Author Topic: Earning a jersey  (Read 9936 times)

quixoticgeek

  • Mostly Harmless
Earning a jersey
« on: 18 February, 2019, 10:19:54 pm »

Sunday morning I was out on the Brompton, when a couple of roadies over took me. One caught my eye as he was wearing a Peter Sagan Bora Hansgrohe Rainbow jersey. I caught them up at the lights, and asked cheekily "Are you world champion?" "Working on it" was the reply.

I mentioned this on twitter, where it started a bit of a discussion. My thinking was that wearing a jersey with the rainbow stripes on is something you earn, and unless you are world champion, shouldn't be wearing it. But twitter seemed to think it was no different from wearing a man u football shirt. I tried to explain that it would be, were it not that only 1 person in the pro peloton can wear the rainbow jersey (or national champ equivalent), and that the jersey is a bit like an Olympic gold medal.

Am I being a grumpy curmudgeon, or should the rainbow jersey (and national champ equivalent) be reserved for the genuine holder of the title(s), as per the UCI regs?

J
--
Beer, bikes, and backpacking
http://b.42q.eu/

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Earning a jersey
« Reply #1 on: 18 February, 2019, 10:29:57 pm »
I think it is like Man U shirts:  Only Man U are allowed to wear them during Premier League football matches.  The rest of the time, people can wear what they like, and other people can have opinions about it if they like.  It's not like you're realistically going to stop them.

See discussion passim about PBP (or equivalent) jerseys.

The difference between that and an olympic medal, is that your random roadie presumably wasn't wearing the genuine article.

Re: Earning a jersey
« Reply #2 on: 18 February, 2019, 10:32:37 pm »
Wearing a trade team jersey would be the equivalent of wearing a footfball shirt, but only the current  world champion should be wearing a rainbow jersey.

I don't even agree with former world champions being allowed to have rainbow trim on their jerseys.

bludger

  • Randonneur and bargain hunter
Re: Earning a jersey
« Reply #3 on: 18 February, 2019, 10:33:37 pm »
I wear rainbow trim black merino socks, fight me YACF.
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Ban cars.

LittleWheelsandBig

  • Whimsy Rider
Re: Earning a jersey
« Reply #4 on: 18 February, 2019, 10:33:52 pm »
It is always fun looking down your nose at other people's choice of 'whatever'.
Wheel meet again, don't know where, don't know when...

quixoticgeek

  • Mostly Harmless
Re: Earning a jersey
« Reply #5 on: 18 February, 2019, 10:34:14 pm »
I wear rainbow trim black merino socks, fight me YACF.

I accept your challenge, my chosen weapon is jelly wrestling!

J
--
Beer, bikes, and backpacking
http://b.42q.eu/

Phil W

Re: Earning a jersey
« Reply #6 on: 18 February, 2019, 10:36:14 pm »
You are being grumpy, you don't earn them you buy them, and besides he was not wearing the rainbow jersey (though even that exists in plural).

quixoticgeek

  • Mostly Harmless
Re: Earning a jersey
« Reply #7 on: 18 February, 2019, 10:36:40 pm »
Wearing a trade team jersey would be the equivalent of wearing a footfball shirt, but only the current  world champion should be wearing a rainbow jersey.

Exactly, that was my thinking.

J
--
Beer, bikes, and backpacking
http://b.42q.eu/

quixoticgeek

  • Mostly Harmless
Re: Earning a jersey
« Reply #8 on: 18 February, 2019, 10:37:33 pm »
You are being grumpy, you don't earn them you buy them, and besides he was not wearing the rainbow jersey (though even that exists in plural).

Peter Sagan bought his? He didn't earn the right to wear it?

J
--
Beer, bikes, and backpacking
http://b.42q.eu/

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Earning a jersey
« Reply #9 on: 18 February, 2019, 10:40:52 pm »
Definitely football shirts. A token of support at most. If not, why would they be commercially available? I used to have (before it got stolen  >:() a Merida mtb. At some point, Merida had sponsored someone – I don't even know who – who had been world champ of some form of mtbing, so the bike had rainbow stripes (including the saddle, which greatly delighted Nye when he saw it). I'm pretty sure it wasn't even the same model that the world champ rode. Anyone who mistook me for a world champ of anything (except, possibly, tea drinking or getting up very late) would have to be wilfully curmudgeonising.

PBP jerseys and shirts of smaller (non-pro) football clubs are different. They do show a level of commitment and involvement. You don't wear a Bristol South jersey or an Easton Cowboys shirt for chanting on the terraces or posing at the cafe, it does imply membership.

See also: wearing a Motorhead/One Direction/etc t-shirt when you're not with the band.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Re: Earning a jersey
« Reply #10 on: 18 February, 2019, 10:47:48 pm »
Bikes with rainbow trim because a world's was won on a bike with the same brand name goes back a long way. That is completely different compared to some random person wearing THE Rainbow Jersey.


Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Earning a jersey
« Reply #11 on: 18 February, 2019, 10:50:45 pm »
The rainbow jersey or a rainbow jersey?
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Earning a jersey
« Reply #12 on: 18 February, 2019, 10:55:30 pm »
Just remembered that when I was about 18 I had some mitts with world champ stripes. I bought them because they were pretty, they fitted and I could afford them. I don't think I was even aware the stripes signified anything.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Earning a jersey
« Reply #13 on: 18 February, 2019, 11:17:56 pm »
Just remembered that when I was about 18 I had some mitts with world champ stripes. I bought them because they were pretty, they fitted and I could afford them. I don't think I was even aware the stripes signified anything.

Hang on, I've got some 3/4s with rainbow stripes at the cuffs.  Does this mean they signify something other than "hahaha, we've changed all our designs again"?

