Historical Football Kits

26 June 2009-10 additions: The eagerly awaited new Manchester United kit has been officially revealed and added to the new season galleries. The shirt is marketed as being based on a design worn in 1910-11: HFK is not so sure and would like to get hold of some team photographs from that season to see if this claim can be verified. Alloa Athletic (A), Swansea City (H, A), Port Vale (A, 3rd) added.

We have not had a photograph for a few days so here's one from Alex Howells of the 1934 Manchester City FA Cup winning team to enjoy. (As usual, click on the thumbnail image to view the entire image). City are wearing the same shirts that they wore in the previous season's final, when City and Everton flipped a coin for the choice of maroon or white tops. A clash of colours between City and Portsmouth in the 1934 final resulted in another change of shirt for both teams but we don't know if this was also decided by lot. In the event City wore maroon again, won the cup and adopted this colour as their favoured change kit for the next 40 years.

FC Toronto recently played New York Red Bulls wearing a special pink strip in aid of breast cancer research. HFK has contacted the club to find out how supporters can buy these special shirts and will post the results as soon as we have a reply.

Berwick Rangers (1998-99 kit manufacturer details added): Bristol City (2000-01 shorts corrected, 1992-94 manufacturer corrected):

25 June 2009-10 additions: Brentford (H), Chelsea (A).

Christopher Worrall and Doug Shulman have been busy burrowing through the records of Cambridge United and have added eight previously unrecorded kits to our records (1948-49, 1949-50, 1950-51, 1963-64, 1968-69, 1971-72, 1978-79, 1987-88) and corrected several more.

23 June 2009-10 additions: The new Newcastle away kit has been posted in the 2009-10 Championship gallery (HFK received dozens of e-mails from astonished visitors about this kit), Bristol City (A).

Doncaster Rovers (May-Sept 1997 alternate): Wolverhampton Wanderers (1870s kit modified, 1891-92 dates amended).

20 June 2009-10 additions: West Bromwich Albion (H), Watford (A + sponsorship added).

The champions of the Coca Cola Football Leagues One and Two will wear these special gold sleeve patches next season. If we're going to have sleeve patches (and it appears that we will my dears), wouldn't it be nice for clubs that move up to the Premier League from the Championship to wear a Championship Winners patch and for the Conference winners to wear a Conference Champions patch in their first seasons at the higher level. Alas, marketing and copyright issues make this unlikely to ever happen.

In 1998 Doncaster Rovers crashed out of the Football League for the third time with just eight points. By special request from our reasearch associate, Christopher Worrall, their change kit for that dreadful season is now in Room 101.

18 June: Further to yesterday's feature on Newton Heath, here is a photograph of the team that played in the Football League for the first time in 1892-93 and registered as "red and white quarters." The body panels are reversed on the back, the sleeves are solid red while a laced crew neck replaces the collars on the earlier shirts.

2009-10 additions: Middlesbrough (H), Wycombe Wanderers (H), Rochdale (H, A), Yeovil Town (A), Leyton Orient (H, A).

To date HFK has, with help from our regular visitors, slightly more than a third of next season's English and Scottish kits. Some trends are emerging so it is time for a little rant. The big global players (Nike/Umbro, Puma and Adidas) will produce a bespoke kit for the major clubs where huge replica sales can be expected but for the rest, choice is limited to standard templates perhaps with slightly different detailing. The small players with a reputation for innovation are being squeezed. Middlesbrough and Crystal Palace, for example have switched from the Italian company Errea to Adidas and Nike respectively and will turn out in very ordinary looking strips this August. Now I am quite a fan of Nike's minimalist design approach but it does mean clubs have little influence on the final design, which is why Rochdale have switched to Carbrini.

The smaller companies (Errea, Mitre, Joma, Le Coq Sportif, Canterbury. Macron, Bukta, Xara) are where we find interesting, innovative and even elegant designs alongside a commitment to involve clubs in the design process. The more forward looking clubs now actively involve supporters by offering a vote between several options. Sheffield United went one step further last season with a kit designed by a season ticket holder while Cambridge United's excellent new outfit was designed by a supporter. HFK would like to see more of this at all levels.

I quite like the new Lotto and Carbrini designs but they are disfigured by excessive placement of the makers' logos. When you put this together with secondary sponsorship, competition patches, the main shirt sponsor and all the other clutter that goes onto modern shirts the overall effect diminishes the team's identity.

