Apparently it’s going to be mega. One in three of us are not really interested, according to some poll, but that doesn’t mean it’s not going to be epic. Which includes the prices, as demonstrated by the new All Black jersey which will set you back a $190, but what price national fervour aye?
It’s not really new, in a design sense, although Ze Germans at Adidas reckon it took them two years to develop so it must contain adamantinum or something cutting edge like that. It’s black, of course, but now sports a white collar, like the jersey used to when the ABs wore their wife beating pride in the shape of a Steinlager badge on the right tit.
They say it’s a collar but it’s not in the traditional sense of the word. When your boss says smart casual dress Friday means ‘a collar’ he’s not expecting you to turn up in a tight titty tee with a white panel of fabric around the neck, no matter how slimming it is on you.
Incidentally, why has casual sex Fridays never caught on? I’ve made that suggestion at every workplace and it usually only ever results in me getting kicked out of the social club. Go figure.
Collars disappeared from rugby jerseys when some bugger realised that they were quite good for grabbing hold of, just like each others knobs. At that point it was decidedly uncool to have anything clutch able anywhere, thus in ushered the skin tight era of jerseys, which admittedly do look fantastic on the Adonis’s playing the game at the highest level, not so much on the fat fighters in the stadium watching.
Notice though, that the shorts have not got any tighter?
Now Kiwis being the must have sheep we are, lap this shit up, especially if we think we’re the first to get something. Thus Ze Germans have flogged a shit load of these jerseys all at full price, laughing all their way to the bank. It is a lovely accent is Ze German, even in moments of great humour. And they might just have continued to do so unabated, until the story broke that it’s actually cheaper to get the things online, from overseas.
Considerably so, which proves a little theory I’ve had since I started buying named, numbered and long sleeved football jerseys on line at the same price a plain, short sleeved one appears on the rack here; we’re getting shafted.
The AB jersey, lame faux collar or not, is our national jersey. It shouldn’t cost NZers nearly $200 to buy one. By all means, flog it to the Japs for that much but make it affordable for kids up and down the country to own one, for fucks sake. Football fans can own an All Whites jersey for $150, so what’s the diff?
Adidas reckon that they’re price comparable with other jerseys, like those of the Warriors. Who gives a shit, if someone is silly enough to pay that for a club jersey then mark those suckers up I say. Even the Warriors training jersey costs that much! Maybe they’ve got The Bad Mutcher running the merchandising at the club because nobody beats his meat. It says so on the radio ad.
They reckon that selling them here that much keeps NZ business in the black (no pun intended). What, like Rebel Sport, who will send their profits off to their Australian shareholders? Oh and the price hasn’t changed since 2009 they claim, like it’s a good thing. Pull the other one Adolf; it was a fucken rip off then too.
I like Adidas stuff. I own a fair bit of it and I won’t buy any other brand of football boots other than Ze Germans. Yes, I am aware of how the company convinced football to sell it’s the soul back in the seventies for a bunch of tracksuits and tricolour footballs and how the game has been paying for it since, but I also know they know their shit.
Including, it would seem, how to fleece an unsuspecting National populace. Buy online peeps, The ‘Das wins either way but at least you can have the satisfaction of not being taken for a sucker.
Rugby players like it tight these days...
