Bournemouth Shirt History
Until Luton Town’s promotion in 2023, Bournemouth’s Vitality Stadium was the smallest stadium in Premier League history. The ground, previously known as Dean Court, was originally built next to cherry orchards, hence the club being nicknamed ‘The Cherries’. Now, let’s run through their classic shirts and sponsor history…
AFC Bournemouth Kit History
Here is a downloadable checklist from 1990 onwards
2017 – present – Umbro
More often than not, Bournemouth have traditionally played their home games in red and black stripes, similar to that of European giant’s AC Milan. However, the double diamond brand based in Manchester hasn’t been afraid to take risks and create a couple of different variants of this since the pairs club record partnership began in 2017.
For example, in 2019/20 the red stripes had tonal lines running diagonally across them, in 2020/21 a strip with bold gradient stripes was produced, while 2022/23 saw three black zigzagged stripes placed onto the Bournemouth red base. Even in 2023/24, the home jersey isn’t quite as traditional as it first seems with subtle pinstripes between the thicker stripes, although similar styles have been seen at the Vitality Stadium before.
For the last two campaigns, the Cherries and Umbro have added unique touches to their away shirt to display the clubs proud south coast routes. A colourful purply jersey with palm tree’s imprinted onto the front was worn in 2022/23 to signify the palm trees along the seafront of the coastal resort. In 2023/24, the seaside vibes were stuck to with a patterned strip made up of different shades of blue to represent the blue of the south coast sea and its waves.
2015 – 2017 – JD Sports
Given the clubs promotion to the Premier League wearing the logo of JD’s subsidiary brand Carbrini, JD’s Group Marketing Director Stephen White described this as the “perfect opportunity to introduce JD as the official kit partner to AFC Bournemouth.” Aka, they saw an opportunity to receive maximum exposure for their store and took it – can you blame them? If you have any doubt that it was simply that, providing even further proof that this was an opportunistic deal is the fact that this is JD Sports first and only official kit supplier partnership.
In fairness, the pair used the third kit in their first campaign together to raise awareness for a fantastic cause. It was a memorable tonal striped pink kit with a white crewneck and sleeve cuffs. The Bournemouth crest was also ‘pinked out’. The club donated five percent of the proceeds to Breast Cancer Care.
Given it was their first ever Premier League season, the 2015/16 home shirt will probably go down as the most recognisable one of the two produced, but it is actually the 2016/17 polo design that arguably takes the crown for the nicest. It was simply striped black and red with a couple of gold features incorporated.
2014 – 2015 – Cabrini
Not many people would have envisaged Bournemouth to defy the odds and lift the Championship title to reserve Premier League status for the following campaign in this season.
To do this, they donned a home shirt with fitting gold pinstripes between its red and black stripes, a white and gold away top and a blue and black third kit – all of which had its place cemented in Bournemouth folklore forever given the club’s historic campaign.
2011 – 2014 – Fila
You would think that because of their promotion winning heroics that the 2012/13 collection would take the Fila accolade for being the shirt with the most history behind it, however they are highly contested by a top designed for a friendly.
In 2013, Carlo Ancelotti’s Real Madrid were in town for a pre-season friendly to celebrate the clubs return to the Championship. To mark the occasion, a specially designed shirt with the fixture and date stitched into its chest in gold was released. Despite the 6-0 defeat, the fact only 100 were released to signify the momentous occasion means that it is one of the most sought-after Cherries strips.
2008 – 2011 – Carbrini
It is fitting that Bournemouth’s Premier League promotion was earned while donning Carbrini branded kits, as their story of three promotions in five years, beginning all the way back in League Two, begun during the pairs first sponsorship agreement.
For the League Two title winning campaign (2009/10), the traditional Bournemouth stripes were not in use. It was instead red throughout, barring the black side panels and patches across its arms and shoulders. This was carried over from 2008/09, where the same concept was also copied for their other jerseys but in different colours.
All of the shirts Carbrini mocked up during this period were centre crest designs.
2003 – 2008 – In house
From 2003 until 2008, the AFC Bournemouth jerseys were designed and manufactured in house with no technical sponsor agreement being in place. Understandably, basic would be the best word to describe this era of shirts, but something that is of note is the fact even during this period was striped home shirts dared to be moved away from.
2000 – 2003 – Super League / TFG Sports
Worn by the likes of Jermain Defoe, a remarkable home shirt was worn from 2000 until 2003. It wasn’t striped the whole way through and instead only had stripes running directly down the middle of the shirt. The thicker red and black stripes were also joined by white pinstripes. The jersey had Super League branding in its first season and TFG Sports branding in its second.
1996 – 2000 – Patrick
The yellow and black away strip worn from 1996 until 1998, which had Bournemouth and Patrick crests subtly alternating within its background, has actually been remade and modernised for the 2023/24 season by Umbro. Patrick also made a black and green striped away shirt during this tenure, is a modernised version of that pending?
1995 – 1996 – Le Coq Sportif
We have no idea whether it was intentional or not, but the yellow based polo away strip which was donned during this period has a bit of humour behind it given the shirt sponsor for this season was ‘Yellow Coaches’.
1992 – 1995 – Matchwinner
1992 until 1994 was definitely Bournemouth’s ‘marmite football shirt’ era. Two funky designs were produced and being honest, if the crest was removed, you would never guess that they were connected to Bournemouth.
The home top was a red polo with white V’s patterned all over it. The away also featured a V like pattern, but it also had more prominent zigzags running horizontally – the colour combination for this one was purple and turquoise.
1990 – 1992 – Ellgren
Ellgren now focusses more on rugby and there isn’t a great lot to talk about what they produced for Bournemouth in terms of design. Coincidentally, considering the aforementioned AC Milan links to their home strip, the away top during this period was very much Inter.
