ITCHEN College’s Women’s Football Academy have solidified their partnership with Southampton Women’s FC this week.
Their allegiance is now symbolic through their new kits, which were designed by Kit and Bone and influenced by their nickname – The Sirens.
The print on the shirts is a pattern of nautical symbols – each one representing a letter to spell out ‘SIRENS‘.
The teal of the goalkeeper kit directly mirrors Southampton’s away strip, whilst the pink hue of the home strip was kept, per the request of the players.
The Lapstone sponsors Itchen’s new kit, and also features as a shirt sleeve sponsor for Southampton.
Russ Kitching owns the ‘hub’ and is Southampton’s Chairman: “We decided to create an educational pathway, starting from the Under 10s, right the way throughout the Youth. [It involves] Redbridge School, the home of the Youth and the official training ground, and then into Itchen and Solent University.”
Southampton’s First Team and Reserves squad train and play at Test Park, and additionally use the High Performance Gym at the Solent Sports Complex.
Itchen already has a large pool of players that play for Southampton also, most notably Head Coach Emma Whitlock and Captain Kaitlyn Cousens.
They will feature in the Third Round of the Adobe Women’s FA Cup this Sunday against Watford FC Women.
Cousens is also Itchen’s top goalscorer this season, with five to her name – three penalties and two free-kicks.
The team will step onto the pitch in the new strip for the first time in the New Year, having reached the Round of 16 in the AOC National Cup.
They are four-time winners of the competition, with the last trophy lift being in 2019.
Kitching also said: “We reached out to Itchen College to start to bring the umbrella together, and I am very proud to be involved in that development.”
