When managers tell their players to reach for the stars they didn’t have this in mind.
Earlier today, Reading FC boldly went where no football kit has gone before: into space.
The new home and away kit was launched at a special event for Loyal Royals fans and saw the strips taken 128,000ft into the very edges of the atmosphere.
Reading FC said that the shirts reached a maximum altitude of 39,084 metres -approximately four times the cruising altitude of most passenger jets.
The spacesperson for the Royals added: “After taking in the views alongside a can of Carabao, the strips then parachuted safely back to Earth to land in a field somewhere between Thetford and Norwich, reaching a top speed of 211mph on their way back to terra firma!”
The footage from the kit launch was broadcast live on the club’s official Facebook and YouTube channels this morning as well as on the big screen in front of fans at Madejski Stadium, with the kits unveiled by the cameras in space at 10am.
At the same time, the club’s Open Day was beginning to get under way at the Madejski Stadium as first team stars Paul McShane, Ali Al Habsi, Jake Cooper and Jordan Obita emerged from the players’ tunnel wearing the brand new strips.
They walked out in front of a West Stand filling with fans to pose for photos.
The ‘rocket fuel’ needed to get the kits up into the atmosphere was supplied by kit sponsors Carabao, a South-East Asian energy drinks brand who became the club’s principal partner earlier this summer. The shirts themselves have been made by Puma.
The Royals spaceperson added: “Our thanks to the High Altitude Ballooning team who looked after the launch and the various technicalities behind trying to send two shirts into space and getting them back in one piece!”
