England RWC 2011 Shirt

[nocdaes]

I thought I'd share this amusing piece of Customer Service that I received when calling up the RFU Store this morning...

ME: Hello there. Just browsed your website and I can see you have RWC 2011 Shirts for Fiji, Canada and Samoa... but nothing for England. Any particular reason why?

THEM: *confidently* Oh! That's because it's not released yet.

ME: Oh! (Thinking to myself, errr it's 6 weeks until the tournament...) Any idea when they might be releasing it, since every other nation seems to have got theirs out promptly enough?

THEM: Errrr well it's not on our list of upcoming releases for July or August, so I'd expect September.

ME: September? Errr... the Rugby World Cup kicks off in New Zealand in September...

THEM: Sorry, we have no more information.

ME: Can you find someone that might know and ask them please? *Put on Hold - classical music*

THEM: The website will be updated this week with details.

ME: OK. I'll call you back next week, after it hasn't been updated. Bye.

THEM: OK, bye.

In their defense, I must say they picked up the phone very promptly indeed. It rang 3 times and went straight through to the customer service agent - no 'press 1 for this or 2 for that' and no annoying jingles or classical music. Sadly, the person it came through to knew very little... but hey, I'm sure they'd have helped me with a shirt size query... if they actually had the shirt, of course.

Anyway, jokes aside, I find this rather alarming. The RWC comes around every 4 years and they are leaving it until the very last possible moment not only to sell the replica shirt, but to even tell us ANY information regarding it! No wonder they're struggling for money? This is surely one of the best opportunities for making money?!

I will be extremely annoyed if their mis-management of the shirt release leads to a huge influx of demand that they fail to meet in time for the tournament. I don't normally care too much for the shirts, but it's nice to support them with a bit of money and to wear the shirt when watching the games out in NZ.

Anyone else struggled to find the new shirt / fallen victim to their attempts to make us wear O2 sponsored ones that cannot be used at the RWC?

 

[TRF_Cymro]

5th of August is the release date for it.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

August the 5th they're released to the public

That's the day before the first warm up test

We'll have pictures up on here from the photoshoot that took place two weeks ago, when the date comes

 

[Kiwiwomble]

Ours hasn't been released either, end of the month

 

[gaznic]

England All Blacks

New England RWC alternate kit is going to be all black kit is to be launched on the 1st Aug.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

August 5th...

 

[gaznic]

Unveiled on the 1st on sale 5th

 

[The big Kangaroo]

just read an article about the New Zealand pm calling the English wannabes. you got to love how even the leader of their country gets into the rugby


http://www.foxsports.com.au/rugby/n...-all-black-strip/story-e6frf4pu-1226095601761

 

[Gavin]

Yeap funny that they are having a good at England, even though New Zealand said it was alright for them to wear this colour

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Unveiled on the 1st on sale 5th

The RFU told me differently

 

[SelimNiai]

Pssst, it'll be white

 

[Blackie252]

It is white, but the change kit is Black, To be Honest im quite looking forward to seeing what the change kit looks like, I really liked the Antichrist* one!!!!!

*I Know anthracite

 

[smartcooky]

...you got to love how even the leader of their country gets into the rugby

Yep. He even has a guest spot on RadioSport's breakfast show (Tuesday morning IIRC) with Tony Veitch and Mark Richardson.

John Key seems fairly knowledgeable on a wide range of sports. He is also quite clever with it, taking high profile Kiwi sportsmen with him on diplomatic and trade missions to foreign countries....

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/5199988/Indians-flock-to-Fleming-during-Key-visit

 

[Sneaki]

Doesn't really matter to me that their away kit is black, it was pretty close last year anyway. If England play us they'll wear white, and we'll wear black, simple .

 

[CDN_Rugby]

New England RWC alternate kit is going to be all black kit is to be launched on the 1st Aug.

I sincerely hope the England kit isn't black. If so, it may provoke uncontrollable choking in the knockout stages.

 

[Blackie252]

I sincerely hope the England kit isn't black. If so, it may provoke uncontrollable choking in the knockout stages.

The change kit is Black......But im looking forward to it!!!!!

 

[.me]

They'll be using the change kit for their warm up games too, and a quote (in the quote from below) from a RFU spokesperson says the change strips are popular with supporters.

We believe the black shirt will be very popular with supporters as previous change shirts, such as purple and anthracite in November 2009 and 2010 respectively, have been."
It is understood the controversial kit will be used for the first time against Wales at Twickenham on August 6 and then in the return match in Cardiff the following weekend.
The kit will also be worn in Dublin for England's last warm-up game against Ireland at the Aviva Stadium on August 27.

Sydney Morning Herald

 

[Thingimubob]

Tbf a black kit could turn out quite nice. I remember Wales have had a couple of nice black away kits recently, and the new one's not too bad either. Never liked it when some New Zealanders (not all obviously) kick up a fuss about other teams wearing black, it's not as if they own the rights to the colour black. Similar type of thing happened 4 years ago when, again only some, New Zealanders thought that the French kit was 'too dark' and were using it as a ploy to undermine the All Blacks if they played eachother.