Could Specialty Jerseys Have A Future in the PWHL?

Editor's Note: This is a guest post from Syd Kerr, @sk_writess. You can read more of Syd's work at Offside News.

Unity Games have quickly become a staple in the PWHL season. Last season, all six teams hosted Black History Month, Women’s Empowerment, and Pride Celebration games, and the three Canadian teams hosted Indigenous Heritage Celebration games.

The Unity Games included community outreach, special guests, and speciality PWHL logos designed by artists who were part of the communities being celebrated. These logos were also featured on merchandise that the league sold, with proceeds going to related causes and initiatives. But there is still room for these games to adapt to a growing market. An untapped potential for the PWHL are specialty jerseys, which have had great success in other leagues. The PWHL would probably find even more success with these jerseys with their dedicated and diverse fanbase.

In 2022, the Metropolitan Riveters of the Premier Hockey Federation debuted a speciality “Black Rosie” jersey for Black History Month. I spoke with Jordan Dabney over email about her thoughts on specialty jerseys. Not only is she a hockey fan and an artist, she is also the person behind the iconic Black Rosie jerseys.

Dabney used the Riveters opportunity to showcase Black American culture specifically, using her own designs instead of taking them from existing African prints to create the logo that the Riveters would wear on the ice: “Black Americans have their own history,” she said, “and although we are descendants of Africans, it didn’t feel right to try and pick one or two patterns to use for my design. I’ve since gone on to do the same of creating my own patterns for Black History Month designs.”

As a Black woman who loves hockey, designing the Black Rosie was important for her community: “When I got into the sport while I was in middle school, I didn’t know anyone else who liked it, especially not anyone Black, but the ‘Black Rosie’ jersey showed me so many Black people who finally felt represented by a sport they love, that they feel doesn’t love them back. It might just be a drawing on fabric to some people, but to me and other Black women hockey fans, and hopefully to the young Black girls who play hockey, as long as you want to be here, you belong.” 

Designing the jersey was also a pivotal moment for Dabney career-wise. Working with the Riveters was her first time designing a jersey with a professional hockey team (she has since gone on to design Black History month logos and designs for various other hockey teams, including the San Jose Sharks and the Oshawa Generals) and it was a big teaching moment for Dabney as a freelance artist.

In the moment, she said, she didn’t realize how big this would become. And she candidly spoke about what she would do differently: “I didn’t know as much about artist contracts then, and regret not asking more questions about how donations and profits worked. I regret not taking more pictures, and getting an unsigned jersey to hold onto as a memory, and sure, more jersey designs have come since, but I regret not enjoying the first one more… my biggest regret is not realizing how big the moment was and not enjoying it as much as I should have.” 

Speaking on the future of specialty jerseys in the PWHL, Dabney says that while it would be a great move, she “can understand why it probably wouldn’t be in the near future” considering how young the league is and how newer teams are still waiting on names and logos.

However, she thinks that if the league decides to introduce them, it would be a great opportunity: “I think there’s definitely an opportunity to do specialty jerseys and really show fans that on top of the rule differences, the PWHL is not the NHL, and there’s no need for comparison. This could be one of many ways to show this league listens to, and cares about the diverse communities that make up their fan base.”

And I have to agree with this sentiment. The PWHL has prided itself on being an inclusive league for all hockey fans. And though the league has fallen short in some regards, like dragging their feet on releasing their gender inclusion policy, having specialty jerseys for warm ups would be a great way to show that the players on the ice and the league at large are loud and proud about their support for the communities that make up their fanbase. 

Of course, the PWHL is not a monolith when it comes to player’s values and opinions. Just because all the players would wear the specialty jersey for a Unity Game wouldn’t mean that every player agrees with the messaging. But to have players wearing specialty jerseys for a Pride game or an AAPI (Asian American and Pacific Islander) heritage game would definitely send a message that the league is serious about their commitment to inclusion. And by making the logos team specific, the inclusiveness would be seen as baked into the team’s identity and culture, similar to how the Black Rosie logo signified that the Metropolitan Riveters were aware and appreciative of the place Black culture has in American history. 

Could Dabney be the artist to bring specialty jerseys to life in the PWHL? When I asked her what she would design if given the opportunity, she said,  “As an artist, I’d be lying if I said I haven’t already imagined what I’d design for the PWHL (team specific or league wide) if given the opportunity. I have a lot of experience creating designs for Black History Month, and the research that goes into each design to make sure the local Black History and communities are always included, is truly my favorite part of what I’ve done so far. However, I’d love the chance to challenge myself with something I’ve yet to do, like a Pride or Women’s History design. Honestly, I wouldn’t even mind a less serious design, like Crayola, just to see what I could come up with.”

Dabney touches on something here that I think the PWHL would be remiss to ignore: the sheer amount of possibilities that lie in both the possibilities of specialty jerseys and the creativity that already exists in the fanbase. And artists like Dabney are always at the ready: “If a team or the league wanted to work with me on something we both align with, I’d make myself have a ‘brain blast’ like Jimmy Neutron, and do my best to create something fans could love. However, being able to give back to the sport and WoHo community, would put me on cloud nine in a way I didn’t really get to enjoy the first time around.”