Has anyone actually seen the (fabled?) pre-1996 DC United jersey? I keep hearing rumors about an original, pre-1996 jersey that Payne - thankfully by all accounts - nixed. The most recent incarnation of this rumor is here: https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&postid=1057100#post1057100 So has anyone actually seen it? Or is this just lore? If there really was such a jersey and you've seen it then what did it look like?
I can tell you that the original DCU logo looked EXACTLY like the stylized Nazi eagle (buy a 5 or 10 pfennig coin dated 1939-44 in any fine coin shop for 25 cents) except that the swastika was replaced with a single soccer ball. Like the rest of the logos, it must have been designed by a bunch of 27 year olds in red suspenders in some fashion thinktank on the Island of Manhatten. The day after it was released to the public, it was withdrawn as gracefully as the circumstances would permit.
I was not aware of a shield that predated this one below. Are you saying there's an older shield that looks like this? Or this:http://djmandy.com/forsale2_files/10pf.jpg
Does Catherine Marquette, who thankfully has taken on an unofficial additional role at United as kind of a club historian, ever post here? She was just telling me about these unis, I believe at the SE Annual Meeting. Her verdict was much like yours - way too Nazi-ish, good thing it was pulled.
I remember seeing the before unveiling United stuff back in early 95 but remember nothing about it. I do remember that the emblem was changed. I was shown it by our Adidas rep for what it is worth.
CatherineDCU is a very occasional poster. About your post there - I'm confused by your last line. How were the uniforms Nazi-ish or did you mean to say the logo?
Original DC United logo Found it....Here's the original logo: http://www.krtdirect.com/graphics/p...ics.htm?s=MLS+AND+soccer&Action=Search&page=4 I think it was only released the one time to the public and was quickly changed to the logo that Knave had posted. Also, if my memory serves me right, I don't think there ever was a uniform that was released along with this logo. -jim
My bad, I meant the logo - and she said it, not me. Although, now that I've seen the logo for myself, I see that she is right.
I thought this logo was also replaced after DC's first season for being too Nazi-like. Was there another reason or is that why? I understand the need to be sensitive about these things and accept why D.C. United had to withdraw that very first logo, nevertheless it is a shame that what otherwise would be fine, even cool, icons and symbols are forever hijacked by, in this particular case, the Nazis.
Personally, I don't get the Nazi vibe from either the original proposed logo nor do I from the original actual logo.
There are still swastikas adorning the masonry of our public library here in Wilmington. History of the emblem
Did the eagle ever have a black head? I thought one of the changes to make it less nazi was switching the bird to an American bald eagle with a white head.
I know that, as late as last year, they were selling keychains with the original-original logo (like Knave's new avatar...) at the souvenir stands at RFK. (I guess they had some old back-stock to sell...). You may want to check at the next game.
when they first unvailed the logos, TSI sold t-shirts with them. i had one with the original United one.
See? Nothing like the original logo. Wings stretched out wide like the old Roman standards. Talons clutching a wreath of garland with the swastika in the center. This looks more like the bundeswehr eagle. Maybe the soccer ball clutched by the talons is what makes people compare the two insignias, but I think it's a stretch. Then again, I'm a designer.
Not that I'm advocating a change to the logo, but if people got so worked up that it became necessary, I think a variation of the old 8th Army Air Force insignia might be interesting:
It's been pointed out by PM that I've got the wrong coin. I think the right ones are below. They do resemble the original shield a bit more than the coin on the previous page.