Stade Français, 2005-06
In 2005, Stade Français president Max Guazzini wanted to get people talking, again. By introducing the now iconic pink kit he took on the macho rugby world – today, it’s safe to say, he won.
Royal blue shirts, red shorts and white socks are the traditional colours of Stade Francais, the club that was founded 1883. But when the flamboyant Guazzini decided that cheerleaders, nude calendars and Madonna were now old news, he concocted his next ground-breaking move when he employed Adidas to supply the next seasons kit.
If the blue and red thunderbolt design of that year’s home shirt was not already flashy enough, the pink away strip certainly turned heads. Spliced with navy thunderbolts the shirt made its debut in a league game against Perpignan. Unfortunately it ended in a 12-16 defeat that day, but off it was an entirely different story. The shirt was worn for the rest of the season and while some from the old guard voiced their disapproval at its affront to ‘rugby values’, the unceasing ring of the till in the club shop said otherwise as 20,000 replica shirts were sold.
Designed to shock, to get people’s attention, the shirt did exactly that. Pink was a colour rarely seen on a sports pitch at that time, let alone in the virile sport of rugby, and despite all the success that Guazzini had brought, taking the club from fourth division to eventually five-time French champions, some still looked down with ire at his innovative style as deliberately provocative.
The shirt was such a success, both commercially and in the minds of those that mattered, that the following season two new pink alternative shirts were created. The first, similar in design to the previous season featuring pink with blue detailing, was made by fashion designer Kenzo. The second, an Adidas design that featured pink lilies with green stalks on a navy-blue base, raised eyebrows again due to the use of green, a non-club colour. However, it was reportedly a hit with the players who wore it.
While the Guazzini era ended in a typical blaze of fire, the legacy of the pink shirt lives on. To this day it remains the most distinctive shirt in rugby, the pink eventually making its way on Stade’s home jerseys, and set a precedent for others to follow. In recent years the efforts to keep designs original have led to some strips more akin to RuPaul’s Drag Race than the Top 14, but there’s no denying it is one of the most influential uniforms ever worn in the sport.
