A Question of Stripes

For the second season in succession, Stoke City will play in a striped-shirt with plain back. But why?

Stoke City’s new kit for the 2017/18 Premier League season. But why the plain back?

Last year, as part of the club’s press release, it was clearly stated that the design was part of UEFA-rule compliance.
Meanwhile, other traditionally striped shirts up-and-down the country were released with, well, stripes.

All over them.

Front and back.

Needless to say, it led to much annoyance and frustration amongst Potters fans. Was it just a money-making scheme by the club and manufacturers, Macron? Or part of a larger issue of compliance?

Delving into the rules, it’s clear that there is some ambiguity between the different rules that each club must abide by.

As a member of the Premier League, for example, the club must abide by:

• the Premier League rules;
• The Football Association of England rules;
• the rules of UEFA; and
• the rules of any other competition the club is participating in. In Stoke’s case, this means the Football League rules (who run the Football League Cup), and the FA Cup rules too.

This means, in essence, with each kit produced that the club and manufacturer are trying to meet the criteria of five different sets of rules — each slightly different.

Five Rules that say what?

So, what do the rules actually state?

The UEFA Kit Regulations (2012) are the best place to start, given that the Stoke press release cited these initially.

Article 10 is the necessary regulation for shirt numbers, and there are 11 parts to this article — although only six of these are relevant to the back of the shirt.

In short, the UEFA regulations state that the number must:

• appear centrally on the back of the shirt (10.01)
• be a single colour with a minimum contrast between it and the background colour (10.02, more detail on this later)
• have a ‘free zone’ around each number, using “a single-colour background if so required” (10.03, again more detail on this later)
• between 25cm and 35cm in height, with a width between 2cm and 5cm (10.04)
• clearly legible from at least 50 metres, in both daylight and floodlight (10.05)
• optionally include a shadow outline or “contrasting key line” to improve legibility (10.09).

The FA rules are less stringent, and simply state the height of the numbers (20–35cm) and that it is down to the individual competitions to set the criteria.

So what of the Premier League rules?

According to the 2016/17 Premier League Handbook, Section M covers the “Players’ Identification and Strip”. Rule M7 states that the shirt number is displayed “clearly visible in accordance with guidelines laid down by the Board”, whilst M9 states the design, colour and style of the numbers and lettering will also be “determined by the Board”.

So there we have it; whilst no Rule is written in the Handbook of the Premier League, it would be safe to assume that the Board-determined interpretations refer back to the UEFA regulations as it’s foundations.

What of those extra details though — regards contrast and background colours — detailed in the UEFA regulations?

The Free Zone

Firstly, the ‘free zone’ around the number is a defined area around a two-digit number; in the rules, UEFA use the number 11 as an example.
This free zone must have a minimum 2cm clearance between the highest point of the number, 3cm below the lowest point of the number and 3cm either side of the double-digit number.

This effectively means that if a manufacturer were to produce a shirt using the maximum number height as it’s guidelines, there must be a 40cm-tall panel on the rear of the shirt (35cm for the number, 2cm above and 3cm below for the ‘free zone’).

A standard Adult Large t-shirt is 75.5cm long. Therefore, the ‘free zone’ would comprise of slightly more than 50% of the rear of the shirt.
For children’s sizes, the percentage covered by the free zone could be reduced by using the smaller shirt numbers, but it’s still a considerable amount of the rear of the shirt to be left “free”.

A Contrast in Colours

Secondly, the UEFA rules refer to colours and contrast between number and background.
For approval, the contrast between shirt colours in the ‘free zone’ must be a Delta L of 25 or less. If this isn’t the case, then a ‘neutral patch’ is required on the back of the shirt, comprising of a Delta L of 30 or above.

Without a spectrophotometer to hand (as is used by UEFA to determine sanction approval), it’s hard to prove whether the club fall foul of this contrast rule or not. But it’s easy to see from past examples the issues with contrast.

Black numbers on red-and-white stripes offer poor contrast

Atletico Madrid’s blue on red-and-white stripes improves contrast slightly, but still not the greatest

Questions have been asked about Hull’s numbers on striped shirts — but clearly, as seen here, the two darker colours of orange and black make the white numbers easy to read

It might not be to everyone’s taste, but the plain background to Stoke’s shirt numbers is likely to stay for the foreseeable.

The alternative design suggestions offered — such as a completely plain back, rather than the half-stripes-at-the-bottom-of-the-shirt make more sense.
The club tried that approach in 2010/11, much to the derision of fans — though that may be more related to the main colour being red, rather than white.
And, for those who remember, the mid-90’s saw the Potters play with a red square behind their shirt numbers for a season. Again, though, the fans despised it (and the replica panel faded and peeled off after a couple of washes).

All of this means that, until the Premier League release a set of numbers that contrast suitably with both white and red, the club and fans will just have to accept a stalemate.

Unless a compromise can be made between genuine-and-replica shirts.