RSL Best & Worst Kits: The Away Kits
Results for the Away Kits from last week’s reader survey.
As would be expected, Real Salt Lake’s away kits overall had lower averages than the home kits. Here are the results from last week’s reader survey from worst to best!
8th Place: Average rating of 4.63
Kreg: Given that this was the first away kit it wasn’t terrible. Would have been better if there was some blue other than on the original logo.
Lucas: This kit is fine, but is so very white. That’s not a bad thing, but it also doesn’t do a whole lot. It’s fun to see a jersey without a sponsor.
7th Place: Average rating of 4.78
Kreg: The 2nd away kit had some of the same problems as the first, but at least there was some blue in the form of sleeve stripes. I went against average and rated this one higher.
Lucas: This shirt had more going for it than it’s predecessor. The stripes on the arm and touches of red throughout bring more a dynamic feel, but ultimately this won’t be loved for it’s style.
6th Place: Average rating of 5.07
Kreg: My 4th place pick. A bit spartan on colors, but at least blue and red are present. We’d have to wait a bit longer for the yellow trim.
Lucas: If the last two kits could be classified as RSL 1.0, this one represents a full 2.0 evolution, with 2010-11 perhaps being the transition. I like this shirt, though it’s not the best in design, it was worn during some of the team’s best years.
5th Place: Average rating of 5.08
Kreg: Even with a lack of red I do like the classic look of this one. It was 3rd in my picks.
Lucas: This is my second favorite RSL away kit. It’s clean without being boring, and the trim on the shorts is a nice tough to tie the thing together.
4th Place: Average rating of 5.28
Kreg: This one is very similar to the one that would follow (11-12), but benefits from being more memorable due to the Champions League run.
Randal: See that Champions League crest? That is what makes this one my favorite even though it is very similar to some of the others.
Lucas: This shirt serves as the bridge between RSL 1.0 and RSL 2.0. It’s not bad, but still draws from the early RSL vibes without the identify we see in the coming years.
3rd Place: Average rating of 5.62
Kreg: One that I go against the average on. Like the first kit which suffered from a lack of blue, this one lacks red. It’s another white t-shirt.
Randal: This one is clean, but clean to the point of not being interesting in any way.
Lucas: Boring.
2nd Place: Average rating of 5.67
Kreg: I differ from the average on this one, and rated it much lower. It suffers from much the same problem as the first away kit - a distinct lack of blue. At least the ‘printer glitches’ make it a bit more colorful than the original.
Randal: This one gets an A for effort. RSL tried something new and it came out pretty well in the end even though there were mixed reviews.
Lucas: The front office made an effort and, in my opinion, it didn’t come off. What’s been dubbed “the glitch kit” feels far too glitch, and perhaps when your team has struggled with consistency, you shouldn’t have such an inconsistent shirt.
1st Place: Average rating of 6.33
Kreg: As with the majority of you I picked this as my first choice, even though the single blue sleeve does look a bit weird.
Randal: While this isn’t my favorite away jersey, I can see why people like it. It does not overthink itself and includes all the RSL colors in some way.
Lucas: I fully agree that this should be top of the list. The design is unique with the different color sleeves, but it’s also not overly complex.
Honorable mentions - found too late to include on the poll, but listed here for comments and future reference.
2007 Away Kit (pre-sponsor)
Notes: This was the kit for the start of 2007 before Xango became the jersey sponsor. RSL changed to the 7th place kit for the remainder of the year.
2008 Away
Notes: Normally we would have used the 2007 kit for one more season, however someone in the organization opted for an off-year change and this was the result for 2008.