THE BALLAD OF THE LONESOME COWBOYS
That shirt. That god-awful shirt. There have been plenty of terrible football strips down the years. Manchester United’s grey effort which seemingly rendered the wearer invisible; Hull’s tiger stripes; Cameroon’s sleeveless number at the 2002 Africa Cup of Nations – each new season brings a new shirt that could be improved by vomit.
If the Caribous of Colorado’s case is unusual, it’s because the shirt colours weren’t really the issue. A white-and-tan affair with black sleeves, it was inoffensive albeit deathly dull. A symphony in beige.
The problem here wasn’t the scheme, it was the band of tasseled leather trim across the chest. Had Kenny Rogers been called on to design a jersey, he couldn’t have come up with anything more countrified than the uniform the Caribous sported during their sole year in the North American Soccer League.
But what a season 1978 turned out to be. Soaring highs, crushing lows, Colorado would welcome the greats of American soccer to Denver’s 75,000-capacity Mile High Stadium. And invariably lose.
Along the way, their journeyman-jammed roster would showcase the talent of a bona fide Superstar, a future NFL ace and ageing Northern Ireland great Dave Clements. It all ended in tears, but as the man who unleashed top balladeers Chicago upon an unsuspecting world, Caribous co-owner
