Scotland, 1999
Garish is the first word that’s springs to mind with this alternative Scotland shirt from the 1999 World Cup, surely one of the worst to ever be worn on rugby’s greatest stage.
If the cadmium orange (or Irn Bru colour, if you wish to lean into the stereotype) wasn’t enough of a sight for sore eyes, the navy hooped sleeves that turned the swinging arms of a rugby player into some kind of optical illusion confirms this experimental jersey as one that should be consigned to the history books.
Paired with orange socks it certainly caught the eye, but it wasn’t a look of admiration. For decades before 1999, the Scotland changed kit had always been a simple white. However, with the onset of professionalism came a drive to spice up the game, but whoever was in charge of that in Scotland clearly went a few steps too far. The design was worn in a few games before the competition, including a friendly v Italy in March 1999, where the shirt was paired with an anthem jacket of the same colour, mercifully with the navy hoops absent. The World Cup rolled around, and while there were welcome additions to the home shirt with the addition of thistle purple to the sleeves, the alternative strip was afforded no such love.
So forcefully forgotten is this shirt that it appears in few ‘Top 5 worst kits’ list, and good photos or footage of it being worn are hard to come by. And yet, some good did come from it for the Scotland players. Cammie Murray, the winger who scored a stand-out try in their quarter-final playoff against Samoa in the jersey, was able to use the loudness of the design as an icebreaker with Jonah Lomu when they met the All Blacks in the last eight, with Murray putting the novelty of the shirt down as the reason he convinced the great man to swap jerseys, something he was famously unaccustomed to doing. Murray came out that game with a try, a Lomu shirt up and a gaudy Scotland shirt down, as good a result as you can get in a 30-18 quarter-final loss.
Orange was cast away by the Scots at the turn of the century, likely with the intention for it to never be seen again. Yet, making a surprise comeback, the Edinburgh rebrand ahead of the 2018/19 season brought the colour back into fashion, the ‘burnt orange’ inspired by the volcanic beginnings of the capital. With a more forgiving shade the orange looks set to stay in Edinburgh, but as eclectic as Darcy Graham is in it, the haunting recollections of ‘99 will likely be enough to prevent its return to the national jersey.
