Engraved notebooks for the sport they play
Personalised A5 vegan-leather notebooks, £17.99
Everybody who plays knows what the game is actually like, and what a position in it involves, and neither is what the team sheet says. Eight sports and eight of the positions played in them, each set out as a dictionary entry: the word, how to say it, and a definition written by somebody who has watched the game. Add a name underneath, or put the definition in your own words. Two of them are a drawing across the base of the cover instead of a definition.
Kit bags are hard on things, which is an argument against print and for engraving: these are cut into the hide by a laser in-house, so there is no ink on the surface to scuff off against a pair of boots. The definition is yours to rewrite and the name is yours to type, and the preview shows the finished cover before you pay, which on this page is the difference between a joke that lands and one that does not. Getting it there in time works like this.
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Netball
Football
Swimming
Rugby
Cricket
Dance
Golf
Running
Tennis
Hockey
Basketball
Rowing
Padel
Darts
Snooker
Start with the sport, then decide how specific to be
That is why this page comes in sections, one per sport, and not as one long grid. Every sport here has a cover of its own, and several of them also have the positions played in them, which are a different present entirely. A cover that says Netball is for somebody who plays netball. A cover that says Goal Attack is for somebody whose entire identity at Sunday training is Goal Attack, and it is funnier and far more likely to be carried about. If the position is not one of the ones we have drawn, the definition covers take any wording you like, so the position goes in as text and reads exactly the same.
Why a dictionary entry suits a sport
Because everybody who plays already knows the gap between what the team sheet says and what the game is really like, and a definition is the shape that holds a joke without announcing one. The word runs across the cover with its pronunciation and its part of speech beneath it, set the way a dictionary sets them, and the meaning underneath is written by somebody who has stood on the touchline in the rain. Ours are written that way and you can replace every word of them. A couple of covers here take the other route and draw the thing instead: the kit laid out across the base, or a golfer mid-swing with the flag waiting on the green.
Who it is for, and what to put underneath
These get bought at the end of a season, at a presentation evening, by a parent for a teenager who has just made a first team, and by a club for a coach who has given up every Saturday for a decade. For a player, a first name and the position reads better than a full name, because it is the name that gets shouted. For a coach, the surname carries more weight. If it is going to a whole squad, remember that each cover is added separately, so every one can carry a different name and the covers do not have to match beyond the design you have chosen.