Thirty years after 1977 made Ash one of the most exciting guitar bands in these islands, the album has found a new life in a very unexpected place: the terraces of the Irish League.
The Downpatrick band teamed up with Ards FC on a football shirt based on the cover of their debut album. According to a PA interview reported by the Evening Standard on Sunday, the first run sold out within three hours, a second batch has been ordered and a third is already being planned.
A shirt with a 77 on the back
The design recreates the 1977 album artwork in black, green and white. According to the PA report, the band had the final say on the design, and frontman Tim Wheeler came up with the idea of printing “77” on the back. Bassist Mark Hamilton and drummer Rick McMurray appear wearing the shirts in the club’s promotional video.
Ards FC supporter liaison officer Adrian Monaghan described the reaction as unbelievable. He told PA that orders and questions had come in from Taiwan, Japan, Australia, the United States and across Europe, which is not the usual catchment area for a club from the Co Down town of Newtownards.
Why it matters for Ards: a club without a home
This is not a charity shirt, but the money is going to a very specific cause. Proceeds go to Ards FC’s ground fund, as the club tries to build a stadium of its own.
Ards lost its traditional home, Castlereagh Park, in 1998, and has spent years playing its home games at Bangor FC’s ground, according to the PA report. For a club with a long history in Northern Irish football, a global run on its merchandise is a welcome boost towards getting back to Newtownards.
Building a new ground is a long and expensive process for any club outside the top flight, where crowds are small and income from television and sponsorship is limited. Merchandise that sells to fans who have never been to a match in Co Down is exactly the kind of extra revenue that a club in that position needs, and a collaboration with a band whose fans span the globe gives Ards a reach it could never get on its own.
Thirty years of 1977
Ash formed in Downpatrick in 1992, when the members were still schoolboys. 1977, named after the year the band’s members were born and the year Star Wars was released, came out in 1996. It was packed with the songs that made their name, including Goldfinger and Oh Yeah, and NME later listed it among the 500 greatest albums of all time.
The band have been marking the anniversary all year. In September they released Bittersweet Blue, described as a lost song from the 1977 era, and a 30th anniversary edition of the album was announced for October.
Band and football crossovers have become big business in recent years, with clubs across Europe using music collaborations to reach fans far beyond their own towns. Ash’s shirt shows that even a modest Irish League club can tap into that, if the band and the record mean enough to people.
What happens next
Fans who missed out on the first batch will have to wait for the second and third production runs, which the club says are in the works. No restock date or price was given in the reports we have seen, so keep an eye on Ards FC’s official channels for when the next batch goes on sale. As for the ground fund, the club will hope that the shirt is the start of a much bigger push towards a permanent home.
Sources
- Evening Standard / PA via AOL: Ash shirt collaboration with Irish League team attracts fans from across the world (1 November 2026)
- RTÉ Entertainment: Ash shirt collaboration attracts fans around the world (listing) (1 November 2026)
- Wikipedia: Ash (band) (accessed 2 November 2026)
Featured image: Ash Sonorama 2025 by Goldorak, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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