Here’s the thing about football, yeah? It’s a game played on grass, but it’s woven with more than just nylon and thread. It’s stories, it’s community, it’s that feeling you get when something just fits. Like when your favourite trainers finally give up the ghost, but you can’t bring yourself to throw them away. They’ve walked with you through too much.
So, when Barcelona’s MEYBA announces a hook-up with San Francisco City FC, you know something special is going to come out of it. This partnership they’re launching is more than just another shirt. It’s a conversation.
See, in the USL, it’s not the same as the bright lights of MLS. It’s more like the streets, more like your local barbershop – the one you can walk to. These clubs are figuring things out – like an awkward teenager growing into their skin – and their kits are their voice, their identity. And this new SF City FC jersey? It’s got something to say.
Jonathan Jones at MEYBA, is talking about “forward-thinking clubs” and how they “worked their magic.” But this shirt, this iron-grey base with a California gold stripe smack down the middle – it’s speaking a different language. It’s like they looked at the city and decided to stitch a little bit of that raw San Francisco energy straight in.
The gold, see it? It’s like the sun hitting the Golden Gate. The zig-zag patterns? It’s the rhythm of the city, the hustle and bustle, all that glorious, messy energy. And yeah, they’ve used this “omni-move” tech, so players can breathe and twist and turn. But it’s more than that, isn’t it?
"Who is this for?" Well, according to Ian Blackley, the Creative Director.
"After 24 years of, not to put it mildly, disorganised home kit design, our community voted on this design. From the type of pattern, to the ratio of colours, to the colour of the shorts and socks, it’s completely their design. All of it."
This is something born from the ground up. This wasn’t some boardroom decision. It came from the people, like those murals on the side of a random building in the Mission District. Muni, the local transit agency, even hopped on board. How many transit companies are repping the local footie team? None, right? It’s a San Francisco thing, it’s a community thing, and it’s got me wanting to find that one guy on the 38 bus wearing one.
What else? This partnership feels like more than just the obvious – the kit, the colours, the badges. There’s this feeling, this possibility. Imagine if all clubs started working with their communities like this. What kind of statements could we stitch into the fabric of the game?
And then it hits you – this isn’t just another kit. It’s an invitation to dream, to imagine what’s possible. So, go on, then. Go on and get it
