The exciting Summer League of Shirts enters its second season. The principle is very simple. Points are awarded for each shirt of a football team observed during a stay in an Italian resort at some time during the summer months. One shirt, one point. Unofficial gear is excluded. National team shirts are excluded. Anything unrecognisable (after reasonable efforts to identify it) is excluded. Bonus points can be awarded at the discretion of the League of Shirts Board. Our decisions are final. Those are the rules. This year, overall numbers of shirts observed were initially down on 2009 - something we put down to the reduced availability of holiday discounts, and generally lower numbers overall. Reduced numbers of tourists from countries where the wearing of team shirts is relatively socially acceptable (particularly northern countries such as the UK, Netherlands and Germany) probably amplified this effect. The league tables for each week of the 2010 season are shown below. |
Summer 2010 Final (Week 5)
Thrills unbounded, the final standings after week 5. ('Weeks' incidentally don't literally last 7 days in this competition.) And we
have an unexpected winner as Inter pip Barca at the post - thank goodness - with a grand total of 7 shirts. Chelsea are fourth,
followed by AC Milan. Everyone else finished with a shirt a piece, ranked in the league by me according to prejudice.
Following Arsenal, in fifth place, we were excited to have our first non-league side, the Italian team Costa di Mezzate, in sixth.
Costa di Mezzate finished above the likes of Manchester United, Hellas Verona and Olympique Marseille.
| League position |
Points |
||
| 1 |
Internazionale Milano |
7 | |
| 2 | Barcelona | 6 | |
| 3 | Chelsea | 4 |
| 4 | A C Milan | 3 | |
| 5 |
Arsenal
|
1 | |
| 6 | Costa di Mezzate | 1 | |
| 7 | Hellas Verona | 1 | |
| 8 |
Manchester United |
1 | |
| 9 | Olympique de Marseille | 1 | |
| 10 | Vicenza | 1 |
| 11 |
Tottenham Hotspur |
1 |
Summer 2010: Week 4
It's hotting up, literally and metaphorically.
More Italians again, though some of them wearing Barcelona shirts, for goodness' sake.
| League position |
Points |
||
| 1 | Barcelona | 6 | |
| 2 |
Internazionale Milano |
5 | |
| 3 | Chelsea | 4 |
| 4 | A C Milan | 2 | |
| 5 |
Arsenal
|
1 | |
| 6 | Hellas Verona | 1 | |
| 7 |
Manchester United |
1 | |
| 8 | Olympique de Marseille | 1 | |
| 9 | Vicenza | 1 |
| 10 |
Tottenham Hotspur |
1 |
Summer 2010: Week 3
At last - some more Italians have arrived. But why do Barcelona win everything?
How nice to see Serie B's Vicenza joining the fun, such as it is.
| League position |
Points |
||
| 1 | Barcelona | 4 | |
| 2 |
Internazionale Milano |
3 | |
| 3 | Chelsea | 2 |
| 4 |
Arsenal
|
1 | |
| 5 | A C Milan | 1 | |
| 6 | Hellas Verona | 1 | |
| 7 |
Manchester United |
1 | |
| 8 | Olympique de Marseille | 1 | |
| 9 | Vicenza | 1 |
| 10 |
Tottenham Hotspur |
1 |