Patta and Umbro are proud to present our second range of historical football jerseys paying homage to Patta’s hometown and its corresponding team. For this collection we asked iconic goalkeeper Stanley Menzo to model the collection and we interviewed him about his influence in the original jersey design.
Stanley Purl Menzo (born 15 October 1963) is a retired Dutch football player who played as a goalkeeper, and until recently worked as a manager of Ajax Cape Town in the South African Premier Soccer League. Most of his professional career was spent at Ajax (ten full seasons), appearing in more than 300 official matches with the club and winning nine major titles.
“I made my pro debut in a grey & yellow Le Coq Sportif kit, but played in Umbro for the longest time, some time after Kappa. I can’t recall what year that was exactly, but I do remember they came up with typical English goalie shirts. The English goalies in that time would always wear a green jersey with shorts in their teams colors and the same socks as their teammates, I really found that eye-offending. I felt it just didn’t match. The shirt would always be some boring hue of blue or green and I hated that.”
“Appearance is one of the most important aspects when you perform. As a football player you’re basically an artist, and I want to look good while performing. It doesn’t have to twinkle, it doesn’t have to glisten, it doesn’t have to be expensive, it doesn’t have to be a big brandname, but it has to look good and fit your personality. I’ve always found this most important, even in my days as football amateur. I even played in an Uhlsport jersey with the logo of our sponsor Kappa sewn on for one season, just because I hated the ones they had for me. Colour, especially with my dark skin, is very important.”
“So when the time came to play in Umbro, licensee Wil Langenberg was there and I just told him “I don’t like what’s available at the moment, can I get a kit that I’m more comfortable in? Something that fits better to me?” And that is how this type of jersey came to be. I was very outspoken about my desire to look good on the pitch and Johan (Cruijff) agreed. So we developed these shirts with Wil & Len Langenberg. I don’t want to fully claim them but I am definitely responsible for them and I was the first with these type of shirts. They come from a very tumultuous time, it was around the infamous *rod incident and they bring back memories of a beautiful time with Ajax.”
“When looking back at old photos of me in action my thoughts are: I look good.. but OH MY, what’s up with those very short shorts, hahaha!”
“I grew up at Ajax, Ajax is my team. Amsterdam will always be my city. My house is there, my family is there. I quit Ajax Capetown now.. If I find a new club in Capetown I might stay, but there’s a big chance I’ll return to Amsterdam.”
*The staafincident (Dutch, “rod incident”) was a very serious case of Football hooliganism which took place 27 September 1989 in the De Meer Stadion of Dutch football club Ajax Amsterdam. During a home match against Austria Wien the Austrian goalkeeper Franz Wohlfahrt was struck by a metal rod which was launched onto the pitch by the Ajax hooligan firm F-side. Ajax conceded the match and as a result were excluded from competing in European football for a year.
The Patta x Umbro Football Jersey 2018 Collection consists of two ‘away’ styles dating from the 90’-91’ season and will be available in store at Patta Amsterdam and London on Saturday, March 17 and online from Monday, March 19 onwards.
Photography: Kyle Weeks (@_kyleweeks_) Model: Stanley Menzo
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