I’m back again with Kary Klismet, a longtime reader, contributor and all around great guy. Kary introduced his “Dressed for the Season” series back in 2023, and has been updating his DFTS columns for 2025. Since I took over for Paul as UW editor last May, Kary has treated us to “holiday appropriate” uniforms for Independence Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving (Part I and Part II), Christmas (Part I and Part II), and finally, Valentine’s Day.
We’ll take a look at seasonally appropriate uniforms and attire for St. Paddy’s Day, the holiday most associated with wearing o’ the green. There’s a lot to get to, so I’ll turn it over to Kary now.
by Kary Klismet
Maidin mhaith, my fellow Uni Watchers, and happy St. Patrick’s Day! We’ve come to that most sacred of days on the calendar when those of us in the United States and around much of the world celebrate our Irish heritage (real, imagined, or temporarily claimed) in the most solemn and contemplative way possible – by donning whatever green things we can find in our closets and drinking cheap adjunct lagers dyed to look like lime-flavored jello!
However you observe the holiday (even if it’s, ahem, less authentically), St. Patrick’s Day presents the perfect opportunity to explore the intersection of Irish culture with sports uniforms. There’s plenty to get to, so let’s be movin’ along!
As an initial clarification, today’s edition of Dressed for the Season is not a ranking of green uniforms. Uni Watch Founder and Editor Emeritus Paul Lukas already put together the definitive ranking of green uniforms a few years ago. The focus of this piece is on the uniforms that best convey a sense of “Irish-ness” – or at least those tropes, customs, and yes, even stereotypes that we associate with being Irish.
While wearing green was not specifically a requirement to make this list – and to be sure, I considered several teams that don’t wear green – it just so wound up that every team to make the final cut does indeed incorporate green into their color scheme. Green is just so intertwined with Irish identity that all the teams with the best Gaelic garb in the sports world use it.
This installment of the series was quite possibly the most difficult to compile because of all the strong contenders I left out. I capped myself at seventeen entries (in honor of March 17th) because the list could have ballooned to fifty or more (truly!), and yet I still ended up with eighteen when a couple of teams tied for seventeenth (understandably, I think you’ll agree).
With so many teams to get through, we’re going to break this feature up into two sections. This first installment will give a tip of the cap to a few teams who narrowly missed out on the rankings and cover the first eight teams on our list. The second part will cover our (or at least my) top ten most Irish sports uniforms of all time.
To acknowledge a few of those teams that just missed the cut, let’s give out a few honorable mention hors-d’oeuvres before we move on to the main course. First, in the non-green category, the sports teams at Iona University in New York deserve affirmation for generating a grand Gaelic guise with their logos and team name, if not their colors.
Next up, there are so many teams (in Great Britain especially) historically founded by Irish expatriates that I couldn’t include them all. The “best of the rest” includes the London Irish, an English rugby union team nicknamed the Exiles. I also feel compelled to mention the enormous number of minor league and junior hockey teams that have called themselves the Shamrocks over the years, my favorites of which were from Chicago, Pittsburgh, and San Francisco.
Finally, my sister Loni, who’s been a tremendous cheerleader and sounding board for my work on this series, suggested that no survey of Irish-themed uniforms would be complete without a rainbow. There’s one team in the rankings below that does have a rainbow alternate, but it’s not the reason they made the list. Meanwhile, the University of Hawaii’s football teams from the 1950-90s, with their green jerseys and rainbow trim, came close to perfecting the theme and might have made the rankings if only they’d worn those unis in support of a specifically Irish-themed identity!
Now that we’ve put the rainbow reference in place, let’s see what kind of uni treasures we’ll find at the end of it! Here are, in my humble opinion, the finest uniforms of Irish persuasion that the uni-verse has to offer:
When I originally released the Independence Day edition of this series, I received blowback from some corners objecting to my inclusion of a few United States national team uniforms in the rankings. They said it was “cheating” to include such obvious choices. I disagreed then with the notion that national teams have no place in these rankings, and after giving it some additional thought as I made my selections for this list, I still disagree with it. Put simply, how can one tell the story of Irish identity through sports uniforms without including a team representing Ireland?
Our first entry is just such a team (or rather, teams, if you count the men’s and women’s sides separately). The Republic of Ireland has fielded a men’s team since 1924 and a women’s team since 1973. Even so, they might have fallen out of these rankings altogether if they’d stuck with the jersey crest they wore, with slight modifications, from 2004 to 2023 – an inscrutable and abstract concoction that looked vaguely Irish at best.