Finally, I was distressed to read some very negative comments on one of Wigan Athletic's discussion boards over the decision to switch to Vandanel. This French company have produced consistently good designs for many seasons and to criticise the decision because they have previously been associated with teams in the lower leagues smacks of brand snobbery.

17 June: We have quite a lot of Manchester United material to work through today. First of all, Paul Nagel has uncovered evidence that Newton Heath adopted red and white shirts in 1888 rather than 1892 as we had previously thought with this reference from The Definitive Newton Heath FC (Shury & Landamore):

In friendly matches with Football League clubs at the start of the season, Newton Heath lost to Stoke and drew with Bolton Wanderers. The report of the latter game mentions 'Powell and his men in their familiar red and white costumes'. Though Newton Heath are generally known for playing in green and gold shirts, the colours registered with the Football League in 1892 were 'red and white quartered shirts, blue shorts'. By 'quarters' it was meant that the shirts were 'halved' on the front and the back, as can be seen from the group photographs. For further details on this story visitTim Ashmore's United Kits Blog where this evidence was first published.

The reference to "quarters" confirms my own research, which indicates that in Victorian times this term was applied to shirts we would describe as "halved" possibly because the body of the shirt was made up of four panels stitched together. Quartered shirts in the modern sense were called "harlequin."

The first image (above left) shows the team from 1889 mentioned above whereas that on the right dates from the 1891-92 season. The sleeves are now reversed front and back but, intriguingly, the rear panel on the players' left appears to be white and not reversed. Clearly it is impossible to tell from these what colours the shirts were so Paul's findings are of considerable significance.

Our next item come from Alex Howells and shows the team in April 1948 wearing unusual (for United) hooped stockings. We've already had evidence from Alex that the team wore black socks with a red/blackturnover between 1946 and 1949 and must assume this was a variant used towards the end of the 1947-48 season. We've already noted that clothing shortages after the war led to all sorts of oddities and this may be another example.

The final photograph (right), also provided by Alex Howells shows the United team lining up before their European Cup match in Belgrade on 5 February, 1958. This famous image has somehow escaped HFK's attention but it raises a number of interesting questions. First of all a stripe appears on the shorts: this was also worn in the previous round against Dukla Prague. As we have already established (see entry for 14 June), this feature was part of United's new white change kit adopted the previous season but I have no evidence that it was worn in domestic games, giving rise to the suggestion that this was an early "European kit."

There is something of a puzzle over what the two clubs wore in this tie - Red Star's colours were also red and white. The teams wore the same kits in both legs of the tie, Red Star playing in dark shirts and (probably) dark blue shorts, which leads me to believe that they changed in both games and United wore their usual red and white but I have not been able to confirm this.

It was on the return flight from Belgrade that United's chartered aircraft crashed at Munich airport, killing 23 of the 44 passengers, including eight members of the first team.

16 June 2009-10 additions: Dundee United (H).

Thanks to David Heaton, a number of missing change kits have been added to the Aston Villa section (1962-63, 1963-64, 1964-65, 1973-74, 1975-76). I've also uncovered evidence that during the late 1870s, Villa wore white shirts and green ones at some stage but details remain sketchy I now believe the club first wore claret or maroon jerseys for the first time in 1881. The team borrowed a set of navy and white hooped jerseys when they played Heart of Midlothian on New Year's Day, 1881, which suggests that they had adopted similar colours by that time. The earliest photograph I have found of Villa to date is this famous one, courtesy of the informative Spartacus Educational site, with the FA Cup. At the time the dark stripes were sometimes described as chocolate but I believe this was a term used by press correspondents to describe the dark red that would later become universally known in England as "claret."

Missing detailing has been added to some Brighton kits (1985-86, 1986-87, 1994-97) and to those of Notts County (1986-87, 1987-88).

15 June: A graphic of Broadfield FC's 1880 kit has been added; this club became Port Glasgow Athletic in 1881 and spent 18 years in Scottish Division Two before resigning in 1911. The Eminent Victorians gallery has been considerably extended with the addition of interesting early Scottish kits worn by clubs that did not appear in the Scottish Football League. My source for this material is Brian McColl's outstanding Scottish Football Club Directory, itself an extraordinary achievement and just a small part of Brian's definitive statistical History of Scottish Football. If you have even a passing interest I urge you to explore this site.

