“It’s ugly. Even if it was R200 I wouldn’t buy it.”
Evah Mokoto sums up the sentiments of many South African soccer fans who say they will not be forking out R899 for Bafana Bafana’s new 2011 limited edition jersey which hits stores next month.
Besides the exorbitant price for the new uniform, soccer fans are also reluctant to splurge on a kit that will only be worn by Bafana Bafana for a year before they change to a new kit when the 2012 African Cup of Nations kicks-off.
Only 2 000 jerseys will be made available to the public.
This is the first time Puma has entered into a partnership with the SA Football Association (Safa), taking over from adidas whose deal with the national team ended last week.
Puma did, however, promise that prices for the 2012 replica kit would be made affordable for the average soccer fan.
“The 2012 replica kit and fan wear will be in a tiered pricing structure designed to offer a variety of products at a variety of prices to our consumers,” said Brett Bellinger, marketing director of Puma South Africa.
“In terms of the final pricing structure, that will be determined closer to the time that the Afcon kit hits the market,” he added.
Asked about the design of Bafana Bafana’s new limited edition kit, Bellinger said that due to the short time frame that they had to produce the kit, they had had to rely on a design that was already in existence.
“This kit was always going to be an interim one as the SA national team would be part of a wider launch of new African kit designs for Afcon,” he said.
After signing up with Puma, South Africa has become the 12th African international team to be outfitted by the sports brand, following in the footsteps of African Cup of Nations champions Egypt, as well as Ghana, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Algeria, Senegal, Morocco, Togo, Burkina Faso, Malawi and Namibia.
“It features the very latest innovations of Puma technology. The kit incorporates performance-enhancing fabric through moisture wicking properties; mesh inserts on the side for improved ventilation and embossed fabric to enhance the aesthetic appearance,” said Bellinger.
He added that the shirt would also feature both the Protea and Safa badges as the football body had insisted on it.
Besides the kit being a limited edition, Bellinger said all proceeds from the jerseys would go to charity.
“The proceeds for the shirts go to the Safa charity, SOS Children’s Villages. It is a collectable shirt celebrating the first replica shirt between our two brands, Safa and Puma.”
Bellinger added that Puma were also well aware of the threat that counterfeit jerseys had posed and they had a number of anti-counterfeiting measures put in place to deal with the problem.
“Some of our measures include the specific placement and orientation of the Puma Cat as well as security identification tags which clearly indicate the product as authentic Puma products,” said Bellinger.
“Puma also works closely on a daily basis with both customs and the SA Police to target counterfeiters.
“Successful brands are often measured by the extent of counterfeit in the market. This being said, we take an active stance against counterfeiting and believe that together with customs and the police and our trademark lawyers, we have strong measures in place to combat any perceived threat,” he said.
Meanwhile, Kirsten Nematandani, president of Safa, has promised that the 2012 Bafana Bafana replica jersey would be available for less than the R599 fans had to pay for the last version, which Bafana wore at the 2010 World Cup.
Nematandani said Safa and Puma had kept the “average South African football supporter” in mind during the contract negotiations.
”We were quite clear to Puma about having the average South African football supporter in mind when they decide on how much they will sell the jersey for,” said Nematandani.
“We won't accept the R599 as the required amount to own a national team jersey; it has to be a bit less than that. We know some of our fans cannot afford that price.”
Still, football fans are unimpressed with the limited edition kit. Popular soccer magazine Kick-off asked readers their opinion and the results were not good.
“UGLY… I’m surprised there’s no net on the shoulders.
“Really original Puma!” said one.
”I will stick to my Adidas one thank you. The design is very ugly,” wrote another.
Some fans also complained about the texture of the fabric while other commented that it was simply “ugly”.
“The texture is horrible man....whoever gave the go ahead on this design is a mampara seriously,” wrote one reader. “Why would i want to wear pyjamas to the soccer stadium, hell no,” said another.
Bafana will parade the new limited edition outfit at a friendly match on August 10 against opponents yet to be named.