As the discussion of Linfield's purple and orange kit continues, Off The Ball spoke to the Irish distributor that brought the issue to Umbro's attention.
Jonathan Courtenay is the owner of JACC Sports, who act as a distributor for Umbro and other brands.
While JACC were not involved directly with the Linfield deal, which was dealt with by Umbro UK, they have close links to Umbro executives there.
Courtenay made Umbro UK executives aware that the kit may be problematic last Friday, after seeing images of the jersey circulating online.
"To be fair to the lads in Umbro UK - and this goes for most people in England, Scotland and Wales - they had no idea what the colours could potentially be representing and they were pretty shocked when I told them," says Courtenay.
"They also admitted straight away that they had been led by the club at their request on the colour scheme for the 2020/2021 away kit.
"Realistically, I don't think that the Umbro designers were in any way aware of the potential issues that the kit might cause."
National difference
Courtenay believes that the design fell between the cracks, due to cultural differences between Northern Ireland and UK countries.
"Personally speaking, as someone in Dublin who is perhaps more aware of things in Northern Ireland than your average designer in England - I would find it hard to see how selecting purple with an orange sash as a design could have been a coincidence.
"But at the end of the day, they are just colours. Maybe the club should be given the benefit of the doubt."
Courtenay feels that while Umbro executives have faced criticism, he believes they are 'innocent' around the controversial design and colour scheme.
"No brand would deliberately choose to put themselves in the middle of a situation like this.
"Their name is on the jersey, but it was very much driven in terms of both design with a sash and colours by the club.
"It would be fair to say that they are certainly not impressed," he says of Umbro UK executives' response.
"This is a very particular situation that could possibly only occur in a very small number of countries, and one of them is Northern Ireland."
Linfield fallout
While Courtenay cannot remember anything of this nature, he recalls some backlash against Ireland's 1996 orange kit.
"We produced the Ireland away jersey, and it was the only time that we had used orange in away kit. Back then, the path towards the Good Friday Agreement was only just beginning.
"I think some people were offended by an orange shirt, but my argument has always been: it is one-third of our national flag.
"I don't see 'political' in that, I just see it as a colour.
"But it is not the same."
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