Thankfully, the Football Association of Ireland switched to a much more straightforward shamrock design in 2023. The result is that the Republic of Ireland’s soccer teams are right where they should be – in the rankings of the most Irish-looking sports teams in all the world.
There are two nations that call the Emerald Isle home, so it’s only right that they both take their turn in the spotlight (or at the end of the rainbow, if you will). We covered the Republic of Ireland’s soccer teams just above, so we’ll give Northern Ireland their due here.
Northern Ireland’s teams make their case as full-fledged caretakers of Irish culture with home uniforms in green and a crest that features a Celtic cross, one of the most recognizable symbols of the Irish people. Without delving too deeply into the fraught political history of it all, these Northern Ireland soccer team uniforms have reaffirmed my sentiments that the national soccer teams on either side of the border are wholly and equally Irish.
As you make your way through these rankings, you’ll spot plenty of visual symbols that pay homage to Ireland and to the Irish heritage of various teams and communities. There’s plenty of the wearin’ o’ the green, and shamrocks as far as the eye can see. The St. Patricks, the forerunners of today’s Toronto Maple Leafs, stand out on this list not because of such a crest or logo, but rather because they’re the only team that has worn the actual namesake of the holiday (you know, “St. Pat” himself) on their uniforms.
Granted, most of the pictorial evidence we have of the St. Pats comes from black and white photos, but in addition to the colorized photo above, we have contemporary artwork and modern-day uniform databases to give us a hint of what the originals looked like in all their green-drenched glory. And the Maple Leafs have revived their erstwhile Irish identity for throwback uniforms on several occasions.
It’s just too bad team ownership opted for merchandise sales over historical accuracy with Toronto’s current St. Pats fauxbacks. Don’t the Leafs remember from the Leprechaun movie series what happens to those whose greed for gold overcomes their compulsion to do what’s right?
Not every “team” in our rankings is exactly a team, as we see here in the fifteenth slot (as well as a few more to come). Never heard of Billy Herring? Neither had I before I started my research, but he merits a spot on this list if for no other reason than his long-lasting visual influence on the uni-verse.
A Canadian distance runner of Irish descent, Sherring gained acclaim for winning the marathon at the 1906 Olympics in Athens while wearing a large green shamrock on his chest. His accomplishment was so renowned, especially by the host nation, that he inspired Greek soccer powerhouse Panathinaikos to adopt a green and white color scheme and a shamrock as its logo, all of which are still mainstays of the team’s look. There’s no question that you have some serious Irish bona fides when you can Gaelicize the Greeks!
Most of today’s rankings consist of teams that have adopted Irish names and identities while playing sports of English or North American origin. Ireland itself, however, has its own rich sporting customs, and we would be remiss if we didn’t give a nod to at least one of the clubs who compete in the Gaelic Athletic Association. Traditional Irish sports include men’s and women’s Gaelic football (sort of a cross between rugby and Australian rules football) along with hurling and camogie (men’s and women’s variants, respectively, of the same sport, which shares similarities to field hockey and lacrosse).
Of all the counties that field GAA teams, the one that strikes me as the best representative of Irish culture, visually speaking, is County Leitrim in north central Ireland. What moves Leitrim to the forefront, besides their green and gold color scheme, is their crest featuring a fiddle – a key emblem of Irish culture used by surprisingly few other Irish teams. Listening to a fiddler crank out some Irish folk tunes while watching a hurling match? That sounds like a perfect way to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day to me!
Considering that John Daly secured a second-place ranking in our Christmas installment of DFTS by occasionally donning a Santa suit, there has to be room on our list for an Irish-Canadian golfer who’s been doing his best leprechaun impersonation on the golf course every St. Patrick’s Day for more than 40 years, right? Patrick O’Shea emigrated from Dublin to Canada in 1957 and settled in Chilliwack, British Columbia, in the early ‘80s. He’s been sporting his Gaelic green on the links each March 17th ever since.
O’Shea’s signature look includes a green top hat and plenty of verdant vestments. What really seals his place in these rankings, however, are his leprechaun golf headcovers, which he uses as hand puppets to greet his fellow golfers during his St. Paddy’s Day sojourns. O’Shea may not be a “team” by himself, but you have to admit, he and his fabulous fabric faeries would make for an awesome foursome!
Known as “Gentleman Gerry” for his sportsmanship in the ring and friendly demeanor outside of it, Gerry Cooney was equally known for his Irish heritage – in no small part because of his boxing attire. Cooney’s trademark was a shamrock that he wore on both green and white boxing trunks and that he also incorporated into his robe and the jackets worn by his cornermen. He may have never won the world heavyweight title, but he remains a champion in the hearts of many Irish-American boxing fans.
