Historical Football Kits

28 October

Mark Andrews has submitted a press cutting that proves that the badge on Bromley's shirts worn in the 1911 Amateur Cup final, a gift from a committee member, were blue and not red as I had shown them.

This provides a perfect illustration of Moor's Law. This, if you're not familiar with it states that:

1. In the absence of other evidence, where two possible interpretations are equally likely, the one you choose will be wrong.

2. If, in the light of rule (1) you change your mind and choose the other interpretation, this will also be wrong.

Northern Ireland variant kit worn against Greece in 1961 added. Brechin City 1977-78 added.

Richard Ralph has uncovered a press article that confirms that Maidstone United adopted their first all-white kit in October 1970 and provides us with some new background information. I've added this to the site and expanded the Stone's crest history.

This granite-jawed fellow is the Newcastle United defender, Bill McCracken wearing a jersey from the 1910 FA Cup final, which Toon won after a replay against Barnsley. This was the first time that the team had won the competition, having lost in three finals in the previous decade. It is also the first time that the city coat of arms was worn on the team's shirts. Although the crest did not appear in League games, a tradition was established that it would appear in every FA Cup Final United appeared in and I have now added these to the Newcastle United page in view of their historical importance.

McCracken was a formidable defender who played 432 times for the Magpies and sixteen times for Ireland. He invented the offside trap and holds the distinction of being one of the few players to have brought about a change in the laws of the game. Such was his mastery of the offside trap, the Offside Law was changed to make it easier for attackers.

On the subject of Newcastle United, one of my contributors and I are trying to pin down what colours their predecessor club, East End, wore in the late 1880s as the existing sources are rather ambiguous on the subject. Get in touch if you can help.

25 September

I've added links to a number of replica shirts that have been recently added to 3Retro's inventory. These include Celtic (1994 2nd), Tottenham Hotspur (1988 2nd, 1986 2nd, 1991 FA Cup semi-final), Chelsea (1987 1st & 2nd), Derby County (2002 1st), England (1987 3rd), Hibernian (1994 1st), Ipswich Town (1994 1st), Manchester City (2000 1st), West Ham United (2006 FA Cup final).

You can view (and purchase) the full range of new products including those that do not feature on HFK by clicking the icon above and following the NEW@3R link on the store home page.

24 September

This rather crumpled photograph, submitted by Harry Hyndman, is of Scunthorpe & Lyndsey United taken in 1911-12 showing the team wearing previously unrecorded halved jerseys. Note that some have the claret panel on the left others on the right: it was not unusual for tops of this design to come in both right and left handed versions at the time.

This prompted me to review the evidence for the striped tops I had presented for the period 1913-23. This image from 1913-14 is a good example and the most telling detail is the difference in contrast between the socks (which were claret and light blue) and the striped shirts. I now believe this was a change strip and have removed the striped kits from the record.

As I was in the neighbourhood I have added Scunny's anniversary crest and the 2023-24 & 2024-25 graphics.

Photo credit: English Fotball from the Beginning to the 1920s

30 August

League Two 2023-24 & 2024-25: Crewe Alexandra, Doncaster Rovers.

28 August

League Two 2023-24 & 2024-25: Accrington Stanley, AFC Wimbledon, Barrow, Bradford City, Colchester United, Crawley Town.

We have our first nominee for best new comedy shirt in the shape of Puma's latest offering for Barrow. First of all feast your eyes on the graphic that represents the Astute class submarines the town's shipyard produces for the Royal Navy. These tops are perfect pyjamas tops for toddlers with an interest in naval matters. Secondly take a look at the shirt sponsorship, commissioned by the provincial government of Newfoundland and Labrador. The Minister for Immigration, Population Growth and Skills, Gerry Byrne, said, "The truly global audience that professional English football has achieved will allow Newfoundland and Labrador to be promoted and featured to millions of viewers as a welcoming place to live, work and visit on an incredible level." With all due respect to the parties involved here I suspect the only thing on an "incredible level" is the minister's credulity if he believes Barrow will attract "millions of viewers". I am confident that the population of the town and its surrounds will not be queuing up to emigrate.

Photo credit: Barrow AFC

27 August

I am very pleased to add a link to Jean-Michel Dray's website which offers information on the origin of nicknames, crests and histories of prominent football clubs from around the world. The enormous archive can be searched by name, nation and by theme. The Taxonomy section is particularly interesting. Although the site is in French there are Google Translate links throughout pour les Britanniques monoglottes.

Today, with the assistance of Daniel Stoker, we are embarking on a major project to add all of the 2023-24 English and Scottish kits to the site. Daniel is currently working through the Premier League while I am starting with League Two and the plan is for us to meet in the middle. This will take some time but once completed we intend to add the kits for 2024-25 as well.