14 June 2009-10 additions: Tottenham Hotspur (H, A & 3rd).

Today's photograph appears courtesy of Alex Howells and shows Manchester United wearing their brand new all-white kit on 27 April 1957 before the game with Cardiff City. There was no reason for the team to change for this match and Alex speculates that this was a try-out prior to the FA Cup final against Aston Villa due to take place five days later (when both teams wore change kits). It is, therefore, the first occasion that United wore white instead of their traditional blue and white change strip and was almost certainly inspired by United's encounters with Real Madrid earlier in the season. The centenary version of United's 1978-79 change kit has been added to the Manchester United Away Kits section as has the strip worn in the Champions League final last month.

12 June 2009-10 additions: Clyde (H, A), Cambridge United (H), Grimsby Town (H, A), Ipswich Town (H), Fulham (H).

10 June: Today's featured team is Liverpool from 1946-47. The surprisingly modern looking shirts were first worn in the early Thirties and it is possible that an old set was used immediately after the war. Although professional football had been reinstated, clothing was still rationed and clubs could only replace their worn out strips by collecting unwanted coupons from their supporters. Even then, shortages meant that some traditional patterns were unobtainable. Many teams pressed old pre-war strips into service as a stop gap measure.

2008-09 additions: East Fife (H, A, 3rd).

Our latest Research Associate is Craig Edmondson who has provided details of all the missing Aldershot Town kits and corrected several innacurate entries (1995-97, 1997-98, 2000-02 added).

7 June 2009-2010 additions: Everton (H), Sunderland (A). While compiling the new season's kits I particularly enjoy reading the fatuous blurb written by manufacturers' PR departments, which at its best combines desperate hyperbole with a complete disregard for the English language. Thus, Morecambe's new away kit has curved side panels for "added dynamicity," Sunderland's has "impactful carbon sleeves" and Hibs now have an "interchangeable kit system." Do let me know if you come across similar nonsense and we will publish the results here.

Our featured team today is Manchester United from 1946-47. Thanks to Alex Howells, we have established that United wore black stockings with a black and red turnover just after the war, possibly because clothing shortages meant they could not get hold of their usual socks. The white band on the turnover was reinstated in 1949-50. You may also be interested in Tim Ashmore's splendid new blog that looks in detail at the history of United's kits and features what is believed to be the first film footage of United in action.

East Fife (1997-98, 2002-03 corrected); Hull City (1988-89, 1989-90, 1998-99 now have the correct manufacturers).

4 June 2009-2010 additions:Queen of the South (H&A), Morecambe (H&A), West Ham United (A), Watford (H).

Several additions have been made to the Peterborough United section and most of the gaps filled in thanks to Nick Warrick. Nick has a fine collection of Posh shirts available at the Warrick Collection.

1 June: Details of Saturday's match are now in our FA Cup Finals section. I was interested to note that Chelsea opted to wear their yellow third kit rather than their black change outfit, an excellent choice for a beautiful, sunny day. Swindon Town (2008-09 third kit added).

2009-2010 additions: Stenhousemuir (H), St Mirren (H), Motherwell (H), Barnsley (H).

Iconic Away Kits new arrivals: West Ham United 1980, Reading 1991 & 1993, Sheffield Wednesday 1986 & 1995, Swindon Town 1992.

28 May: Pictured today is the East Fife team from around 1907-08 in their original green and white hoops. The picture is from the excellent collection to be found on the Away From the Numbers site, found by Christian Larsen. Several missing kits have been added to the Fifers' section (circa1907-08, 1954-55, 1957-59, 1963-64). I'm also grateful to Reg James who has corroborated the two undated Rangers change kits to 1959-60. It's alway satisfying to have these little anomolies cleared up.

Doncaster Rovers (1944-47, 1951-52 added): Southend United (1991-92 added): Peterborough United (1970-71 added): Blackpool (1908-09, 1925-36, 1931-32, 1932-33, 1978-79 added).

2009-10 additions: Blackburn Rovers (A), Birmingham City (A), Aberdeen (H), Hearts (H), Hibernian (H), Plymouth Argyle (H), Millwall (H), Stoke City (A).

27 May: We are pleased to announce that the new season galleries for 2009-10 are now open. Over the summer and with your help, we will be posting the new kits as they are released.

23 May: I've had many enquiries about the Queens Park Rangers change kit that appears in the Iconic Away Kits section that features an Umbro-made shirt with Adidas shorts and stockings, so here is the evidence, courtesy of Pete's Picture Palace.

Arsenal 2009-10 away kit added. Aston Villa (1905, 1930-31, 1945 change kits added; 2001-02 home stockings corrected). Thanks to Peter Ferrette, we have learned that there were two Forest (or Forrest) football clubs in Victorian times: the first changed their name to Wanderers in 1864 (going on to win five FA Cups) while the second was formed in 1869, going out of business just three years later.

