Ash shirt collaboration with Irish League team attracts fans from across the world

Fans of the band Ash from across the world have sold out a Northern Ireland football team’s special collaboration shirt with the threesome.

The Ash x Ards FC collab marks the 30th anniversary of the group’s debut album 1977, recreating the original album cover in black, green and white.

Lead singer Tim Wheeler also suggested the number 77 be put on the back of the shirt for which a third run is currently being planned to cope with demand from Taiwan, Japan and Australia as well as the United States.

Although the band originally hails from Downpatrick, drummer Rick McMurray attended Ards FC matches in his youth with his father.

The collab was announced with a video on social media last Monday featuring McMurray and Wheeler, along with Mark Hamilton wearing the shirts.

McMurray says from the age of three his father took him to see Ards FC play every weekend, adding: “Now look at us, we have Ards FC football shirts, 1977 based, ain’t they pretty?”.

Ards FC supporter liaison officer and editor of the Ardsview programme Adrian Monaghan said the response was “unbelievable” with the first run of shirts selling out within hours, and inquiries from across the world.

“Taiwan, Japan, all over Europe, Australia and some in the USA, we’re absolutely delighted by the response to it,” he told Press Association.

“The first run sold out within three hours, the guy who runs the online shop contacted me to say it had all gone, but we’ve another order in, and it looks like we’re going for a third order now.”

It’s the first music band football team collaboration in the Northern Ireland game, and comes after Dublin side Bohemians teamed up with Oasis for a special edition jersey.

Mr Monaghan said he came up with the idea in the summer, and contacted Ash’s management company with crossed fingers.

“I probably had too much time on my hands over the summer, and a thought came to me, the drummer in Ash is called Rick McMurray, he used to go to matches years ago with his father Robert,” he said.

“His father is still a very keen Ards supporter, so Rick had an association with Ards, so I thought, I wonder could we tie this in, Ards Football Club and Ash – I had seen that Dublin club Bohemians tied up with Oasis – and I thought we could do that.

“So I contacted Ash’s management thinking, who knows – if you don’t ask you don’t get. And they came back right away and bought into it.”

Ards FC also created a special commemorative programme for its shirt collab with Ash for their game against Newry City FC on Saturday October 31. (Rebecca Black/PA)

He said Ash had “all the say” in terms of designing the shirt, taking inspiration from the artwork when 1977 was originally released in 1996.

“1977 is the title of their debut album and it is green and white with black hues on the cover, so they asked would we approach our kit supplier with those colours, green, white and black, they had the total call on that,” he said.

“We sent them about 12 options, and they liked that one. Then Tim Wheeler said about putting 77 on the back for 1977, so the shirt is totally Ash orientated and we were happy with that.”

Mr Monaghan said Ards FC are proud to trailblaze such a collaboration in Northern Ireland.

“Where we are as a club at the minute is where we are, the first division, the Championship,” he said.

“We’re maybe not the force we were many years ago but I like to think we still have standards, we still produce a match programme, we’ve got a good social media output, and we’re proud to be the first Northern Ireland club to team up with a band in this sort of collaboration.”

From being at the top of the Irish League in the early 1970s Ards FC has had a more challenging time in recent decades, and lost their historic home of Castlereagh Park ground in 1998.

The club currently play home games at the ground of their rivals Bangor FC.

They are fundraising to realise their dream of having a home stadium again, and Mr Monaghan said the proceeds from the shirt will go towards that.

“Financially it’ll probably only be a drop in the ocean but it’s going to give us exposure and highlight where we are,” he said.

“The profits from the shirt will go into the ground fund, we’re trying to build a pot up to make a start on our ground, and of course if someone out there likes Ash, is a millionaire and they’re just waiting for the stars to align, they could build us a ground!”