Super Rugby Pacific: Western Force unveil new jerseys, inspired by inaugural kit to commemorate 20th season

Western Force have thrown back to their past to embrace the future, celebrating their 20th season by unveiling a 2025 Super Rugby Pacific kit which harkens back to their original jerseys. 2005 was the year the Force were founded and 20 years on, the club sent club legend and current director of strategic projects Matt Hodgson’s original jersey to kit manufacturer Dynasty Sport. The Force’s 2025 jersey features the club’s original periwinkle blue and the iconic black swan swoosh that adorned those inaugural jerseys also makes a return, which will have the Sea of Blue reminiscing about the likes of Matt Giteau and co. under the bright lights of Subiaco Oval. Just like 2005, the away kit is predominantly yellow and features the same design as the home. The devil is in the detail with the jerseys and both kits include the player names of all 261 male players and 77 female players who’ve featured on field in the club’s history, while also a featuring First Nations design down the side strip and embroidered Maali (black swan) on the front. New recruit Harry Johnson-Holmes said he could not wait to wear the club’s new threads with pride. “It’s awesome. Not even as players, but as rugby fans, you do pass your mind back to those glory days a fair bit, and part of those glory days is those awesome kits,” he said. “It’s really great imagery when you do see those kits get their flashback versions with a modern spin to it. “You’re able to pay homage and pay tribute to some of these awesome players that wore a similar strip, and certainly similar design, right at the start of some historical parts of different clubs.” While Johnson-Holmes grew up in New South Wales, he said looking at the new kits reminded him of all the great players he had watched growing up who had played for the Force. “I’ve obviously been around the club the last month, and a lot of my spare time has been checking out the place,” he said. “They’ve got a lot of the clubs history post up on the wall and for me, being a new player, what’s been really cool is going around the facilities, and they’ve got all the old team photo shoots, and you go through the names and and check out the faces. “What’s been almost surprising to a degree is you just forget all the big names that have played at this club, when you consider blokes like James O’Connor, David Pocock, some great guys who’ve done great things in the jersey, and also in the gold jersey for the Wallabies. “It reminds you how rich in history this place is for a lot of Australia’s great rugby players, in terms of it was a chapter for them at different points in time.”