In 1781, the city of Montpelier, Vermont, got its name from Montpellier, France. Now, Vermont’s capital is about to get something else from that French city: a shipment of soccer jerseys.
A professional soccer club in Montpellier, France, is awash in useless uniforms after a misprint. Montpellier is spelled with two L's — however when new jerseys for their soccer team arrived recently, there was only one L.
But the gear will not go to waste.
On Tuesday morning, the president of the Montpellier Herault Sport Club announced on Twitter that he’d be sending the equipment to Montpelier, Vermont — which, of course, is spelled with only one L.
“We don’t know how many [jerseys are coming] … But we think it’s pretty fun,” says Montpelier City Manager Bill Fraser. “When you think of all the stuff happening in the world, this is kind of nice that somebody reached out across the ocean to just do something nice.”
Fraser says the Montpelier High School athletic director has expressed interest in having the soccer team here use the jerseys for a couple games, though it’s unclear whether uniforms for the pro team would fit the city’s teenaged players.
On the city of Montpelier’s Facebook page, some residents have expressed interest in purchasing the jerseys. Fraser says he’s hopeful the uniforms will at some point be sold off to benefit a school program.
