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“I don’t think I appreciated it when I first came over. There weren’t a lot of hoops, even when I was playing,” said Valentine, who helped the Caps win the 1979 championship as a rookie and played for the team until 1984.

“I think it’s fantastic. It’s pretty unique. I haven’t seen all the kits in the other leagues, but you don’t come across the hoop that much. And obviously it means so much to myself and a lot of the older fans in Vancouver, a lot of memories of a fantastic team and the characters we had, and also a championship.

“I know from being around a lot of the Whitecaps fans, they ask every year if we’re going to bring back that jersey. I’m not exaggerating when I say it’s very nostalgic, and they’ve been begging for this jersey. It’s long overdue, but a great time to do it on our 40th anniversary.”

Current Caps midfielder David Norman Jr., whose father — a.k.a. Senior — played for the team from 1981-84, got a chance to see renderings of the new kit jersey after practice Thursday.

“It’s unreal. It’s a sharp kit — that’s the first thing you think when you see it,” he said. “For someone like me, looking back and seeing the ones we wore in ’79 and through the ’80s, that iconic hoop, it definitely brings back a lot of memories.

“… And with our away kit from last year, I think we’ll have two of the sharpest kits in the league.”

Norman Jr. said he has a couple of the original jerseys that belonged to his father hanging in the closet. Valentine, surprisingly, will have to make due with the new retro version.

“I don’t have one,” he said, chuckling. “(Equipment manager) Jock MacDonald wasn’t really renowned that you got your jerseys. It was murder trying to get anything off of him. He used to hoard it like a lot of the kit guys do.”

Photo by Vancouver Whitecaps

Photo by Vancouver Whitecaps

Photo by Vancouver Whitecaps

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