Andy’s Sleeve
3 July 2009
Tags: financial crisis | murray | rbs | tennis
To much general British disappointment, Andy Murray hasn’t made it to this year’s Wimbledon final. I was distracted during his defeat at the hands of Andy Roddick by the insignia on the sleeve of his generally quite tasteful Fred Perry shirt. Subtler than Roddick’s black armbands, the logo of the Royal Bank of Scotland was still highly visible throughout the tournament. Cause, then, beyond mere patriotism, to get behind Murray: having bailed RBS out to the tune of who knows how many billions, British taxpayers aren’t just Murray’s supporters, they’re his de facto sponsors, too.
I’d been wondering about Roddick’s black armbands. These days if sportsmen aren’t holding a minute’s silence before a match, they are wearing a black armband in memoriam or a pink band for breast cancer or, in the last of the Lions-Springboks matches, a white band in protest against Bakkies Botha’s banning.
I thought perhaps the bands were a preemptive mourning for his loss to Federer. Now I see they advertise Lacoste.
But not very well: the greyed-out lettering on the black was impossible to read. Though the oversized crocodile on his chest more than made up for it.