The Southern Kings launched their new kit for the season ahead of the start of the 2017 Vodacom Super Rugby campaign on Thursday.
The Southern Kings have sealed a new partnership with renowned sports brand, Canterbury SA, as the kit supplier for the 2017 Vodacom Super Rugby season.
The new design has kept the traditional colours of the Southern Kings in the home kit – black, red and gold lining; while the away kit will see the players donning a grey jersey with a touch of red and gold.
The logo of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro will be displayed on the front of the match jersey.
The Nelson Mandela Bay Metro has always been a supporter of rugby in the past and has been a key stakeholder to rugby in the province.
The Southern Kings are currently negotiating with the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro with regards to their involvement and relationship going forward. It is in lieu of such past support and current discussions that the Metro has earned the most prominent place on the Southern Kings match jersey.
“It is a great privilege and honour for the Southern Kings to represent the province and city, and also having the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium as our home,” Southern Kings COO Charl Crous said.
“Vodacom Super Rugby is a premier product, and it is therefore important for us to associate with a premier brand like Canterbury, who came to the party at a late stage, and provided us with a quality match kit for the players and replica apparel for our supporters.
“We learnt very late in January that BLK South Africa, our previous kit supplier, was liquidated despite assurances that were given that after the liquidation of BLK in Australia in 2016 that our delivery would not be affected for 2017.
“We are excited about the relationship with Canterbury and look forward to doing our brand and theirs proud in this year’s Vodacom Super Rugby campaign.”
Brand ID, the licence holders for Canterbury in South Africa, CEO Wayne Bebb said on the partnership with the Southern Kings: “It’s very exciting to be able to partner with the Southern Kings and our iconic heritage rugby brand of Canterbury. We share a tremendous enthusiasm for the game of rugby and we’ve always seen this as a region wealthy in sporting excellence.”
