2023 has been an incredible year for the Serious Sport Group so we thought we would compile some highlights.
Serious Sport has grown extensively over this year, launching a range of high-quality netball dresses, football, hockey and rugby kits and built a brand new website - and we would like to thank you all for your support throughout the year.
We’re proud to be partnered with Cricket East and our January Road Show was a great success.
Hosted at the wonderful St Neots Town FC, we helped to provide kit for Cricket East, Huntingdonshire, Bedfordshire, the Hotshots team, and the combined Huntingdonshire and Bedfordshire representative team.
On top of the fully sublimated playing kit and teamwear, we also sold cricket equipment for the first time at a roadshow.
Find out more about our Team Store platform and how to join Team Serious today:
In February, we celebrated the announcement that we have won the Feefo 2023 Platinum Trusted Service Award for excellence in customer service.
Platinum is awarded to businesses that achieve a Feefo service rating of at least 4.5 out of 5, for three consecutive years!
We’d like to thank all our customers for sharing their ratings and reviews on Feefo.
In March, as the clothing suppliers for the The Duke of Edinburgh's Award (DofE), we launched a brand-new limited-edition ‘Eco' range.
DofE said: “In keeping with the spirit of our most impassioned campaign yet, our new-to-the-market eco-range is designed to empower young individuals across the whole of the UK.
“We recognise our responsibility to ensure that our products are sustainably led and with this is mind, our new range includes products made from 100% organic cotton, regenerated cotton and recycled polyester.”
We also hosted our unique Try Before You Buy event at our cricket centre in March with over 300 attendees.
It’s a fantastic event that allows people to try equipment in our nets before making a decision on which one to purchase.
We will be back in 2024 hosting the event so look out on our social media channels for more information.
We've been working with KitAid for over 2 years now, and back in April, we donated more football kits to support their program.
KitAid is a charity that recycles once-loved football kits and distributes them to underprivileged children and adults in some of the world's poorest countries. Since 1998, over 700,000 individuals, or 40,000 teams from across the developing world, now have access to football kits thanks to KitAid.
We received a message from the charity to let us know that our kits had arrived in Acornhoek, South Africa and were helping support football projects that engage communities, helping prevent drug/alcohol abuse and anti-social behaviour.
In the words of KitAid... 'It's more than just a shirt'.
Find out more about our teamwear offering now.
In May, we had the absolute pleasure of being at Wembley to witness our teamwear partner Ascot United win the FA Vase.
We provided special supporters shirts for the fans making the trip to Wembley and customised the playing kit to recognise the gravity of the occasion.
Congratulations again to the team and we’re proud to still be providing teamwear for the whole club this season.
The bucket hat revolution was in full flow in June this year and, at Serious Sport, we were happy to be at the forefront of this as we supplied club-specific bucket hats.
Inspired by the England Cricket team, who donned their bucket hats at almost every opportunity this summer, the buckets were a popular purchase for many clubs.
Good news, bucket hats are now back in stock!
In July, we filmed a promotional video that highlighted the feeling of identity you get when your team is in our teamwear.
At Serious Sport, we are changing the game when it comes to making bespoke sports kits accessible to grassroots clubs and beyond.
Uniting us in One Kit, As One Team, One Tribe.
We love to celebrate the success of our teamwear partners and in August, Berkshire won the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA) One Day Cup at Wormsley.
They beat Cumbria Cricket to take home the cup and we were pleased to support them throughout the season.
Last year we signed a five-year extension with Berkshire Cricket so will be providing their kit until at least 2026.
September had a couple of notable highlights, first, we were invited to hand out the awards at the Oxfordshire Grassroots Awards and then the team hosted our annual La Manga cricket tournament.
The Oxfordshire Awards Day was a great opportunity for us to celebrate our partnership with the county and hand out awards.
Our annual La Manga trip is a great opportunity for teams to get a few days of cricket in the sun after the English season has finished.
As always, a fun time was had by all, and we were pleased to see so many people enjoying our kit and tournament.
In October, the Rest of the World XI travelled to South Africa for an over-60s cricket tour in our kit. They also wore the kit at the Over-60s World Cup which was held in Chennai, India.
It was great to see Serious Cricket represented at an international tournament and that our kit was enjoyed by the team.
We also got the chance to sit down with the founder of the team, Colin Walters, who detailed the previous tours to Dubai, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Barbados, and the previous World Cup in Queensland, Australia.
November was a significant month for the company as after years of hard work, we launched our new website.
The website gives us a better platform to provide teamwear for all our sports at industry-leading delivery times while maintaining our extensive cricket equipment offering.
We hope you have enjoyed an enhanced user experience if you have visited our site since the 1st of November.
If you have any questions, then please visit our website support page or email sales@serioussport.co.uk.
To find out more about why we changed the site and what benefits have come with the change from our Managing Director Neil Rider, read our blog.
In December, we were lucky enough to be invited to St George’s Park, home of England football, to re-launch our partnership with the Association of Colleges (AoC Sport).
This three-year agreement means we will supply teamwear for their football, netball, and hockey representative teams and their National Championships.
We are delighted to be partnered with the AoC and are looking forward to the next three years.
Thank you so much for all your support throughout the year and we cannot wait to see what growth and development 2024 will hold for us.
