The Day Counterfeit Jerseys Saved Soccer
from the fake-it-until-you-make-it dept
While it's calmed down some, there was a great deal of talk about the horrific dangers of counterfeit products during the SOPA and ACTA campaigns. For some reason, professional sports jersey knockoffs in particular seem to get IP holders knickerbockers in a twist, resulting in fun little American traditions like the annual pre-Super Bowl website takedown bonanza. Now, we've discussed before why knockoffs generally aren't a major threat to legitimate apparel producers, or the sports leagues, but this is not one of those posts. Instead, this is the story of how knockoff jerseys saved soccer, or futbol if you're one of those people who wants to kick us Americans in our guardless shins over that kind of thing.Down in Colombia, visiting soccer (futbol, whatever) team Independiente Santa Fe took a break from having a cool-sounding name to play a soccer (okay, futbol) match against Boyaca Chico. Now, here's a lesson for all of us that sucked too hard at the sport to play and had to be team managers: double check your damned luggage. See, whoever was in charge of bringing ISF's "away" uniforms on the trip took a nap instead, leaving the team with only their warmups and numbers taped to their backs. As it turns out, Colombia's climate closely resembles a sauna and the Macgyver-inspired unis weren't cutting it. There was talk of aborting the game entirely, because Boyaca Chico refused to allow their adversaries to wear their home uniforms, until:
A Santa Fe staffer ran outside the stadium and bought counterfeits from vendors for about $6 each, then used red marker to write the numbers on the back of the shirts. Santa Fe took the pitch to start the second half donning their own team's fake jerseys, but still went on to drub Boyacá Chicó, 2-0. This concludes our daily reminder to not be a dick.
Filed Under: boyaca chico, colombia, counterfeits, independiente santa fe, shirts, trademark
