Reader Submission - 2000 South Africa National Team Alan Verwey Jersey

Out latest reader submission comes from international jersey collector and expert Anthony Ferra, who we know from being a fellow board member at the IceJerseys.com forums. He's also personally responsible for several gems in the Third String Goalie collection, as his pursuits of rare and obscure jerseys has led to him having numerous contacts around the globe which sometimes make available to him some really hard to find and wonderful jerseys which don't fit his personal collection, but are too hard to find to pass up.

His original desire was to obtain some Italy jerseys due to his Italian heritage, but things eventually progressed to the point where his goal now is to collect not just a jersey, but a Nike or SP brand game worn or team issued jersey from every member nation of the IIHF from 1996-2002 era, and we're not talking easy ones like Canada and the United States, who regularly market their own, but countries who inhabit the lower divisions such as Ireland, New Zealand, Israel, Greece and Mongolia, who you wouldn't even expect to have a national hockey program!

With none of these jerseys from the lower division teams having been made specifically for retail sale, the only ones available had to have been made for the teams, and this limited supply only increases the challenge to find them enormously.

This already difficult quest certainly cannot be made any easier by Anthony being based in Arizona! But, thanks to internet forums and social media like facebook, he's been able to make contacts with not only collectors, but actual team players and staff of the lower ranked national teams in order to pursue his quest, which bring us to today's jersey.

This South Africa National Team jersey was worn in I THINK the 2000 IIHF Worlds (Pool D) by Alan Verwey. I actually traded for this jersey by sending some Roberto Luongo styled and colored Reebok goalie pads in exchange for a few jerseys. Alan gave the pads to his kids as a birthday gift. Later on I sent the matching blocker and glove in exchange for a few more. Along with this jersey I also received a game photo (which is VERY RARE to find for ANY level of the IIHF even 5 years ago).

What I really love about this jersey is the colors. Every bit of the flag is incorporated. It's one fo the most unique and in my opinion best looking national team jerseys of all time. I will forever hold onto this jersey as it's really one of a kind.

Truly a rare and unique jersey and if Anthony is impressed with how rare it is, trust us, it's rare. To see more of his collection, please click here to see jerseys from countries such as Australia, Belgium, Bulgaria, China, Croatia, Estonia, England, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Greece, Korea, Lithuania, Mexico, Mongolia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Romania, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey and Yugoslavia, which isn't even a country anymore!

His "Holy Grail" (or is it his "White Whale"?) remains the elusive North Korea Nike jersey. While he has obtained a couple of more recent vintage post-2002 North Korean jerseys from Tackla, the older Nike era style remains elusive no doubt due to the scarcity of the jerseys, the language barrier between him and any players who may have one, and the isolationist policies of the North Korean government, which limit it's few hockey playing citizens from having access to the internet in order to even give Anthony a chance to even contact them.

If you are curious about what he has available for sale, check out his ebay listings under his user ID canucks109610 often to see what unusual jerseys he is able to acquire, but don't fit his personal collection.

To contact Anthony to talk about international jerseys or ask any questions, he can be reached at iihfjerseycollector@gmail.com. He can find you jerseys from almost any country you may be looking for and loves to talk jerseys.