Thanks once again to Christopher Worrall, we have been able to add several early kits to the Doncaster Rovers section (1890-91, 1901-02, 1902-13, 1904-05) and added Donny's chocolate and mustard 1975-78 kit to the Iconic Away Kits section.

I have uncovered evidence (The Knowledge: Guardian Books 2008) that the first senior team in the UK to wear sponsored shirts was in fact Kettering Town, who, on January 24 1976, wore shirts with "Kettering Tyres" emblazoned across the chest. Four days later they were ordered by the FA to remove the offending logo (although, as the club protested at the time, the ban on advertising was not actually written into the FA rules at the time). The full story is in our A Brief History of Football Kits section.

21 May: Thanks to Peter Gillatt we have been able to add several kits to the Blackpool section. (1904-05, 1928-29, 1975-76 alternate, 1995-96 added.) The photograph today is of the 1890 team, who were known as "The Merry Stripes" because of their blue and white shirts. Note how fine the stripes are - a typical pattern from this period. From a distance, however, the stripes would tend to blend into each other, which may explain why broader 2-inch stripes were coming into fashion at around this time. By the turn of the century these 1-inch stripes had virtually disappeared in favour of 2- and 3-inch versions, which stood out more clearly at a distance on dim winter afternoons.

Luton Town's 1991 change kit is now in the Iconic Away Kits section.

19 May: Let's stay with yesterday's Victorian theme with this interesting photograph of the 1894 Marlow team, sent to HFK by our Victorian Research Associate, Peter Ferrette. The shirts were described as "quartered" just as those of Blackburn Rovers were. We can conclude that this term referred to shirts that were made up of four, contrasting body panels with the colours reversed on the back, a pattern that we would call "halved." I have also come across references to teams wearing "harlequin" shirts and we now have evidence that this referred to shirts made from eight panels, or "quartered" as we would now call them.

David Rice has been researching the photograph we published on 29 March, courtesy of Peter Ferrette, and attributed to the Old Carthusians club. David has established that it is in fact a photograph of the Charterhouse School team and includes the sons of one baronet, one marquess and a viscount. David believes it was taken when Charterhouse played Westminster in the first ever inter-school football match. At the time the public schools each played under their own rules but the young man holding the ball, Charterhouse's captain BF Hartshorne, took part in the meeting at the Freemason's Tavern on 26 October 1863 that led to the formation of the Football Association and the drawing up of a uniform set of rules. Hartshorne was the only representative from a public school, some of whom still play under their original rules to this day.

Blackpool (sponsor's logo amended 1988-89, 1989-90): Liverpool (2009-10 away kit added). For his outstanding research into Wycombe Wanderers, Dave Peatey is inducted as an HFK Research Associate. Dave's latest contributions include confirmation that the Chairboys wore striped shirts in the first quarter of the twentieth century. (1906-17, 1908-19, 1909-10, 1924-25, 1973-74, 1975-76 added.)

18 May: Yesterday, Sunday 17 May, was designated National Famine Memorial Day by the Irish government to commemorate the Great Famine of 1845-52 in which up to a quarter of the Irish population perished or were forced to emigrate. To mark the occasion, Celtic wore the Celtic Cross, the symbol of the club's charitable arm, on their shirts yesterday. Celtic have strong links with Ireland and were set up by Brother Walfrid, a member of the Irish Marist Order in 1888. It is particularly fitting that their opponents yesterday were Hibernian, the first of many Scottish clubs set up as charitable institutions by the Catholic clergy to relieve poverty among the large Irish community that had settled in Scotland to escape the famine and who lived in abject poverty.

Team photographs from the Victorian period have a particular charm and we are always pleased to receive and share them. This is from David Rice's collection and is an original print of The Wednesday from 1875, which makes it the oldest photograph of the team that I have come across. These previously unrecorded plain blue shirts have been added along with a kit from 1962-63 to the Sheffield Wednesday section.

2009-10 additions: Wigan Athletic, Bolton Wanderers, Kilmarnock, Crystal Palace.

Iconic Away Kits added: Brighton 1991, Liverpool 1996, Peterborough United 1993. Brighton's 1991-93 home kit has been tweaked with missing pinstripes.

13 May: More from Chris Worrall today: Doncaster Rovers (1910-11, 1920-21, 1931-32, 1966-67 added: badges amended 1975-1978 and various tweaks made to later kits). Added to the Iconic Away Kits gallery: Leeds United (1999-2000), Southampton (1984 third kit), Doncaster Rovers (1973-74).

