Umbro Blog

Not sure if this is an award-winning entry, but we got there eventually! We returned to the pun arena this week inspired by the fact that its the Brit Awards next week, so we mined this particular musical niche for some pun action. Thanks to everyone who suggested their ideas, and keep an eye on both our Twitter and Facebook pages next Friday for our next theme!

That’s right, two weeks in a row that we’ve managed to take a look at the finest footy-related things on the internet – if we keep up this form we might be looking at a call up to the England squad. Last weekend’s football was badly affected by the weather, particularly in the lower leagues, which is probably one of the reasons why plastic pitches have been a big talking point this week. It’s looking like we could see artificial pitches making a return to the Football League in the near future, and they’ll be a long way from the ones that were last seen at QPR, Luton and Preston in the 1980s and early 1990s (a friend of mine has a spot of Preston’s plastic pitch in his wardrobe, what a piece of memorabilia!)

Whether they’ll be as bad for slide tackling defenders, bouncing balls or the knees of veteran players is unclear, but it is a great opportunity for Who Ate All The Pies to dig up a classic picture of El Tel on the plastic pitch, and dig out this video of some action on one of the pitches as well. Where do you stand on the plastic pitch debate?

Some of the grounds that might benefit from such advances on the pitch are captured in all their glory in a fantastic picture blog over on Pitch Invasion. Entitled ‘A Year In Non-League Photos‘, it’s a world away from the grounds we see on a regular basis on TV. It’s nice to see that Umbro makes an appearance though!

Both the photoshoot above and the next site were spotted by an eagle-eyed Norwich friend of ours, who pointed them in our direction. Another photoshoot, but altogether more arty, this captures England’s female footballers in some of the places that mean the most to them. It’s great to see some of the finest female players getting the same attention as their male counterparts, so hats off to Olivia And Alison who did the shoot.

We’re obviously on a very visual feel this week, as we’re looking at a site that brings graphics to life really well. Zonal Marking have been doing this for a while, but every so often it’s handy to remind ourselves just what they do on a regular basis, to such a high standard. This analysis of some of the games this week underlines what a resource it is – in depth stuff, interesting talking points, and great visuals to bring it to life. If you don’t mention how your club could do with some more ‘llegada’, someone else will.

Finally this week, we’ve found a Tumblr that brings together two of our favourite things – Football And Music. Want to see a ridiculously large foosball table? A video of Frank Sidebottom singing a Billy Bragg medley? Football And Music is what you’ve been looking for.

Following on from the new Universitario shirt that we revealed recently, another of Peru’s top teams have revealed the Tailored tops that they’ll be wearing for the 2012 season. Sporting Cristal, one of the Garra Crema‘s biggest rivals, will be wearing these smart Umbro shirts in the Peruvian Primera Division.

As with all our Tailored shirts, there’s subtle details stitched into the new Sporting Cristal shirt that reference the club’s unique history. There’s the three stars above the club crest, marking the three consecutive Peruvian league titles the club won in the 1990s, and also a subtle ‘SC’ embroidered on the hem, which is a reminder of the club’s appearance in the final of the Copa Libertadores in 1997. On the backneck label, the shirt also features the Sporting Cristal motto, ‘Fuerza Celeste, Fuerza Ganadora’, a further connection between fans and players.

The shirt, crafted from a comfortable, breathable material, has been designed with fit, movement and stretch in mind. In the club’s traditional sky blue and white colours, the shirt means that Sporting Cristal will be battling their Lima rivals Universitario in the style stakes this season. If we hear of any ways in which you guys can buy the shirt around the world, we’ll be sure to let you know!

A quick note about a great project that some of our musical friends have been involved with – Thirty One. It’s a compilation bringing together some of the finest bands from around Manchester, with all proceeds going to a very worthy cause, CALM.

The compilation brings together the likes of Murkage, The Travelling Band, Dutch Uncles and Air Cav, all bands that we’ve featured here on the Umbro blog. Not only that, but the art direction was by none other than England shirt designer Peter Saville and our friends LOVE as well, so there’s plenty of Umbro connections to this terrific project!

For more information on the record, head over to the Thirty One site.

Picture from http://thefootballarchivist.tumblr.com

That’s right – like a certain ginger-haired midfielder or un striker français – Back Of The Net has come back from retirement to add firepower and a bit of pizazz to the Umbro blog, picking out some of the finest things we’ve found around the internet and presenting it to you in one handy place. We’re starting off this week with the place where we discovered that cracking picture at the top of the page, one of the growing Tumblr pages that capture some great football moments.

The Football Archivist is a Tumblr that brings together some fantastic retro football photography from all around the world. Tracing everything from the majestic to the mundane from the world of football, it’s a fantastic way to while away an afternoon at work. The picture above features some classic retro Umbro drill tops which is why we’ve chosen it, but the superb moustache on display also helps!

Visuals are also the name of the game over at On Goals Scored, a favourite here in the Umbro office – so much so that we collaborated with the man behind it on an Umbro Tee Shop tee. Creating his own visuals based on some hardcore football stats, Liam has produced a pretty unique visual style, something that’s pretty hard to do in the crowded world of football. Our current favourite is this graphic that examines what life is like for clubs once they’re promoted to the top division. It might look like someone’s gone mad with a felt-tip pen at first, but look closer and you’ll see the detail involved. There’s plenty more where this came from at the On Goals Scored site.

If you’re looking for more words to get your teeth into, then there’s a new blog devoted to all things England that should do the job. The Stiles Council easily wins the award for the best name for a new blog, and it also promises to be a pretty impressive forum for an analysis of all aspects of the England set up in the run up to this summer’s action. It’s from the same team as the now defunct Two Footed Tackle, so if you were a fan of that, you can lok forward to their particular perspective on England here.

Also known for their way with words is In Bed With Maradona, who have won a few awards for their insight and stories from around the world. They’re particularly good at stories from South America, such as this recent preview of the Copa Libertadores: now those of us who haven’t got a clue about the exotic cousin to the Champions League can impress our mates down the pub with a quick scan of the article. Cheers guys!

Finally this week we’re shining a light on a website that mixes words and visuals to terrific effect. Yes, Minoboro does have a strong Middlesbrough side to it, but it’s a gem of a site for fans of any club. The first thing you’ll notice is the cracking creative visuals of footballers both classic and modern, but there’s also some great interviews on the site. The chat with Bob Mortimer in particular is a great read – who knew that The Man With The Stick was a Boro fan?

That’s everything for this week’s internet trawl – if you spot anything you think deserves to be here next week, give us a shout in the comments section.