After the bright lights of Thursday night’s kit launch, the FFA and Nike have been forced into damage control when it was revealed that the away kit would only be available in a men’s cut. This was not mentioned in the live broadcast to media and fans, with comments being that both kits would be on sale the following day through retailers.
Ummmmm 🙈, this is a fairly significant problem @nikefootball https://t.co/L7I44JoBLC
— Elise Kellond-Knight (@elise_kk8) September 18, 2020
The first note of an issue came when the Matildas Twitter account responded to a query after the jerseys went on sale, stating that only the home kit would be available in a women’s cut. National team player Elise Kellond-Knight shared the tweet along with her incredulous response. Others followed suit, with a considerable amount questioning how this omission could occur.
This is a surprising move from the supplier and federation who, only a year ago, had a bespoke kit design on offer for the Matildas for their World Cup campaign. The FFA have also recently pushed their support for women’s football with a much-vaunted win alongside Football New Zealand for the hosting rights of 2023 World Cup. New Zealand have not officially released their kit for 2020 but have their 2019 World Cup kit available in a women’s cut for both home and away.
The current marketing message is confusing, with Hayley Raso and Ellie Carpenter seen modelling the teal kit away kit. They are pictured alongside promotional messages such as “When we move forward as one, there are no limits.” The webpage also still says, “New Westfield Matildas home & away kits now on sale.” If a kit for the national women’s team is not available for women, it must be asked why it has being marketed as such. The FFA have since posted a tweet indicating that it is working on a further update but there is currently no clarification on why this situation has arisen.
.@FFA understands & acknowledges the frustration regarding 2020 National Team away kits not being available in women’s silhouettes.
FFA is presently consulting with Nike and will provide a further update as soon as possible.
— Westfield Matildas (@TheMatildas) September 19, 2020