11 May: Please give a warm round of applause to Chris Worrall, who has been labouring away for the last five months on research for HFK. Today we present the first fruits of his labours in the shape of a significant revision of the Brighton & Hove Albion gallery, which now includes details for Albion's predecessors. Brighton United (pictured on the left in their green tops) were Brighton's first professional team but folded after only two seasons. Former members then formed a new side which merged with North End Rangers and played for one season as Brighton & Hove Rangers before they changed the name to Albion in 1901. Incidentally, you may notice that the red, white and blue kit from 1934 has been removed. We are currently trying to corroborate when, or even if these shirts were worn.

10 May: Aston Villa (1966-67 change and 1982 European Cup final kits added). Carlisle United (1998 away) added to the Iconic Away Kits section. Burnley (2009-10 added).

8 May: The History of Football Kits article has been substantially revised and expanded with additional photographs from HFK's growing archive.

Macclesfield Town (2008-09 third kit added): Rotherham United (March 1968, 1973-74 added; kits between 1975 and 1980 now have the correct white cuffs). Wycombe Wanderers (1949-50, 1955-56, 1959-63, 1963-64, 1979-80 added; collar detailing corrected on 1946-48 and 1956-59 kits). The photograph is of Wycombe in 1919-20 when they played in the Spartan League.

Luke Conboy tells us that Brighton will drop their light blue third kit next season. Given the increasing tendency of match officials to interfere in team's choice of kit, having blue on all three sets was probably not a good idea and an additional set of white kits had to ordered part way through this season. It's a shame, however, that the board of the team representing the capital of England's gay community seem to have rejected calls for the new kit to be pink.

The Liverpool (1988) and Celtic (1997) kits have been added to the Iconic Away Kits section.

6 May: Geoff Allen has provided some more material concerning the elusive turqouise shirts worn by Watford. I first came across a reference to the turquoise kit in Bob Bickerton's book 'Club Colours' which claims it was worn from 1946-1959 so I wrote to Oliver Phillips (writer of the Centenary book) a few years ago and his reply was ".. we used to watch Watford play in plain blue. Some magazines described it as turquoise, others as royal blue. No one I knew ever talked about a change of shade, only that the blue became more faded with the soaping and the washing of the shirts and beating them on the stones in the (River) Colne during the season.". Well I have odd programmes starting from the 1947-48 season and they all refer to royal blue shirts on the team line up page although a black & white team line up photo of the 1949-50 season does look lighter then later photos. Maybe they did wash them too much! Our photograph today is of the Watford team from 1953-54.

My thanks to Donald Gellatly who has provided details of the missing manufacturers for the Dundee gallery. Ross County (2006-07 sponsors details corrected).

Today we have more additions to the Iconic Away Kits section: Bristol City (1992-93), Aberdeen (1995), Carlisle United (2007 third), Tottenham Hotspur (1991), Brighton (1985), Burnley (1969), Manchester City (1969), Liverpool (1978). Preston North End's 2006-07 kit has been consigned to Room 101.

I'd like to draw your attention to the excellent Playing for the Shirt website, a thoroughly researched and well designed history of the shirts worn by Glentoran FC from 1882 to the present.

Further to yesterday's item, Ralph Pomeroy has pointed out he has over 116 sets of Subbuteo figures, all hand painted on celluloid (not cardstock) just like the original commercially produced figures.

4 May: HFK is often used by collecters to verify and date shirts but some more esoteric hobbies are pursued by our regular visitors. Among these are those who collect and paint Subbuteo figures, which include long-time HFK contributer, Ralph Pomeroy, who sent in this nice picture from his collection. Ralph has made these in the original cardstock format used between 1947 and 1961, before the modern plastic figures were introduced.

Southend United (2009-10 added). Rotherham United (2008-09 third kit added). Added to the Iconic Away Kits gallery: Wigan Athletic (1993), Leeds United (1994), Stockport County (1968), Southampton (1976, 1981).

2 May: Arsenal (2008-09 alternate added, 2007-08 3rd kit stockings corrected), Southampton (2008-09 variant of home kit added). Queens Park Rangers (1976), Manchester United (1993), Preston NE (2004), Motherwell (1976) added to our new Iconic Away Kits section. Plymouth Argyle (2009-10 added).

1 May: The nominations for our new Iconic Away Kits section have started coming in: Stoke City (1976), Walsall (1996-97) added. New kits for 2009-10 added today: Chelsea, Leeds United, Wolves.