US Sambenedettese 2011/12 Third Shirt

Wide green and white hoops with a diagonal seam crossing the shoulder, a modern Joma cut, and the eternal crest: crowned tower, ball at the centre and the founding date, 1923, at the base. The sponsor is SecurCod, in red, blue and white, a tricolour reminiscent of the Italian flag flattened into a security company logo. This is the 2011/12 shirt, played in the Lega Pro Seconda Divisione, the old Serie C2, in a season when the league next door, the Prima Divisione, was being shaken by the calcioscommesse betting scandal, and the Samb, amid refoundations and rebuilding, kept doing what it had done since 1923: wearing white and green and fighting for the sporting survival of a small city with a big city's passion. It is the more serious sibling of the collection's Italian shirts, no match worn wear, no long sleeves, just the essentials of an official professional club shirt from one of the hardest seasons in early 21st century Italian football.