DancehallMag
×
News

Bob Marley Inspired Ajax Jersey Leaks, Causes A Stir Among Football Fans

By
ajax-bobmarley
The Bob Marley design for Ajax

The island of Jamaica and its culture continue to be in demand among European fashion houses and establishments. The latest is apparently the Dutch football club, Ajax.

According to unofficial reports and a leaked jersey design online, the Amsterdam-based football club’s 3rd kit for the 2021/22 season will be inspired by Reggae Legend Bob Marley and the song Three Little Birds.

The design, which first leaked in December, went viral yesterday as it grabbed attention from fans all over the world.   The leak came courtesy of Twitter user and shirt expert, @hendocfc, who claimed that his info was sourced from a catalog that he has access to.   According to Footyheadlines.com, the expert recreated the design of the kit, which is predicted to be mainly black with a round collar in the Rastafari colors red, green, and gold. The colors are also used for the 3 stripes on the shoulder.  The logos on the front of the jersey are likely going to be red.

Bob Marley and the Wailers’ Three Little Birds, released on their 1977 Exodus album, has become an “unofficial” anthem among fans of the club ever since 2008 when it was played after a friendly match.  Ajax is one of the Netherlands’ “Big Three” clubs that has dominated the competition to become one of the most successful football clubs in the country, winning 34 Eredivisive titles (Dutch Football championships) and 20 KNVB cups. They also won the first UEFA Cup in 1972.

Ajax supporter Ky-Mani Marley was excited when he learned that fans had made his father’s song the unofficial anthem for the club.  In 2017, he sang live with over 70,000 of them at the Ajax-Athens match in the Johan Cruyff Arena.

“My father was a big football fan and you know football and the music kind of goes hand in hand for him,” Ky-Mani said in an interview. “To be able to hear so many people at the Ajax stadium at halftime, sing three little birds would mean so much to him. To know that his hard work has touched so many hearts, that they made it the theme song, you know, that’s awesome.”

“Being able to perform the song there, to feel the energy and the vibration in the stadium on that day did something to me that I’ll never forget. It was moving, you know, it was ground shaking. A truly magical moment.”

“It’s Ajax, that’s my team. From now on, until the day my number is called,” Ky-Mani added.  However, it appears Ajax wasn’t his father’s team.

Ky-Mani’s brother, Rohan Marley, told the Celtic View that “I always loved Celtic. They were one of my father’s favourite teams. He would talk about Celtic and that’s how I came to know them.”

“I don’t remember a lot about that because I was young but I just remember him loving Celtic and telling me about them winning the European Cup,” Rohan added.

“When he was in Europe, he was able to see a lot of the big football games on TV. He watched a lot of English football and Scottish football. He would record all the games and I watched them years later at my grandmother’s house. That’s how I came across all these Celtic players from the late 1970s and early ’80s because I’d watch these tapes of Celtic versus Rangers games over and over again.”

 

Ajax’s unconfirmed kit isn’t the first time that a football shirt paid tribute to Bob Marley.

In 2019, Irish club Bohemian FC had a Marley-inspired away shirt, which later had to be scrapped due to copyright issues.

Meanwhile, Ajax fans on Twitter, with credit cards in hand, are desperate for the design to become a reality.

https://twitter.com/FutbolBible/status/1387044776512344068

https://twitter.com/Gtg58572861/status/1387113843957116929

Over the years there have been several collaborations with the Adidas and Marley brand. Bob Marley is credited as being one of the first celebrities to wear the Adidas brand on a daily basis in a non-athletic fashion.

Other releases in the past included Adidas x Tuff Gong Bob Marley Smile Jamaica T-Shirts and the Bob Marley Adidas jacket.

Last year 28-year-old Grace Wales Bonner released the Wales Bonner x Adidas collection inspired by Bob Marley, Adidas’ extensive archive, the 1970s and dancehall.

Bonner’s Autumn/Winter 2020 collection featured Trench coats, baker boy caps, chunky knits, donkey jackets and tracksuits with the red, gold and green colors of the Rastafarian flag on the hats, vests and coats.

This comes after the UK-based Clarks Original brand engaged 7 Jamaican bred stars including Manchester City Premier league footballer Raheem Sterling to be their brand evangelists in a ten-minute video last week.

In 2017, Adidas released a lookbook that included Adidas retro sneakers, tracksuits, soccer shirts, and parkas, modeled by reggae artist Chronixx.

Email worldmusicviews@gmail.com.