Suffolk Shrimper In Dorset
Director⭐⭐
Our next proposed retro shirt is the 'WBA top' from the 1969/70 season.
In accordance with our newly beefed-up Trust Retro Shirt approval procedures, before one goes online for sale, our small sub-committee (Nobbler, Dave Goody and myself) agree what we think the final design and colour should be, but before it goes live we also want to seek views from the good folk of SZ. Please remember that it is a RETRO shirt, it cannot ever be an exact replica as we do not know what the exact colour dyes used back in '69 for it were and we have not for this shirt seen an original. We have only been able to find one colour image of it too. Further, the shirt is made of modern (highly durable) material which will be different to the material used 'back then'. So, we stare at old images, pour over pantone colour charts (which have infinite options), look at sample colours on the shirt material to be used, and generally go slightly gaga in the process. What we come up with is our 'best effort' and what we think will be as close to the original as we can get - we welcome your constructive views.
The 68/69 shirt has of course a very interesting background, being the 'chosen one' of four options used by the team at the end of the 68/69 season after the 'almost black' shirt that campaign came under fire for being too like the tops worn by referees at that time. Maybe its popularity had something to do with WBA being the FA Cup holders at the time (I don't know, I'm too young to recall) though possibly too folk liked it as it did provide for some continuation of the 'almost black' theme.
We had been holding back launching this one as we first wanted to see 'in the flesh' the final shade choice that we settled on for the 1968/69 shirt which you may have seen earlier this week as worn by top model Nobbler. If you need a reminder his pic in the 68/69 top is the first one shown below.
Many of you will be aware that there has already been in existence for some time by another retro shirt manufacturer, Toffs (we use World Retro) a version of the 69/70 shirt. Not only is that one more expensive (especially if you want a name and number on the back) but also we think that is more akin to a Sheff Weds top than the 'WBA one' used by Southend. You can view the Toffs version here: Toffs
The one colour image for the 69/70 shirt that we could find is of dear old Gary Moore who is shown in it in the second pic below. Old colour pics are not always that reliable (as we have found out to our cost) but we think that the dark strip in Gary's shirt is as near as damn it the colour of Nobbler's 68/69 one. For those who love a pantone reference (don't we all) the dark stripe pantone used is 276.
This then brings us to the mock-up of the 69/70 shirt which is the third pic shown below and this is the design we intend to go with subject to any comments by you.
Now, you might like another couple of stories as it's getting near bedtime. The first one concerns our choice of SUEPA model for the 69/70 shirt. Many of you will know that back in '68 the WBA talisman was Jeff Astle and he scored WBA's winner in the final and in doing so that meant he had scored in every round in the 67/68 tournament. Sadly of course Jeff passed away in 2002 aged just 59 and, after a long campaign, his daughter Dawn finally proved that his death was due to dementia brought on by the onset of repetitive heading of the ball. Thro Dawn's tireless efforts it is now widely recognised that footballers are at a much greater risk of dementia and her charity The Jeff Astle Foundation is supported by The Shrimpers Trust with £1 of every retro shirt sale from our range being donated to the Foundation. We are delighted, and indeed feel immensely privileged, to announce that Dawn has agreed to be our SUEPA model for this shirt.
The second story relates to the mock up image itself. Our main contact at World Retro (Paul Jago) a couple of days ago met a refugee who had a mutual acquaintance in Kiev. He had worked four years ago with a local management team of four on a consultancy project for an American cosmetics company opening up in Ukraine. One of the four was a woman whose daughter has since started studying art at Kiev University. The father has gone away to fight in the Army. The mother lost her job when their office was damaged and the American parent company withdrew as the Russian forces reached the outskirts of Kiev. The student daughter was left as the only earner, doing odd jobs wherever she could find them. The mutual acquaintance mentioned to Paul that she was regarded as a talented artist and graphic designer. The student, Anastasia, asked if World Retro had any work, and they have been delighted to take her on in a project capacity.
Her second task for World Retro was to produce the mock-up image you see here for the 69/70 shirt. That image has come from a bunker underneath a block in Kiev.
Anyway, I digress. We intend to tell World Retro to use the mock up you see as the basis for all orders for the 69/70 shirt and will do so on Monday eve, but will take on board any comments you wish to provide beforehand. So if you think it needs a tweak please let us know, though equally if you think it's fine you can say that too if you like.
Once the final agreed version is loaded on to the World Retro website it will be announced on Shrimpers Trust social media (hopefully that will happen in the next week) and I will announce it on here too. At that point it will be available to buy.
