13-04-2019
CPL Kit Report Cards - Ranking the Top 5 Kits
Introduction This is the Northern 90 Podcast with Pat Sweet, Episode 12. Welcome to the Northern 90 Canadian Premier League Podcast, covering the beautiful game in the great white north. For more Canadian Premier League content, head over to Northern90.ca. That’s Northern Nine Zero dot ca. Welcome Hello, Canada, and welcome to the Northern 90 Canadian Premier League Podcast! I'm your host, Pat Sweet. This week, I'm sharing the top five kits that came out in last week's big kit reveal party. News In this week's headlines: From the Last Word on Soccer blog there was a good rundown of Jeff Paulus' views on FC Edmonton's preseason so far.In genral he's quite pleased, except for the first 15 minutes of their friendly against Cavalry FC. The best quote from the piece was on that match having been a friendly. Paulus said "there will never be a friendly against us and Calgary.”Finally, Mediapro's long-awaited streaming service has been announced. One Soccer 24/7 will be the digital home for all 98 Canadian Premier League games this year. Many will have noticed that One Soccer was the kit sponsor for both FC Edmonton and Valour FC. The online channel will also have men's and women's national team domestic games, as well as the Canadian Championship. No word on price. If you go to Onesoccer.ca you can sign up for their mailing list to be notified of news related to the service. From there, you'll also note that there will be Apple App Store and Google Play apps coming soon.Also, the league recently announced what they're calling the Volkswagen Premier Performer program. This is a scoring system that will incorporate a number of different metrics and stats to rank players throughout the year, with the top overall player winning a 2019 Jetta GLI. For those of you familiar with MLS, they have the Audi Player Index, which sounds very similar to this. I'm excited about this because it means real stats are going to be collected on the players, which is one of my favourite things to dig into in pro sports. If you want even more CPL content, including the most important headlines delivered straight to your inbox, then sign up for the Northern 90 Supporters' group. When you join, you get a weekly newsletter with the top headlines, podcast notifications, access to private supporter's group Facebook group, and much much more. Also, it's free. Check it out at northern90.ca/join. Next up, grading the very first CanPL kits. CanPL Kit Report Cards In this segment, I'm going to share what I think are the top five kits that were recenrly released, using my own highly sophisticated, yet entirely arbitrary grading system. First, I'll explain the system. I'm grading each kit on five criteria: First impression - What was my first reaction when I saw the kit?Attention to detail - After really studying the kit, what did I find?Originality - is this just some boring "mail it in" kit, or is this something truly new and interesting?Relevance to the club - How well thought out is the design with respect to the club and it's city?Fan reaction - What do the fans think? Next, I weighted each of the criteria based on how important I think they are on a scale of 0 - 1, with the total of all weights adding up to 1. This means that if something scored really high on a criterial that isn't super important compared to the others, that that would come out in the wash. First impression: 0.1Attention to detail: 0.3Originality: 0.2Revevance to the club: 0.2Fan reaction: 0.2 Next, I gave every kit a score from 1 to 5 on each criterion, adjusted them according to the weighting, and came up with my overall winner. Can you tell I'm an engineer? In this episode, I'll run through my favourite 5 kits, starting from position 5 up to number one. If you want to see how every kit stacked up, just head to the show notes to see the whole scorecard at northern90.ca/episode12. 4/5. Tie Pacific FC's Away Kit and York 9 FC's Home Kit Pacific FC Away What it looks like: The kit is lagoon blue, which most people will call teal, with three v-shaped waves on the front, purple accents, and a small trident on the bottom of the back.Again, my first reaction wasn't great, but the detail is awesome.The three V's represent Victory, Vitality, and Vancouver IslandI'm just impressed that they pulled off the colour scheme.This kit scored high on both originality and attention to detail York 9 FC Home Simple, bold. Great first impression.Crystal clear who the team is. Very unique.Maybe not the most creativeTrillium flower and the 9 communities on the back are a nice touchScored well on first impression and originality 3. FC Edmonton's Home Kit Awesome combination of blues to represent the prarie sky and the Saskatechewan River.I especially like the navy blue "melange" colourRalley Rabbit on the back is awesome. The Ralley Rabbit has been part of the club since the very start, so that's a great nod to the club's past.The