The 2013 season was Arsenal Ladies Football Club's 26th season since forming in 1987. The club participated in the third edition of the FA WSL, England's top flight for women's football since 2011. Arsenal also played in the FA Women's Cup, and the FA WSL Cup, winning the former against Bristol Academy in June[1] and the latter against Lincoln in October.[2] They also competed in the UEFA Women's Champions League, losing at the Semi Final stage to Wolfsburg.[3] In December 2012, manager Laura Harvey left Arsenal to take charge of Seattle Reign.[4] In February 2013, Shelley Kerr was appointed to manage Arsenal ahead of the new WSL season.[5] In September 2013, Arsenal were charged with playing an unregistered player in their trip to Liverpool.[6][7] The resulting three point deduction saw them fall to third place and miss out on qualifying for Europe in the 2014–15 season.
As this season bridged the gap between the Men's Team's2012-13 and 2013-14 seasons, the team wore two different sets of kits during each half of the season.
Nike released a new set of home, away and goalkeeper kits for the 2012–13 season. The club reverted to their traditional crest, after using an anniversary crest last season.
Home: During the final two years with Nike, Nike ditched the white sleeves the club's well known for. The shirt has a white wide stripe on each sleeve, flanked by two dark red, narrower stripes. It has a red V-neck collar which is the same colour as the primary shirt colour. The shirt is complemented by white shorts with a dark-red trim, and white socks with a red horizontal stripe. Red socks with white horizontal stripe were used in some away games. Arsenal revealed that the kit would be used for the next two seasons.
Away: Arsenal's new away kit, was revealed on 12 July 2012, with the much speculated purple and black hooped kit being officially confirmed.[18] The reason behind the kit was to commemorate Arsenal's past, enhancing the "royal" theme from the Diamond Jubilee to remind Arsenal fans of the Royal Arsenal that once existed through the colour purple. The shirt featured red cuffs and detailing, and additionally featured hoops of different width on the arms. The purple and black hooped socks, bearing one red stripe each, paid tribute to Chapman's legacy and his introduction of hooped socks, which according to him, was said to make it easier for his players to pick each other out on the pitch.
Third: Arsenal's yellow and maroon 2010–11 away kit was retained as a third kit yet again with club badge reverted to traditional badge after last season with anniversary badge.
Keeper: Nike launched a new set of goalkeeper strips for the 2012–13 season. The primary strip was predominantly green featuring several tones of the same colour on the arms. The alternatives were pink and gold, based on the same template.
Nike supplied their last kit for Arsenal this season, which saw an end to 20 years of contract. Puma became the club's new supplier kit for next season.
Home: The home kit from last season was unchanged. As usual, Arsenal switched to red socks in an event of a socks clashes in some away games.
Away: The away kit used the traditional Arsenal colours of yellow and blue. The design appealed to a lot of fans. The kit was yellow with a blue polo neck collar and deep blue cuffs on the sleeves, both featuring thin yellow stripes. The away shorts were blue while the away socks featured the traditional Arsenal hoops socks design in blue and yellow, harking back to the style of those worn in the 1930s under the management of Herbert Chapman.
Keeper: There were four goalkeeper kits, and all of them were all based on Nike's two-tone goalkeeper template. The home kit was grey and black with lime green accents. The away kit was in two shades of purple, while the third kit was in two tones of light green and was the most commonly worn strip.
^"FA Charge Arsenal Ladies". London. 16 September 2013. Archived from the original on 18 September 2013. Retrieved 16 September 2013.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
