits in the Premier League, and they’re asking for your input as we reach the semi-final stage. Here’s what they had to say…

“The football shirt devotees over at at football-shirts.co.uk/fans have been narrowing down the best kits of the 2009/10 season, with fans voting since August in a knock-out cup for the best kits this season.

The shock of the early round saw Blackburn narrowly knock out Liverpool’s kits, whilst Manchester United’s shirts survived a scare to come back from behind against Stoke to eliminate the Potters.

In the first round proper Burnley won the battle of the claret and blues taking out Aston Villa, whilst Tottenham won the battle of the London clubs taking out Fulham.

Two of the quarter-finals saw the Lancashire sides do the double over London clubs, with Blackburn beating Spurs and Burnley defeating Arsenal.

Umbro make 30% of the shirts worn in the Premier League this season, but interestingly have managed to take three of the four spots in the semi-finals, with the other spot taken by Burnley.

Hundreds of votes have already been cast in the two semi-finals, but there is still time for you to make a difference as to who reaches the finals of competition, voting will be open until Monday 22nd March,  and you can vote here: http://www.football-shirts.co.uk/football-kit-comp”

So, if you fancy showing your support for Man City, Blackburn or West Ham in the semi-finals? Get your votes in then!

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Umbro Stealth: Gael Clichy Models Our New Boots

Gael Clichy & Umbro Stealth

Earlier this week, we launched our competition to win a pair of our new Stealth boots, and we’ve been overwhelmed with the response so far – we’ve had a ton of entries, so plenty of you are obviously counting your chickens. We’ve also had some interesting responses to the video and images that we’ve made to celebrate Stealth, ranging from cool to bizarre to complete what on earth is going on? We’re glad it’s got you talking anyway!

Gael Clichy & Umbro Stealth

We’ve got a little more Stealth stuff for you here today. First of all, we’re sure you’ll have noticed the pictures here that feature Gael Clichy looking tremendous as he models the new boots. The Stealth boots will be worn by leading Premier League stars such as Gael Clichy, Phil Jagielka and Michael Mancienne until the end of the season, so be sure to keep a look out for them on the pitch.

In the meantime, we also thought that you’d like to check out this video, which offers a sneak peak behind the scenes of that crazy Stealth video and the photo shoot with Gael Clichy. If you fancy winning a pair of our new boots, then you’ve still got time to enter our competition – head here for details on how to enter.

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Football Fables: the origins of Umbro’s teams

Misc. Umbro logos

With all this talk of the new England Away kit, we thought it was about time to jump back into the archive and read up on some of the clubs that Umbro sponsors. This time around, we’ve spread our wings further afield and looked at our friends up north, over on the mainland and across the water.

Glasgow Rangers Football Shirt (1982 Sandy Jardine Testimonial)

Rangers

Rangers began life in 1872 following a meeting between Moses and Peter McNeil, Peter Campbell and William McBeath, adopting the name of an English rugby club they had read in a book. The newly founded team would go on to play their first game n the summer of that year in a friendly against Callander F.C. using the pitches on Glasgow Green.

Ranger’s first annual meeting took place in 1873 and by 1876 the club would have their first international player with Moses McNeil representing Scotland in a match against Wales.

Rangers would go on to become one of the ten original members of the Scottish Football League and play their first ever league match and league victory on 16 August 1890 against Heart of Midlothian. After finishing at the top of the league with Dumbarton, a play-off was held to decide who would be crowned champions. The match finished 2–2 and the club would make history by sharing the champion’s title, which is the only time that this has ever happened. Rangers would enter the next century with two league titles and three Scottish Cups in their trophy cabinet.

Athletic Bilbao

In the 1800s Bilbao was the hub of an important industrial area, with iron mines and shipyards and attracted many migrant workers, including miners from the north-east of England and shipyard workers from Sunderland, Southampton and Portsmouth. The workers brought the game of football to the city and in the early 1890s they formed Bilbao Football Club.

Around the same time, Bilbao students who had completed their education in Britain returned to the city and in 1898 they would create the Athletic Club. Both clubs would meet to arrange games to play each other.

In 1902 the two clubs formed a combined team known as Club Vizcaya. They would compete in and win the Copa Del Ray by defeating FC Barcelona, a success that lead to the merger of the two clubs and the renaming of the club to Athletic Club de Bilbao.

Universitario

Originally formed by students and professors of the National University of San Marcos on August 7, 1924, the club was created to play in a small league called Federación Universitaria, arranging tournaments between students and the faculty departments of the university. As it grew in popularity the league would gain official status and joined the Peruvian Football Federation (FPF).

In 1928, the club entered Peru’s Primera División and would shock opposing and supporting fans that year by finishing as runners-up. A year later the club would win its first tournament and become Peru’s champions.

In 1931 the club would be forced to change its name by José Antonio Encinas, the head of the university. The club changed its name to Universitario de Deportes and held onto the symbolic “U” in their name.

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Tailored In Manchester: Run Toto Run

Run Toto Run Tailored In Manchester

The latest band we’re featuring in our Tailored In Manchester series are electro-pop trio Run Toto Run, a group that are getting some serious attention on the back of the couple of singles they’ve put out so far. In their short time together, Run Toto Run have already been played on every radio station you can think of, and were the toast of the music blogs for their inspired cover of Passion Pit’s ‘Sleepyhead’. It’s fair to say then that they’re one of our top tips for 2010. In the video above you can check out our interview with them, interspersed with clips from their latest mind-bending video for their single Catch Your Breath. They’ve certainly got vivid imaginations…

If you want to hear more from Run Toto Run, check out Umbro.com or the band’s own website. We’ve also got a whole set of pictures from the band’s visit to Dale Street over on Flickr for you to check out.

