Soccer Scene in Carnaby Street has two main windows which are regularly handed over to major football kit suppliers. So you’ll regularly see one window given over to Nike’s kit deal with Man Utd or Liverpool’s new Adidas away kit.
This morning, there was a new window display for Puma featuring a red shirt I didn’t recognise. Then I read the wording accompanying it: “Show your support with the new Poland away shirt.”
What?
A last minute display of the Israeli support might have been amusing. But Poland?
Obviously, I know the answer. The UK is undoubtedly now the second largest market for Polish shirts in the world. And I bet they cost a fair bit more in Carnaby Street than they do in ulica Marszalkowska in Warsaw, so Puma are probably earning a nice pound or two. With up to 700,000 Poles in London, it’s not really a minority group. And there was Pro-Celebrity game between England and Poland at Selhurst Park over the weekend. I’m just surprised the sign wasn’t actually in Polish.