My case in point being if one had to look at the font of the numbering on the jerseys of various teams one would notice that many teams around the globe have developed, their own unique way of numbering and lettering their jerseys.

Perhaps the leaders in this field are Spanish La Liga Teams Real Madrid and rivals FC Barcelona who have gone to painstaking lengths over the last couple of years to create a special unique way of numbering their jerseys.

In keeping up with this international trend The Amakhosi recently contested the Vodacom Challenge with a new font . The new Chiefs numbers have been met with differing reviews as Chiefs brand manager Dara Carroll explains the current numbers and font are still in their experimental phase.

Said Carroll “We need to create a unique identity for our team in everything we do and I think we were a bit tired of our old numbers - we had them for five years. We needed a new look and we are still working on it and we should have finalized the way we number our jerseys by the time the new season gets under way”.

Amakhosi coach Ernst Middendorp does not usually like to describe himself as a happy man but he would like to keep the number and style font, which the team used in the Vodacom challenge, the coaches reasoning has nothing to do with aesthetics or design.

The coach when asked about the new design said “we beat Pirates and Manchester United with this new style of numbering so their must be something in it and I think we should carry on playing with them for the rest of the season. We would like the opposition to see a lot more of our new numbers during the regular season”.

The new Chiefs numbers have the clubs name emblazoned on them, for Chiefs having a unique style of lettering and numbering is important for the club towards strengthening its place as a leading light in the global game. As well as being a trendsetter in South Africa The Amakhosi are not far behind trends set by the global leaders in the game of soccer.