Re: 2008 Rowdies Colors/Jersey/Logo thread I am a Sounder fan through and through but I think the Rowdies had the best kits ever and one of the best nicknames. When you look at the kits from a distance you know what team it is. Like Celtic, Man U, AC Milan, Inter Milan It is such a good Trademark and brand.
Re: 2008 Rowdies Colors/Jersey/Logo thread Precisely. Instantly recognizable. Make small changes every few years if you must as long as it does not stray too far from the classic design, but don't make radical changes away from a classic design for no reason. Wish USSF understood that and would pick a single classic design for our national teams (no I don't consider "white shirt, dark shorts" a classic design). My preference would be something based on the NASL Team America kit.
Re: 2008 Rowdies Colors/Jersey/Logo thread Actually I think the Rowdies should use the NASL jerseys at home games and the new jerseys at away games
Re: 2008 Rowdies Colors/Jersey/Logo thread This entire forum has pretty much died since the flurry after the rezoning hearing. Not much new to talk about.
Re: 2008 Rowdies Colors/Jersey/Logo thread I know the feeling. It feels like the Orlando thread has become a chat log between me and OrlandoRays at times.
Re: 2008 Rowdies Colors/Jersey/Logo thread I kind of disagree. The Rowdies, although can capitalize on some nostalgia, need a 21st century identity. A brand new design that is unique in its own right. Plus, I always liked the green/gold away kit over the white home back in the day. As I previously posted, I still would prefer a quartered green and gold jersey, green shorts, and the classic hooped socks. The nod to tradition would be using the old school font for the numbers. Unfortunately, I am not a photoshop expert and can't display my idea.
Re: 2008 Rowdies Colors/Jersey/Logo thread I agree, the Rowdies need to establish a new identity for this team. Playing a game in the retro jerseys wouldn't be the world's worst idea, and could be a nice promo, but it shouldn't be a regular thing. Using them as inspiration would be great though.
Re: 2008 Rowdies Colors/Jersey/Logo thread A throwback night, once a year would be nice. Auction off the kits for charity and have maybe the current Rowdie and a vintage Rowdie sign the shirts. Fouth of July would be a great time for that match. Which reminds me. Back in the days when the Rowdies played at USF, IIRC they still played the July 4th match at Tampa Stadium and drew a pretty decent crowd. I know that the Clearwater Threshers pack out their stadium sometimes with fireworks shows. People are suckers for fireworks. Do you think the Rowdies could pull off a 4th of July spectacular at RJS?
Re: 2008 Rowdies Colors/Jersey/Logo thread Sorry, guys, I vehemently disagree with the idea of creating a totally new design. There is no need to fix what ain't broke or to implement change simply for the sake of change. Does Arsenal do away with its red shirt with white sleeves just for the hell of it? Sure for a few seasons they might have but they always go back to some verson of their classic design. Does Aston Villa or West Ham abandon their classic blue sleeves and claret shirt design? Does Notts County, Newcastle United, or Juventus abandon their classic black and white vertical stripes simply because they need to do something new? Of course not. No one is saying that the Rowdies have to play in replica jerseys of their classic NASL kit, but they do need to retain the elements of that design that were uniquely Rowdies: the hooped green and yellow sleeves and socks. The Rowdies didn't play in no freakin' quartered shirts, for God's sake! You know what quartering your shirt says? It says: "I am a Harlequin". Harlequins: A bleeping rugby team! I don't care if the hooped pattern goes up beyond the sleeves to include the shoulders; I don't care if the hooped pattern goes down from the sleeves to the sides of the jersey like in some of the photoshop designs people have posted here. I'd even accept green and yellow "bars" down the top of the shoulders and on to the sleeves similar to how sometimes Arsenal has a white stripe on their shoulders/sleeves instead of actual white sleeves. Or for that matter, go with full green and yellow hoops on the entire jersey, or green and yellow hoops with a white "tabard" down the middle similar to the middle section of Ajax's jerseys. There's plenty of ways to play with the classic Rowdies kit pattern, to design a different pattern every couple of years; but there is no reason to abandon the classic design entirely. Changing something simply because "it's the 21st century" is not a valid reason to do anything. You can see this with all the clubs who have a great, classic design: yes the design is changed or tweaked every few years, but Arsenal is still recognizably Arsenal, West Ham is still recognizably West Ham, Boca Juniors is still recognizably Boca Juniors, FC Barcelona is still recognizably FC Barcelona, etc. Don't mess with a uniquely recognizable design once you have it. Hooped green and yellow socks are not enough. The design recognizability needs to be in the jersey. I don't care whether the Rowdies wear white at home, or green, but I do care about having some version of the green and yellow sleeves and socks. Again, this isn't a straight jacket; no one is saying we can't change the kit design, but the changes shouldn't ruin the recognizability that the classic pattern has created. We have so few long enduring traditions in American soccer, so few things that tie us back to our past. Please, I'm begging you. Don't fsck this up.
