Trefelin BGC are going back to their roots for the biggest season in their history, reviving a much-loved hooped kit from the 1980s for their first campaign in the Cymru Premier.
The Port Talbot club will run out at Ynys Park this season in red-and-black hoops — a direct nod to the strip they wore in the late 1980s.
It comes through a new multi-year partnership with Joma, in collaboration with Llanelli-based RCS Teamwear, who will supply kit across the whole club.
For founder and current president Steve Green, the return of the hoops is the fulfilment of a long campaign.
Formed in 1984, Trefelin BGC switched from their original grey to red and black hoops in the late 80s, and the colours proved so popular they have stuck ever since — though this is the first time the hoops themselves have come back.
Green remembers the original kit vividly, right down to who paid for it.
“It was bought and sponsored by a local bookmaker in Velindre called Herbie Shirley, who was situated opposite the workingmen’s club,” he said.
The shirt was a labour of love in the most literal sense.
“Every hooped section was sewn together individually, and it was so heavy that when it got wet it took two of us to carry it home,” Green recalled.
The design earned a nickname that has stuck in the memory of everyone connected to the club.
“They called it the ‘Dennis the Menace’ kit, but it proved really popular and we have stayed with the colours ever since,” he said.
Green added that he had been trying to persuade the club’s kit suppliers to bring the hoops back for years without luck, until RCS said they could deliver it through Joma.
He said he was sure the old players who still come to watch would be pleased to see the design return, especially for the club’s top-flight debut.
The tie-up will see Joma supply bespoke home and away kits across every section of the club, from the boys’, girls’ and women’s teams to walking football.
Trefelin, promoted to the top flight for the first time in their history, have also hinted at a further kit reveal still to come — one the club says will again link its past to its present.
Related stories
Trefelin BGC
News and updates from the Ynys Park club.
Ammanford AFC
News and updates on the Town’s rise through the Welsh football pyramid.
