Keep the opposition at bay and look good doing it
Written: Feb 28 '07
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Looks pretty good, well in theory
Cons: Isn't all that practical for a goalkeeper
The Bottom Line: While Kappa's outfield shirts are the most practical available, sadly their 'keeper shirt can't keep up in this respect.
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| flash-hammer's Full Review: Kappa Italy Long Sleeve Goalkeeper Jersey |
In my many years of playing football, I’ve played in the majority of positions, including the one the majority of players fear the most, between the sticks. The role of the goalkeeper is one with an unnatural amount of stigma attached to it, with the phrase famously associated with the role being “all goalkeepers are crazy”. Indeed the ability to disregard your own physical well-being to throw yourself head first at a player’s feet is a necessity to being a good goalkeeper, it really isn’t as bad as many would have you believe, and while it may not lead to the same plaudits, pulling off a dramatic and difficult save can be just as rewarding as scoring a goal.
Now, I’ll confess that I’m not totally sure if the Italy goalie shirt I’ve got is the one this entry is referring to, the lack of a picture or a date makes it impossible to distinguish. Kappa released two models of keeper jersey in the years they were kit suppliers to the Italian national side, the first, worn from 1999 - 2000, is the one I’ll be looking at today, and the second model was just the outfield shirt the team wore from 2000 - 2002 but in various different colours.
This particular jersey is made from the ‘Meryl’ material that Kappa pioneered, which incorporated lycra into the shirt’s material, designed to allow players free movement even if their shirt was being tugged by an opposition player. This goalkeeper variant seems to be made of a slightly heavier variant of the material, and was, by default, long-sleeved. At the end of the sleeves are black cuffs of about 2cm, and a solid black polo-shirt style collar. The shirt is a dull grey colour, and apart from the black cuffs and collar, the only colour on the shirt comes from the two Kappa logos on the sleeves, which are black with white outlines, and the Italy badge on the upper right chest area, which at this point, as part of Kappa’s retro styling was simply the Italian flag with ‘Italia’ stitched above it in gold with a gold trim around the entire thing. Oddly, the 3 gold stars, to represent Italy's then 3 World Cup triumphs, are absent from the shirt. My personal one comes with the number 12 on the back in black latex print, with a smaller 12, made of the same material in the middle of the shirt’s front. I can’t quite recall who would be wearing number 12 at the time, I think Italy’s second-choice keeper was Toldo at the time.
While it may not be as stretchy as the outfield shirts, the top is still designed with a skinny-fit look in mind, meaning XXL is around the same size as a size L shirt from another brand. While I’m the first person to praise not only the style, but the functionality of Kappa’s outfield shirts in this style, there are certain requirements of a keeper shirt that don’t apply to the outfield equivalent. For a start, while the outfield shirts are designed to be like a ‘second skin’ and take sweat off the body, which they do very well, a goalkeeper ordinarily wears something underneath his jersey, and if you wear a skinny-fit top over another, probably baggier top, you end up looking a bit silly really. Further hampering the practicality of things is the lack of padding at the forearms or elbows. Style over substance is, I believe, an apt phrase, as there is no denying that the shirt looks pretty nifty, and providing you do manage to find something around the same fit as it, it is comfortable enough to wear, although the lack of padding can lead to some sore elbows, especially if worn for indoor football.
Now, actually finding this shirt on sale these days would be quite challenging, and if you did it would probably be at a cheap price, and if that was the case, a decision on buying it would really, in my recommendation, come down to one thing: are you the type of goalkeeper who stays in goals for a full game, as in plays at some form of organised level, and plan to use the shirt for those purposes, or just someone who enjoys the odd shot between the sticks when messing around his their mates? If you are the former, then the shirt could be a worthy purchase if you want to look especially flash in your position, because you are less likely to be wearing something heavy underneath. For a casual keeper it may not be the best option available, as while it looks the part on paper, chances are it won’t look so good over a casual t-shirt or other football shirt that you’ll probably be wearing to play. So the shirt gets a cautious recommendation, and that’s really only to the dedicated goalkeepers out there.
Recommended:
Yes
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flash-hammer
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