Re: 2008 Rowdies Colors/Jersey/Logo thread This is fun! Ralph is all worked up. I would really like to know what the owners are planning. Playing in an authentic replication of the classic kit would be marvelous. My suggestion for a new, UNIQUE, design was for two reasons. 1. The ASL and APSL Rowdies never wore the classic design. In fact they wore some God awful getups. Then the Mutiny wore several Rowdies 'throwbacks' that were simply stock green shirts with the Rowdies logo on them. I fear that kind of half-cocked effort again. Lets be honest, we are a small time outfit here in the scheme of things. If we can get Umbro, Nike, Adidas or someone to make the Classic kit, spitting image, then go for it. If not, I would rather have a new design than sully the old. (It isn't impossible. Umbro produced a very accurate classic Whitecaps kit for Vancouver.) 2. This is the biggie. Look at the new crest. The owners are committed to using a modern badge design with OH NO! Navy blue as an accent color. This means that they have already decided against using the classic kit. So if they are going to reinvent the wheel. It best be a darn good wheel. Of all the actual decisions made to date, this is the one I question. That badge they have is total crap and needs to go. If they were to chuck it, then by all means bring back the classic unis. Oh, and BTW, Northern Ireland NT wore a splendid quartered kit as did Coventry City and several other clubs. The fact that all those sides are complete crap should not scare you at all.
Re: 2008 Rowdies Colors/Jersey/Logo thread Ah aims to please. All the more reason not to emulate them. As I thought I made clear, I'm not talking about a 100% reproduction of the classic kit. I'm talking about adhering to the general idea of the classic kit but translating it into something new that is still recognizable as the Rowdies unique look. Their choice of new crest does not necessarily have anything to do with their choice in new kit. They may in fact be regretting their choice in new crest and decide to choose a kit that adheres closer to the classic Rowdies look. Whoever they hire to do their new marketing campaign may have some ideas that sway them back towards the classic look. We simply don't know. You're practically arguing my case for me! By the way, I've recently upgraded my Big Soccer membership and am extremely irritated that there is no Tampa Bay Rowdies option under the list of clubs that one supports.
Hey guys in case some of you haven't seen it here's what I had in mind for the Rowdies last summer shortly after the official announcement for the team was made. Pretty much a modernization of the old kit and wordmark design.
First, what I like: The badge you designed is 100% better than the one that has been unveiled. It isn't perfect, but quite good. I like the imagery of the Skyway Bridge and the classic font used for Rowdies. Would rather see it all contained within the borders of the 'badge' shape. Having the Rowdies wordmark bursting out looks a bit silly IMHO. The bridge gets lost because it has nothing behind it to contrast. The middle kit is frankly something I can live with. The change I would make is to remove the white band on the sleeves so it can just be properly Green and Gold alternating stripes. But I rather like the way the green stripe comes down into the body. It is the kind of updated look that I think would work. Oh, the trim on the shorts need to be green as well. Like the classic font on the numbers. Well done. What I don't like: The Rowdies won't have a third kit I would reckon and if they ever do, God forbid it being Navy. No WAY. Same for the Yellow number. Make it Green and now we have something.
I wouldn't rule out navy playing a big part in the kit. With the way they've used it so far in marketing, it will probably be pretty obvious.
I mostly agree with Bluesfan's comments except for the remarks about yellow. Rowdie Ralph wears yellow, so it can't be all bad. I'd accept yellow as a third kit alternate to white or green. As for navy blue, it's not a Rowdies color. As a minor color used to outline parts of the logo I can live with it, but it has no place as a major kit color (except maybe as one of the choices for goalkeeper kits). BTW, guys, can any of you give me a few pointers about the software and other templates and tools you use for creating these logo and kit designs? I'm getting a new much more powerful laptop to replace the dinosaur laptop I'm currently using, and I thought I'd like to try my hand at designing these things. A picture is worth a thousand words and frankly I don't think my verbal descriptions of what I'm talking about comes across very well. Much easier to simply show it.