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Earning a jersey
« Reply #14 on: 18 February, 2019, 11:27:47 pm »
Just remembered that when I was about 18 I had some mitts with world champ stripes. I bought them because they were pretty, they fitted and I could afford them. I don't think I was even aware the stripes signified anything.

Hang on, I've got some 3/4s with rainbow stripes at the cuffs.  Does this mean they signify something other than "hahaha, we've changed all our designs again"?
As it's you, I'd first check what sort of rainbow. But somewhere I have some York plussy things which, I think, also have rainbow stripes on the cuffs, though I've an idea they might be neither of those sorts of rainbow. I'll check in a min.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Earning a jersey
« Reply #15 on: 18 February, 2019, 11:28:39 pm »
Meanwhile elsewhere in the tortured world of cycle clothing: https://road.cc/content/forum/249503-kom-raid-clothes-adverts-full-cheese
I haven't seen these ones or their adverts.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

fuaran

  • rothair gasta
Re: Earning a jersey
« Reply #16 on: 18 February, 2019, 11:32:33 pm »
Definitely football shirts. A token of support at most. If not, why would they be commercially available? I used to have (before it got stolen  >:() a Merida mtb. At some point, Merida had sponsored someone – I don't even know who – who had been world champ of some form of mtbing, so the bike had rainbow stripes (including the saddle, which greatly delighted Nye when he saw it). I'm pretty sure it wasn't even the same model that the world champ rode. Anyone who mistook me for a world champ of anything (except, possibly, tea drinking or getting up very late) would have to be wilfully curmudgeonising.
Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjå I presume. She was world champion umpteen times, usually riding a Merida.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Earning a jersey
« Reply #17 on: 18 February, 2019, 11:37:52 pm »
Definitely football shirts. A token of support at most. If not, why would they be commercially available? I used to have (before it got stolen  >:() a Merida mtb. At some point, Merida had sponsored someone – I don't even know who – who had been world champ of some form of mtbing, so the bike had rainbow stripes (including the saddle, which greatly delighted Nye when he saw it). I'm pretty sure it wasn't even the same model that the world champ rode. Anyone who mistook me for a world champ of anything (except, possibly, tea drinking or getting up very late) would have to be wilfully curmudgeonising.
Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjå I presume. She was world champion umpteen times, usually riding a Merida.
I always knew I was a Viking woman in another life. Admittedly I thought it was probably Frida from Abba, but still, that's close.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

PaulF

  • "World's Scariest Barman"
  • It's only impossible if you stop to think about it
Re: Earning a jersey
« Reply #18 on: 19 February, 2019, 05:06:47 am »
I once got berated for wearing a green yacf jersey whilst riding laps of Richmond Park...

mattc

  • n.b. have grown beard since photo taken
    • Didcot Audaxes
Re: Earning a jersey
« Reply #19 on: 19 February, 2019, 08:11:26 am »
It is always fun looking down your nose at other people's choice of 'whatever'.
One of life's simple - and tax-free - pleasures :)

@QG: have you asked the manufacturers? Or the people who sponsor Sagan?

(Do you think they are so stupid that they believe all the shirts leaving the factory are for Sagan's back?)
Has never ridden RAAM
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No.11  Because of the great host of those who dislike the least appearance of "swank " when they travel the roads and lanes. - From Kuklos' 39 Articles

ElyDave

  • Royal and Ancient Polar Bear Society member 263583
Re: Earning a jersey
« Reply #20 on: 19 February, 2019, 08:32:11 am »
I have a couple of LEL red T-shirts, fom being a volunteer at St Ives last time.  I assume I'm entitled to wear those even though I didn't ride it?

I have carefully explained to a few locals who are in the know, that no, I didn't ride it, maybe next time - so no claims of false advertising
“Procrastination is the thief of time, collar him.” –Charles Dickens

Re: Earning a jersey
« Reply #21 on: 19 February, 2019, 09:08:24 am »
I entirely agre that national or world jerseys should only be worn by legitimate winners.
Unfortunately, the UCI generate income by endorsing the selling of replicas.

I know a couple of ex world champions, one in particular is very upset when he sees people wearing the jerseys who haven’t won them. He finds it incredibly disrespectful, and I see his point.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Earning a jersey
« Reply #22 on: 19 February, 2019, 09:14:32 am »
Football and other sports take it a step further; you wear a shirt not just proclaiming that you are a member of the Manchester Utd first team but that you are in fact Romelu Lukaku or Jesse Lingard! You wouldn't believe the number of people who stop me for signatures or a quick demonstration of 101 keepy-uppies when I'm wearing my Pogba shirt!
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

ElyDave

  • Royal and Ancient Polar Bear Society member 263583
Re: Earning a jersey
« Reply #23 on: 19 February, 2019, 09:45:32 am »
So by that logic, when I wore my 1997 Lions shirt to SA to go and see them for a couple of matches, was I claiming to be a member of the squad?  Should I stop wearing my Bath rugby shirt?

Perhaps the ex-world-champ could change his mindset and take it as a mark of respect that people want to be associated with his achievements, in however small a fashion?  I'm not sure from this that any of these people are claiming the"right" to wear the jersey as an actual world champ? 
“Procrastination is the thief of time, collar him.” –Charles Dickens

Re: Earning a jersey
« Reply #24 on: 19 February, 2019, 09:46:55 am »
I have a Exmoor Ironman European Team running shirt, which I always feel awkward about wearing. Not only have I never done triathlon of any description and certainly not an ironman, I also had nothing to do with this particular event. It was given to me by the un-athletic daughter of a friend. She'd been a volunteer at the race and had been given the shirt as a souvenir. I'm not going to throw it away, but I am careful about when and where I use it.
"No matter how slow you go, you're still lapping everybody on the couch."