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Getting Shirty: Let’s Do The Timewarp, Again…

Jeff Chelsea Blog

The 1980s were a cruel period, and for this writer it was an era of badly fitting school uniforms and a bowl-cut hair do. But today I was laughing my arse off at this range of Umbro casual wear made for Chelsea fans, that were recently unearthed in a shady corner of the Internet. In its day, the clobber modelled by these cheesy catalogue models was ahead of it’s time, but like most things from the 80s, (Pat Sharpe’s hair, Timmy Mallett) it hasn’t aged well.

In fact, this lot look like they’re in a terrible TV sit-com, probably called ‘Blue is the Colour’ and shown on 1980s BSkyB. You just can’t get authentic licensed team cardigans anymore, can you?

Jeff Chelsea Blog 2

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The New Umbro Stealth: win a pair of our great new boots

On Friday, we revealed our new Stealth boots for the first time, and now here’s your chance to win a pair! We’re giving away 5 pairs of Umbro Stealth boots, which have been designed for the smarter, craftier player on the pitch. With that in mind, you need to be at your smartest if you want to be in with a chance of winning them. To enter the competition, you need to watch the video above, and then answer this question:

How many chickens can you see in the video?

Both real chickens and chicken heads need to be counted. To make it a little easier for you, we’re giving you a number of answers that you can choose from. Simply pick which of the following answers you think is right, and email us your choice on blog@umbro.co.uk.

Is the answer…

a) 43

b) 45

c) 47

d) 49

We’ll then pick five winners at random from the correct entries, and they’ll be the lucky winners of a pair of Stealth boots. If you’re lucky enough to win, you’ll be able to pick from the white and red or red and blue colourways. The competition is open from today until 5pm on Friday, March 19th, and the only way of entering is by emailing blog@umbro.co.uk.

If you want to increase your chances of winning, then head over to Club Website, where there’s another competition underway to win some Stealth boots.

Good luck, and get counting!

Umbro StealthUmbro Stealth

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The New Umbro Stealth: It’s Time To Make Your Choice…

Umbro Stealth

Here’s the new boot from Umbro: Stealth. It’s designed for the smarter player, one who knows what to do on the pitch: how to hunt down the opposition, evade tackles and leave other players cowering in their wake. It presents a simple question to a footballer – are you a fox or a chicken?

If you think you’re a fox, here’s what Stealth can offer you. Created with speed, power and comfort in mind, the new Stealth boot is designed for players who take the lead on the pitch. A streamlined last and two lateral studs in the middle of the boot offer increased speed, while the carbon fibre shank and heel counter provide the power you need. Combined with cushioned insoles offering comfort, Stealth has all the assets that a player will need to outfox the opposition.

So you’ve heard all about the Stealth, but what does it look like? Take a closer look…

Umbro StealthUmbro Stealth

Stealth will be available to buy in the above colours from April 1st – if you want to find out more, take a look at umbro.com. To accompany the launch of the new boots, we’ve created some pretty cool ads and this pretty bonkers film, all inspired by the question Are You A Fox Or A Chicken? We hope you like it…

Umbro StealthUmbro Stealth

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Back Of The Net: the finest football things on the web this week

England Away goalkeeper gloves and Umbro ball for England friendly match vs Egypt

A week of international friendlies wouldn’t normally be the most exciting seven days in football, but with only 100 days left to the World Cup, and with plenty of questions still remaining about what players will be travelling to South Africa this summer, there was plenty of intrigue in this week’s action. A blog dedicated to this summer’s tournament, Kwaitoball take a look at all of this week’s friendlies in this brief but succint post. Not so sure about the idea that Wes Brown had a bad game though!

Of course, any thoughts on this summer’s action will also be considering a World Cup song for England. Here at Umbro, we’ll probably be looking at this nearer the time, but Football & Music have entered the fray with a competition to find their favourite. They’re going to be posting potential England anthems on their site on a regular basis, with the audience invited to vote for their favourite to progress to a later round. You can check out the first two candidates – ‘God Save The Team’ and ‘From England With Love’ – on the site now.

One story that was a little overshadowed by the friendlies and other stories this week was the untimely passing of Macclesfield manager Keith Alexander. When Saturday Comes, always a publication that sees the real sport underneath all the soap opera-style nonsense, offered a typically insightful obituary on a man who was tremendously well-respected throughout football. You can read it here.

As the BBC’s man of the lower leagues, Paul Fletcher can always be relied on to provide some insight into life outside the Premier League, and his latest look at League One is an interesting one. Here, he takes a closer look at the teams pushing for promotion, with a focus on in-form Southampton as they push for a play-off place. Having started the season with a 10 point penalty, it would be amazing if Southampton started next season in the same league as their old rivals Portsmouth.

Finally this week, we return to the World Cup, or rather using the fact that it’s now less than 100 days away as an excuse to ramp up the excitement. Who Ate All The Pies are using the occasion to showcase 100 fantastic pictures from past tournaments. You can check out Parts 1 and 2 here, and keep your eyes peeled for later instalments.

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