Rugby Jersey Ruckus

When the All Blacks revealed late July the shirts the team would wear for the Rugby World Cup, which begins in September, it was a proud moment for Adidas, the designer of the uniform and the chief sponsor of the team. “The All Blacks jersey is one of the most powerful symbols of New Zealand pride, worn by the most successful sports team in the world,” David Huggett, the Adidas country manager for New Zealand said heralding the introduction of the uniform. But in the days that followed, fans in New Zealand, where rugby takes precedence over all other sports, discovered the shirts were being sold online in the United States for about half the local price of $NZ22, or $US182, and in Britain for only slightly more than the United States price. A controversy began to build, bringing the vociferous passions of sports fans into conflict with the financial logic of a multinational company. For Adidas, it became a lesson in the risks of associating a corporate brand with a national obsession.