Rovers in the pink for Friday's Dublin derby

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Friday night's Dublin derby between Bohemians and Shamrock Rovers at Dalymount Park will have a different look to it, with Michael O'Neill's men set to line-out in a specially commissioned pink jersey.

The two clubs have agreed that in their four matches this season the visiting club will swap their traditional jersey for a special pink strip to raise money for Action Breast Cancer Ireland.

Umbro Ireland approached the two clubs with the idea of raising €10,000 for Action Breast Cancer Ireland through issuing limited edition jerseys. Each club will be given 500 pink jerseys for sale at the end of May, with all proceeds going to Action Breast Cancer Ireland.

According to Jonathan Courtenay, director of football for Umbro Ireland: “Shamrock Rovers and Bohemians were obvious choices for me. When you take into consideration that they are huge rivals it made sense to me to give them a great common cause to link up for. I spoke to Jim O’Malley in Action Breast Cancer Ireland and thankfully he loved the idea. The kits look stunning and they have created a lot of talk which obviously is good for the charity and for the clubs.

“I want to thank the boards of both clubs who were unanimous in their backing of the idea and the fans who are literally clambering for information on when and where they will be available. I can confirm that the kits will go on sale in late May through both club shops in the clubs' stadiums and on both clubs' web-shops, on the Action Breast Cancer Ireland website and through the Umbro FAI Store in Carrolls Gifts on Westmorland Street in Dublin. I am delighted with the positive responses from everyone and we are already in negotiations with Action Breast Cancer Ireland regarding developing an exclusive line of Umbro ladies casual clothing featuring the Pink Ribbon Logo which will raise even more money in the future."

In other news, the Football Association of Ireland today announced that it has signed a new ten year commercial partnership agreement with Umbro, official kit sponsor to all of the FAI’s senior and underage international teams.

The agreement will come into effect from August 2010. The value of the agreement is €25.6m over the ten year period with the potential to rise to over €34m through performance related bonuses. As part of this deal, Umbro will also manage the FAI’s on-line store and merchandising license programmes. Umbro will also renew its sponsorship of the FAI’s junior, intermediate and youth cups, the high profile Umbro Kennedy Cup and the Umbro Colleges and Universities League.