Advertisement
Happy ending

Montpellier find fitting home for jerseys that were misprinted with just one 'L'

Montpellier were mortified to learn their name had been spelled ‘Montpelier’ on their own jerseys.

LIGUE 1 CLUB Montpellier HSC found themselves in somewhat of a pickle last week when they realised that half of their jerseys for the 2017/18 season – those both available in stores and worn by players – had been misprinted.

The club was alerted by irate fans to a typo on the crest, printed on both home and away kits, in which ‘Montpellier’ had been mistakenly spelled with just one ‘L’.

‘La Paillade’ issued a formal apology before offering full refunds to supporters who had purchased a botched shirt.

skysports-montpellier-montpelier-badge-football-ligue-1_4095069

A large number had already been manufactured by sponsors Nike, however, and with the club having undergone the process of recalling the ‘Montpelier’ variants, they were naturally presented with a novel issue: what to do with them once they had been collected.

Presumably following a brief Google search, the Ligue 1 club found its solution, which was to offer the shirts to the city of Montpelier in Vermont, USA, whose name matches the crest misspelling.

As the clamour to obtain a collector’s item intensifies on reddit and various football forums, Montpelier’s assistant city manager Jamie Granfield has confirmed that her small US town’s French equivalent has already been in touch regarding the shipment of kit.

“I spoke with the city of Montpellier, who said they received these jerseys and that they were spelled wrong,” Granfield told The42 this evening.

So, they asked if we have a soccer team. We don’t have a professional soccer team, but our schools have their own teams – our public schools. In our city of Montpelier we have our own school district, so there’s an elementary school, a middle school and a high school.

“I’ve been in contact with them [Montpellier] and we’re just waiting to hear back. But they did reach out to us initially.

“It’s a pretty cool thing to connect two towns across an ocean!”

SONY DSC Vermont State House, Montpelier

It’s understood that the shirts, which come in all sizes, are now in transit, and will be divided between the three schools’ football teams on arrival.

Just under 8,000 people live in the Vermont capital, meaning the entirety of its population would fit into Montpellier HSC’s Stade de la Mosson more than four times over.

Nestled in the Green Mountains, Montpelier is the smallest state capital in the United States, and was named after the city with the extra ‘L’ across the Atlantic.

Subscribe to The42 podcasts here:

Asensio ruled out of Real Madrid’s Champions League opener with ‘a pimple’

Your Voice
Readers Comments
2
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic. Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy here before taking part.
Leave a Comment
    Submit a report
    Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
    Thank you for the feedback
    Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.

    Leave a commentcancel