club has always worn blue.This kit scored high on the first impression, relevance to the club, and fan reaction 2. HFX Wanderers FC Home Didn't think much of it at first.It wasn't until I got home that I noticed the citadel pattern, which is awesomeOur Harbour, out Home, Our Soul in Gaelic on the back.Great colourI love the colar, my wife not so much. Lukily, the women's cut doesn't have that, so hopefully that'll be an option with her season tickets.This kit scored well on attention to detail and originality 1. All of Valour FC's Kits Valour FC knocked it out of the park. Both their kits tied for first place. I absolutely love them both. They're unique, well thought out, and while both totally different, very much in line with a unified club identity. Home Marroon - basic colour scheme meant to match the logo.All based on the Victoria Cross - Canada's highest honourDifferent front half-panels, which I didn't notice at first. The right half has embossed vertical lines. Again, inspired by the texture of the Victoria CrossNothing on the back in terms of logo Away All black with the maroon dot design on the chest - meant to symbolise the forks, which is where the Red River and the Assinaboine meet.Huge V logo on the back, which has a W embedded to represent both Valour and Winnipeg. Both kits scored well across the board, and were very clearly the neutral's choice for best kit. Overall Report Card General observations Natural elements are a common theme Water in Pacific FC, Edmonton, Halifax, Valours' away kit pattern on the chest is meant to symbolise the forks - the meeting of the Assinoboine and the Red RiverFoothills, rocky mountains, spruce meadows, the Trillium flowerYork 9's away kit's hoops are symbolic of the York Regional forrestThe prairie sky for FC Edmonton's home kit Military influence Cavalry FCValour FCHalifax citadel I really hope the detail shows on TV. I had a hard time noticing much of the fine detail that was infused into the kits during the launch. I really hope it doesn't get lost on TV.Be sure to check out your club's store through their website or canpl.ca. It looked like there was going to be a bunch more Macron gear coming out, so definitely check that out so that you can get kitted up and support your club. Next up, the mailbag. Mailbag Some great messages and ideas this week to share with you. Matt from St. John, New Brunswick wrote to say he had just discovered the show after a buddy of his told him about it. He's a bit bummed that there's no team local to him yet, which I totaly sympathize with. I can totally see a team coming to Moncton at some point with the infrastucture that's there from Women's World Cup and for what kind of population there is within a 2 hour drive. ALSO, the rivalry with Halifax would be awesome. Also, for all the other listeners out there - be like Matt's buddy and tell your friends about the show! That's awesome!Iain wrote from the UK to let us know that we've got a fan on that side of the pond, which is awesome. I'm continuously amazed by how much mail I get from places outside Canada.James from Forge FC wrote to compliment the show and suggest a scarf swap when he's here in Halifax, which is awesome. If anyone else is in town and wants to trade scarves, let me know, because that would be awesome. What do you think? If you've listened to the show, you know I love to hear from you guys - especially with this being my first episode featuring an interview. I'd love to know what you think of this deal. You can: Leave a comment at northern90.ca/episode12Write to me at pat at northern90.caFire me a note on Twitter @northernninety Outroduction That's all we've got for the show today. If you liked the show, don't forget to subscribe to it, and when you do leave an honest review. That helps me make the show better and others find it. Also, if you've been enjoying this show, you should join my supporters' group. When you join you get a weekly newsletter with curated CPL content, access to a members-only Facebook group, contests, giveaways, fantasy leagues, all sorts of good stuff. And it's free. Check it out at northern90.ca/join. Until then, have a great week. Credits Featured Image Photo by Fachry Zella Devandraon Unsplash Intro music Move Like Thisby spinningmerkaba (c) copyright 2011 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. Ft: Texas Radio Fish, Alex Beroza, and Snowflake CPL Headlines Music Calm the F*** Downby Broke for Free (c) copyright 2010 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. Main Content Intro Music 260809 Funky Nurykabeby spinningmerkaba (c) copyright 2010 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. Mailbag Music I dunnoby grapes (c) copyright 2008 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. Ft: J Lang, Morusque Outro music Urbana-Metronica(wooh-yeah mix) by spinningmerkaba (c) copyright 2011 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. Ft: Morusque, Jeris, CSoul, Alex Beroza