1987 – 1990 – Scoreline
None of the shirts during this period featured typical Bournemouth stripes and for two of the three seasons, all of the jerseys were centre crest designs. The home shirt worn in 1989/90 in particular is a must check out – it is simplistic, but it feels very classical.
1986 – 1987 – Henson
Both of the identically designed V-neck strips from this campaign have their place firmly engraved into the Cherries history books, as the club actually won the third-tier title in this campaign.
1983 – 1986 – Umbro
This era of Bournemouth home tops did feature stripes but the black was not included. It was instead striped different shades of red. Even more interestingly, the Cherries’ crest didn’t appear on the chest area on any of the kits throughout this time frame and it was instead printed on the arms.
1982 – 1983 – Osca
After a season in house, Bournemouth turned to Osca and their kits were simply a base colour with white side panels which also ran on the underside of the arms.
1978 – 1981 – Adidas
This was Bournemouth’s Adidas originals era, but the most interesting thing about it was that in 1979/80, the Adidas branding featured on the right of a chest instead of in its usual left slot.
1974 – 1978 – Umbro
Current suppliers, Umbro, have a rich relationship with the Cherries given the fact they were the first ever manufacturing brand to have an agreement with the South Coast club.
AFC Bournemouth Shirt Sponsor History
Given the way that the club has shot up the divisions, brands would have no doubt have been itching to have a piece of the pie. Let’s see who Bournemouth have partnered with over the years...
2022 – present – Dafabet
Online betting site, Dafabet, currently take centre stage on the strips and despite being large, their branding isn’t actually the worst. They certainly get a couple of points for allowing their logo to go above the word Dafabet instead of squeezing it alongside it, with more points earned for allowing the colour of their logo to be changed to best match the shirts tones.
The relationship between the pair sounds like a positive one, with Dafabet making a ‘financial donation to the Club’s Community Sports Trust to support projects that help get adults into work’.
2020 – 2022 – MSP Capital
MSP Capital is a team of property and financial experts and their website claims to be ‘one of the largest providers of property finance in Southern England’.
Their branding on the shirt is solid. It combines their tolerable logo with a smart, simple text.
2015 – 2020 – M88 Mansion
‘Simple’ was a word use to describe MSP Capital’s era, however that word cannot be coupled with M88 Mansion’s.
The online betting and gaming site went to town by ensuring that they got the most they could out of both concepts that they used on the jerseys. The only saving grace is that the colours used (red, black and white) match those of the clubs.
2012 – 2015 – E&C Energy Consulting
Before the madness of M88 Mansion, the calm of E&C Energy Consulting’s branding was used. They had a thin, large font reading Energy Consulting, with a small version of their minimal round logo right by it.
2011 – 2022 – Focal Point
According to their website, Focal Point is the UK’s largest manufacturer of fuel effect fires. Their branding selection for the feature looked sound, until you see the website squeezed underneath. It unfortunately does take a little bit away from it.
2008 – 2011 – Carbrini Sportswear
During this period, Carbrini were really trying to push their brand as not only did they produce the shirts – they also sponsored them. For the most part they went for the ‘black sticker’ like approach and to be honest, it didn’t look that great.
2006 – 2008 – Focal Point
Before the 2011/12 campaign, Focal Point had previous with the club. In 2007/08, the sponsored all three shirts, while in 2006/07 they just went with the home and third shirt. Their branding was identical to the most recent partnership, without the website added underneath. Its removal made it more appealing.
1996 – 2006 – Seward
Seward sponsored the Cherries for a decade, but only featured on both kits for seven seasons. For the final season they were just on the away and for the first two seasons they just appeared on the home.
Seward was a car dealership and they used some of the kits to promote various brands, such as Saab, Vauxhall and Rover-MG. The red, black and white colouring made it fit in with the shirts fairly well.
1995 – 1998 – Yellow Coaches
Yellow Coaches sponsored the club for three campaigns and featured on three away shirts, all of which coincidentally utilised yellow.
The Bournemouth based bus operators branding was just ‘Yellow Coaches’ underlined.
1994 – 1996 – Frizzell
Frizzell, which was originally founded as a family business in 1923, turned out to be one of the UK’s largest insurance firms. Their feature was simply ‘Frizzell’ in black text.
1992 – 1994 – Exchange & Mart
Exchange & Mart now advertises new and used cars online. Their branding, which was their name on a red background, would have received plenty of spotlight with how controversial the design of the shirts were during this period.
1990 – 1992 – A1 Windscreens
The windscreen repair companies feature was a large A1 with windscreens underneath it. The size is questionable, but other than that it is tolerable.
1988 – 1989 – Nolan
Sadly, Nolan’s expertise cannot be found, but there isn’t a great lot to discuss about their feature anyhow.
1987 – 1988 – Canberra Homes
The clue may be in the name, but unfortunately the expertise behind this simplistic feature cannot be found.
1984 – 1987 – Cooper Beers
Cooper Beers’ minimal feature appeared on the home shirt in every campaign, but they only took on the away strip in the final season of the agreement.
1980 – 1986 – Heynes Toyota
Heynes Toyota were Bournemouth’s first ever principle partnership and they were on all of the shirts initially until 1984. From 1984 onwards, they switched to just the away strip.
Their first branding of Reg Heynes Toyota was cut down to just Heynes Toyota in 1983 and although this is a small detail, it improved it tenfold.
Conclusion
Within recent campaigns, Umbro are starting to use their creative flair when it comes to AFC Bournemouth shirts and long may it continue, as the club could do with a few more classics unfolding with there not being as many as one would hope since their formation. That said, there has been plenty of simple designs and not too many disasters – so I guess that can be taken as a net positive.