I like emphasizing the word “Union” in the name of Ireland’s rugby union teams for a couple of reasons. Not only does it describe the sport they play (the rugby union variant of this particular code of football, as opposed to rugby league), but it also represents the union of both countries occupying the island of Éire – Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland – into a single, unified side. It’s one of a number of sports (outside of soccer and the Olympics) where the two compete together internationally.
Ireland’s rugby teams own the distinction of having what is likely the longest association of any sports organization with the shamrock as a uniform element. The men’s team wore them on their caps as far back as 1875, while later adding a multi-headed sprig of shamrocks to their shirts by 1895.
The crest took on its more familiar form by the 1920s when it was placed inside a shield, and it’s evolved since then to include a rugby football in the forefront. Whatever form it takes, the crest has always looked spectacular when framed by Ireland’s gorgeous green jerseys – a fitting sporting fashion statement for the entire island!
That testimonial to Irish unity seems like a great place to wrap up Part 1 of this feature. What do you think so far? Any surprises? Thoughts about who might make the Top Ten? Feel free to leave your thoughts – and your own experiences with Saint Patrick’s Day (especially those that intersect with sports) in the comments below. And be sure to fill up on a full Irish breakfast to be ready for the second installment later today!
Thanks, Kary! We’ll have Part II later today, so stay tuned.
Loved this one, Kary! I would actually disagree on the Republic of Ireland soccer logo though; the new one just feels so plain and character-less, much like the badges of the City football group teams. The old badge had a much nicer font too. I wish they could’ve had a more stylised shamrock without a roundel, like the Irish rugby badge, minus the shield. Happy St. Patrick’s day to all who celebrate!
Thanks, G M! I’m glad you enjoyed it!
That’s a fair critique about the Republic of Ireland’s new logo. The new roundel may be plain, but I also appreciate simply, straightforward design, which I think this logo is. I’ll agree that the font on the old logo was quite lovely, even if I wasn’t a fan of the (very) abstract soccer ball/shamrock imagery that accompanied it. Happy St. Patrick’s Day to you!
A fine post, but I’m commenting to discourage any use of artificial intelligence-generated images, or illustrations that look like it, like the pot of gold at the top of this article.
Patrick, I will direct you to a lengthy comment I wrote in response to similar remarks in Part 2 of this article: (link).
As I said to readers Rob, Sean, and Jem in that comment, I would sincerely appreciate your feedback about alternatives to AI-generated images when I can’t find illustrations that suit my purposes through internet image searches. If you have alternatives to suggest, I welcome them. If you don’t, then I will give your empty criticism the weight it deserves.
Kary, I appreciate the article, the research, and the comment on the AI use here and in the part 2 post. And my alternative is an easy solution: just pick one of the many great pictures in your article as the header picture! I think you’ve realized that using an AI graphic makes people wonder if all the content is AI generated, which of course it isn’t. Why invite the criticism at all?
For what its worth, my concern isn’t that it’s a fun, silly graphic, it’s that AI by its nature steals from creators – artists, photographers, writers and more – and I want all that hard work to be appreciated, not stolen. For this story, I’d have used the Ireland National Team picture or the marathon runner, and for part 2, the Notre Dame picture holding their shamrock helmets. That would draw me into reading more, and understanding that the article is a historical deep dive, vs. new uniform news, etc.
While this was a look at St. Paddy’s Day inspired uniforms, it really felt like a look at Ireland’s uniforms, and I think it could be an ongoing feature – country by country. From the Olympics to the World Cup and other international events, the ways that countries represent themselves is always interesting. Australia wears green and gold, Italy wears blue, Germany wears white, Netherlands wear orange… (And I know why, but I’m some dork writing this comment right now. Anyway.) Thanks for reading, and especially thanks for writing.
Patrick, thank you for the thoughtful and well-reasoned response. It’s refreshing in what often feels like a 280-character world these days.
Without diving too deep into the ongoing and, in many ways, existential debate about AI, I will gently counter that AI is almost certainly not going away anytime soon, and I find myself walking a fine line of whether to not use it at all or to use it in a way that feels ethical and responsible. I don’t fully agree with the notion that AI image generation is “stealing,” although your point is well-taken. I don’t know how many more of my written contributions to Uni Watch in the future (assuming there are some) would benefit from the sort of whimsical holiday-themed imagery with which I’ve tried to support these stories, but you’ve given me a lot to think about. I will no doubt recall your comments and keep them in mind on any of those future pieces I write. Thanks again for the civil and substantive discourse!
For clarification, this is Kary, posting under my “regular” Uni Watch comments section handle.