Kit of the Week #88: Donny Legend Coppinger Strikes Gold

Every football shirt tells a story and this Kit of the Week has effectively written itself.

Doncaster Rovers’ legend James Coppinger will bring the curtain down on his 23-year football career at the end of this season, and to celebrate his contribution to the club, he was given the chance to design his own special-edition kit.

The attacking midfielder, now 40 years of age, worked with his sons and Donny Rovers’ suppliers Elite Pro Sports, to produce a smart golden shirt to celebrate his 17 years with the League One club.

Rovers switched from the usual red and white hoops to the gold shirts with black and white sash, white shorts and socks, for the visit of Hull City to the Keepmoat Stadium on Saturday.

The timing could have been better for the visiting Tigers who needed to change to their black away shirts, but the move didn’t seem to bother them as they raced to a 3-1 first half lead.

After Omar Bogle’s penalty gave Donny hope, lengthy treatment for Hull’s George Honeyman, set the stage for substitute Coppinger to make his mark on the game.

Twelve minutes into injury-time, Doncaster Rovers were awarded a free-kick and it was their talismanic veteran who picked-up the ball before swerving an inch-perfect shot past Matt Ingram to give the home side a point and cue a fairy-tale ending to Coppinger’s golden day.

The gold shirts designed by James Coppinger each featured his customary number 26 embedded into the fabric in a football shirt geek friendly range of historic EFL fonts showing the length of time the former Newcastle United and Exeter City man has been a fixture for the South Yorkshire side.

Doncaster Rovers have long been supporters of CALM (the Campaign Against Living Miserably) and usual sponsors LNER have again generously donated space on the third shirt to promote the charity’s mission to prevent male suicide; the biggest killer of men under the age of 45.

James Coppinger’s golden design may not have been the most beautiful new piece of kit released in the past seven days, but for the little details like the addition of his squad number in a variety of typefaces and the nod to CALM; we can’t think of a better football shirt to celebrate and this is a worthy recipient of our Kit of the Week title.

Mental health issues are more common than you may think and there’s no need for anybody to ever walk alone.

If you need to, speak to CALM on 0800 58 58 58 or visit thecalmzone.net for more information.