2014 · Home

The Dublin Hoops opened 2014 with everything new except the hoops: a new brand, Warrior freshly arrived on a deal succeeding seventeen years of Umbro, and a new sponsor, finance company Pepper with its red chilli on the chest, the start of a partnership that would last six seasons. The design betrays its family: fully green sleeves and a cut identical to the Liverpool shirts of the same brand, the house template adapted to the green and white of Ringsend. On the pitch, 2014 landed halfway: fourth place with 62 points, behind champions Dundalk, with European qualification secured as a consolation prize. Warrior would never see out its four year contract, swallowed by New Balance the following year, which makes this a shirt of double rarity: two years of brand, six of sponsor, and a club that wore it all with the eternal hoops on top. At Rovers everything else changes; the hoops remain.

Here at Hoopster this piece stands as a family curiosity: Liverpool's template dressed in green and white by a brand that never saw out its contract. Dublin's Hoops have worn everything without ever changing their stripes.