Cheers, Andy
In accordance with our newly beefed-up Trust Retro Shirt approval procedures, before one goes online for sale, our small sub-committee (Nobbler, Dave Goody and myself) agree what we think the final design and colour should be, but before it goes live we also want to seek views from the good folk of SZ. Please remember that it is a RETRO shirt, it cannot ever be an exact replica as we do not know what the exact colour dyes used back in '69 for it were and we have not for this shirt seen an original. We have only been able to find one colour image of it too. Further, the shirt is made of modern (highly durable) material which will be different to the material used 'back then'. So, we stare at old images, pour over pantone colour charts (which have infinite options), look at sample colours on the shirt material to be used, and generally go slightly gaga in the process. What we come up with is our 'best effort' and what we think will be as close to the original as we can get - we welcome your constructive views.
The 68/69 shirt has of course a very interesting background, being the 'chosen one' of four options used by the team at the end of the 68/69 season after the 'almost black' shirt that campaign came under fire for being too like the tops worn by referees at that time. Maybe its popularity had something to do with WBA being the FA Cup holders at the time (I don't know, I'm too young to recall) though possibly too folk liked it as it did provide for some continuation of the 'almost black' theme.
We had been holding back launching this one as we first wanted to see 'in the flesh' the final shade choice that we settled on for the 1968/69 shirt which you may have seen earlier this week as worn by top model Nobbler. If you need a reminder his pic in the 68/69 top is the first one shown below.
Many of you will be aware that there has already been in existence for some time by another retro shirt manufacturer, Toffs (we use World Retro) a version of the 69/70 shirt. Not only is that one more expensive (especially if you want a name and number on the back) but also we think that is more akin to a Sheff Weds top than the 'WBA one' used by Southend. You can view the Toffs version here: Toffs
The one colour image for the 69/70 shirt that we could find is of dear old Gary Moore who is shown in it in the second pic below. Old colour pics are not always that reliable (as we have found out to our cost) but we think that the dark strip in Gary's shirt is as near as damn it the colour of Nobbler's 68/69 one. For those who love a pantone reference (don't we all) the dark stripe pantone used is 276.
This then brings us to the mock-up of the 69/70 shirt which is the third pic shown below and this is the design we intend to go with subject to any comments by you.
Now, you might like another couple of stories as it's getting near bedtime. The first one concerns our choice of SUEPA model for the 69/70 shirt. Many of you will know that back in '68 the WBA talisman was Jeff Astle and he scored WBA's winner in the final and in doing so that meant he had scored in every round in the 67/68 tournament. Sadly of course Jeff passed away in 2002 aged just 59 and, after a long campaign, his daughter Dawn finally proved that his death was due to dementia brought on by the onset of repetitive heading of the ball. Thro Dawn's tireless efforts it is now widely recognised that footballers are at a much greater risk of dementia and her charity The Jeff Astle Foundation is supported by The Shrimpers Trust with £1 of every retro shirt sale from our range being donated to the Foundation. We are delighted, and indeed feel immensely privileged, to announce that Dawn has agreed to be our SUEPA model for this shirt.
The second story relates to the mock up image itself. Our main contact at World Retro (Paul Jago) a couple of days ago met a refugee who had a mutual acquaintance in Kiev. He had worked four years ago with a local management team of four on a consultancy project for an American cosmetics company opening up in Ukraine. One of the four was a woman whose daughter has since started studying art at Kiev University. The father has gone away to fight in the Army. The mother lost her job when their office was damaged and the American parent company withdrew as the Russian forces reached the outskirts of Kiev. The student daughter was left as the only earner, doing odd jobs wherever she could find them. The mutual acquaintance mentioned to Paul that she was regarded as a talented artist and graphic designer. The student, Anastasia, asked if World Retro had any work, and they have been delighted to take her on in a project capacity.
Her second task for World Retro was to produce the mock-up image you see here for the 69/70 shirt. That image has come from a bunker underneath a block in Kiev.
Anyway, I digress. We intend to tell World Retro to use the mock up you see as the basis for all orders for the 69/70 shirt and will do so on Monday eve, but will take on board any comments you wish to provide beforehand. So if you think it needs a tweak please let us know, though equally if you think it's fine you can say that too if you like.
Once the final agreed version is loaded on to the World Retro website it will be announced on Shrimpers Trust social media (hopefully that will happen in the next week) and I will announce it on here too. At that point it will be available to buy.
Cheers, Andy
Last edited:
