By David Owen
January 10 – You cannot help but admire the boldness of some of sports goods company Puma’s football initiatives.
Now a decade on from the sleeveless shirts worn by the Cameroon national team at the 2002 African Cup of Nations, it is time to say “Allo” to the pink Puma.
The Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP) has announced that, when Ligue 1, the top division of the French football league, resumes on January 14 following its winter break, its stars will be kicking a pink football.
The ball (pictured), which will be in use until the end of the present season, is said by the LFP – with, it has to be said, some justification – to have “un tout nouveau look” (there are times when even the finest translation seems superfluous).
The ball, which will also bring “freshness and innovation” to a league not always regarded as in the top rank of European football competitions, is said to have the same “exceptional” technical qualities as the one introduced in the 2010-11 season.
This is said to have taken three years of research and development to perfect.
French sports fans have become somewhat inured over the years to the use of the colour pink in the most masculine of environments thanks notably to the efforts of the Stade Français rugby club and its trailblazing kit designs.
The ball will be unveiled in all its glory at 9pm, French time, on Saturday, January 14, when the 20th round of this season’s Ligue 1 match programme kicks off.
The views of Inspector Clouseau – or, for that matter, of Sepp Blatter, the FIFA President – are not known.
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