I personally prefer Liverpool's 3rd kit to their away kit this year. This year's away kit sucks IMHO. Chelsea's this year is pretty decent too. I'd like to see MLS start doing 3rd kits, but only for CCL and Superliga teams. If the Rowdies did something like that, having a 3rd kit for USOC matches, that'd be pretty cool.
Maybe I just don't understand the whole 3rd shirt fetish. Have two decent options and you rarely need a third. This could be a genetic trait I have because my son thinks it is stupid that the Lightning came out with a third shirt this season. Once again, I will be happy if the first and second kits look respectable
I don't get the NHL/NBA 3rd kit deal. For me, 3rd kits replace the away kit for international play and that's it. It makes them stand out more. The problem is there's no standard for it.
The only standard in world football is that the home team uses its preferred home kit, and the visiting team plays in its preferred kit provided it is sufficiently different from the home's team kit. That's it. Usually the home team always plays in its primary kit but when away from home there's less pressure to wear the primary kit so that's where you use your 2nd and 3rd kit. The three primary traditional Rowdies colors (green, yellow, white) and classic design (green and yellow hooped socks and sleeves with the the rest of the shirt and shorts being either home white or away green - or 'Rowdie Ralph' yellow) make for a logical choice of colors for up to three kits. No need for a fourth color. What I like about the classic Rowdies kit design is that the instantly recognizeable green and yellow hooped socks and sleeves never change, regardless which kit is being used. It helps a lot with creating that unique Rowdies recognizeablity that you don't get with other designs. I usually go with world football tradition but I don't care for the tendency, at least in English football, for the 2nd kit to bear no relation in color and design to the home, 1st kit. Some of those clubs keep changing their 2nd kit and the colors they choose have no connection at all to the club colors. In this case I prefer what is generally the North American tradition: home kit is in the primary color with the secondary color(s) being reduced to the supporting role, while the away or 2nd kit reverses the situation with the primary color being reduced to a supporting role (with usually white being one of the secondary colors being used in the main role on 2nd kit). I'm not talking here about the NFL forcing one of the teams to play in white, either. So for instance, if the primary kit is all red with white collars, numbers, letters, etc., this would be reversed in the 2nd kit with all white, with red collars, numbers, letters, etc. If the 1st kit is blue shirt, white shorts, and blue socks, the 2nd kit would reverse this with white shirt, blue shorts, and white socks. There's another idea along those lines which I would like to see more teams use: color replacement for 2nd kit without changing the design. For instance see FC Dallas away kit where the red hoops are replaced with gray hoops (now they are using blue hoops but the idea is the same). Along those lines, I'd like to see someone try this for any new MLS teams that chooses hoops or horizontal stripes. For instance if your home kit is black and gray hooped shirt and socks and black shorts, replace the black with white for the 2nd kit but leave the gray unchanged so 2nd kit would be white and gray hooped shirts and socks and white shorts. If the home kit is blue and yellow horizontal stripes and blue shorts and socks, for the 2nd kit use white to replace blue so 2nd kit would be white and yellow horizontal stripes, white shorts and socks. 1st kit black and blue horizontal stripes, black shorts and socks; 2nd kit white and blue horizontal stripes, white shorts and socks. So much better than simply making the second kit all white, at least for teams that use hoops or stripes in their home kit. Just thinking out loud; if anyone has advice on how to create these designs on a computer I'm all ears. I'm completely uninformed in this area. I'm drifting a bit off topic ie discussing general kit design rather than Rowdies kit design.
Re: 2008 Rowdies Colors/Jersey/Logo thread Good to see the Rowdies are coming in 2010! I live up in Monticello a little under 4 hrs from Tampa and am looking forward to making the drive to see them play. Anyway, I've been under a rock lately (new baby etc.) and missed out on the logo reveal way back when. It's decent although they should have used the classic Rowdies font. I would also ditch the large out green/white band around the shield. Regardless, I am happy they'll be pro-soccer w/in a reasonable drive of me and with family in Tampa it'll make it easier to get down there! Go Rowdies!
Re: 2008 Rowdies Colors/Jersey/Logo thread Welcome to you. Good to see support from across the state. I just hope they didn't pay anyone to design that logo. It looks like it was done in about 15 minutes by a high school graphics art student.