How to Design Your Own Rugby Jersey

Leather looking - 1905 New Zealand All Black Jersey. Photo Frederic Humbert

Online custom-design rugby jersey offers appear to make the task easy; just a few clicks and you are done. But once into the process, clients are confronted with a bewildering set of choices. They find it more complicated than simply combining the team's color; they face choices of style and tradition, jersey form, texture and numbering. They must find a place for logos and sponsors and submit a design that is pleasing and makes a statement. A rugby jersey combines tradition with recognition, modern flair with established trends.

Things You'll Need

• A color chart
• Paper and color pencils/markers

Instructions

Consider trends

1. 

   Choose a pattern for the jersey. Solid color or horizontal wide stripes have been part of the rugby tradition since 1823, when Rugby School in England popularized the game. Vertical stripes have never been part of the game. Blending two colors seamlessly was a trend in the 1980s that has now faded, but the bold three-inch stripes still makes a statement: "rugby jersey."

2. 

   Choose a collar size. Smaller and nonexistent collars, round or V-necks, are replacing the large polo style collar to prevent grabbing them, a common, though illegal, tackle in tight situations.

3. 

   Choose a material. Traditional cotton textured jerseys are being replaced by lightweight, synthetic materials that are more skin-tight and discourage jersey-pulling, even in legal tackles. They are more water-resistant and stay lighter in wet weather.

Consider activity

1. 

   Choose a sleeve length. Online manufacturers offer a variety of sleeve lengths: long, short or three-quarter. Two generations ago, all rugby jerseys sported long sleeves. Some players, usually the hard-working flankers, rolled their sleeves up above the elbow. Players in specific positions, such as tight-head props, cut their right sleeve off at the shoulder to prevent their opposite binding on it in the scrum. Scrum rules have changed that make that same binding necessary and the cut-off practice ceased. A back, facing periods of inactivity in cold conditions, would prefer long sleeves, but the changing nature of the game makes their down times less frequent.

2. Pick a pattern for numbers. Numbers denote players' positions. They are rarely large and always in a contrasting color. In days before well-drained fields, and therefore mud-aplenty, numbers were often plastic. They stood out against the weathered dulled cotton jersey.

3. 

   League or Union? The rugby league jersey is almost always designed with a large V from shoulder to shoulder and to the naval at its apex. Rugby union jerseys are not.

Sponsors, names and logos

1. Decide how to recognize your sponsor on the jersey.

2. 

   Logos are usually high on the chest, left or right, and sponsor's names about the middle.

3. Names for players are not part of the rugby tradition, though this is changing .

Tips & Warnings

• Logos are usually high on the chest, left or right, with sponsors' names in the middle.

References

• Suepersports Leisure Ltd