AC Monopoli 2009/10 Home Shirt

A shirt from a season the club's own official history describes as the most troubled: 2009/10, Lega Pro Seconda Divisione, Group C, finishing 10th, and the first signs of a corporate crisis on the horizon. Joma's horizontal hoops, athletic cut with white side panels, carry the Lega Pro patch on one sleeve and a three legged triskelion on the other, the same ancient symbol also claimed by Sicily and the Isle of Man, here tied to local heraldry. The 3 on the back, cut in black on white, belonged to a full back or centre half who played Serie C in a hard year, with the club crest on the chest, seagull and waves above the name A.C. Monopoli. Joma, the Spanish brand from Toledo born in 1965 in the hands of an 18 year old, dresses here the professional football of southern Italy, proof that the teamwear market respects no borders or categories: the same factory that dresses Sevilla also dressed a left back from Monopoli in a season to forget on the pitch, but perfect to keep in a display case.