Premier League 2023-24: Arsenal, Aston Villa, AFC Bournemouth, Brentford, Fulham, Liverpool, Newcastle United, Nottingham Forest, Tottenham Hotspur, Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Since 2022 clubs are required by the FA to "undertake a thorough and extensive consultation with supporters" before any material change to their crest or home colours can be introduced. Clubs must be able to produce evidence that a majority of regular supporters are in favour of the proposed changes. Unfortunately it appears that fans may not always produce the result that management wants, as with the circular crest approved by 77% of Aston Villa supporters last season. The board has been disappointed at the lack of impact the new design has had and so invited their supports to think again in a second consultation which resulted in a shield crest that looks remarkably like previous badges being approved.

Photo credit: Aston Villa FC.

14 August

We have Scottish club updates for 1995-96 from Ian McConnel today. Heart of Midlothian (detailing modified), Alloa Athletic (body & sleeve trim adjusted), Dunfermline Athletic (collar & cuffs corrected), Partick Thistle (trimmings on shorts corrected), Dundee (collar corrected, jacquard pattern added, version with centralised logos added), Falkirk (logo added to right sleeve, socks corrected), Raith Rovers (sock trim amended), Clydebank (collar amended and width of piping on shirt reduced), Stirling Albion (shirt trim adjusted, August 1995 version added - see photograph).

Bonus material: Kilmarnock (1955-56 added), Rangers (1984-85 sponsorship added to change kit).

26 July

Macclesfield Town: (1977-78, 1978-79, 1980-81, 1981-82 added), Morecambe: (1980-81, 1982-83, 1984-85 added).

Here are some more Scottish club upates from Ian McConnel for the 1994-95 season: Aberdeen (completely redrawn), Hibernian (completely redrawn), Rangers (detailing updated on 1st, 2nd & Euro kits), Kilmarnock (detailing updated), Partick Thistle (collar altered & stripes made more fuzzy - yes that is the technical term), Clydebank (sock trim corrected), Airdrieonians (graphic added), Dundee United (collar and stripes revised).

The photograph shows Partick Thistle's unmistakeable 1994-95 shirt.

24 July

Bromley: 1982-83 shirt trim corrected, 1988-89, 1989-90, 1990-91 sponsors confirmed.

22 July

Here is an intriguing team photograph of Brighton & Hove Albion from 1914-15 sent in by Paul Galiford, which gives us an insight into the economics of football in this period. What we see is that some of the players are wearing new, collarless shirts while others have contrasting buttoned crew necks, the style worn in the previous two seasons. A dozen football shirts would have cost between 38/- (£286 at today's prices) and 84/- (£6330), a considerable sum that clubs of modest means would struggle to afford. In Brighton's case there were not enough of the new tops to kit out both the first team and the reserves so some players are pictured wearing jerseys from the previous season.

20 July

When a club achieves promotion from the National League to EFL League Two for the first time, the prospect of researching their entire kit history is a daunting one, especially if the club is an old one that has spent most of its career in the lower leagues. Therefore when Bromley beat Solihull Moors in the play-off final last May I decided that I would not add their history to the site. My view changed completely, however, when I received an email from Mark Andrews. Mark and Andy Kelly had collaborated on The Arsenal History and had debunked several myths about the Gunners including the one about the team wearing dark red shirts in the early days, research which they generously shared with HFK. It turns out that Mark has been digitising an enormous archive of material belonging to Roy Oliver relating to the Ravens. The material Mark has shared has allowed me to create a complete and detailed kit history for the club. Enjoy.

The photograph shows the 1910-11 side with the FA Amateur Cup, Bromley's first major trophy.

16 July

The England, Scotland and Wales sections have been brought up to date.

15 July

So once again England's campaign in a major tournament ends in disappointment. That said, given how dismal they were in the group stage, they did extremely well to reach the final and they did play well. Unfortunately Spain were better in every department and deserve to be European Champions.

I hope you have enjoyed the coverage here on HFK and once again I want to thank Daniel Stoker who created all of the graphics for the Euro 24 section. Daniel and I will be working on more new content over the next few weeks so watch this space...

Photo credit: Reuters.

11 July

It's hard to believe after the turgid football they played in the group stage that England are in the final of the Euros again. Once again the game was settled in the final minutes by a flash of individual brilliance, this time from Ollie Watkins.

Photo credit: The Guardian

With the assistance of Daniel Stoker, I am bringing the Home International sections up to date. So far the Northern Ireland section has been completed and expect to finish the Republic of Ireland section later today.

1 July

So I was watching the match yesterday with my wife, who sportingly pretends to support England after Poland caught the bus home, and as the match dragged on towards the end I was droning on about how dreadful they had been, and this was the end of Southgate and to think people seriously thought England could win this tournament and EXCUSE ME, WHAT JUST HAPPENED!! As the TV pundits of my youth woud have said, "The boy Bellingham done well tonight."

Photo credit: John Sibley/Reuters

25 June

There has been no shortage of last minute drama in the Euros so far and last night's Group B finale provided another one. At 38 years and 289 days, Luka Modrić, is the oldest player ever to have scored in the Euros. His 55th minute goal scored moments after he missed a penalty was an example of instant redemption. He is seen here with the UEFA Man of the Match Award he received last night, looking clearly distressed following Italy's equaliser, scored with 19 seconds of stoppage time remaining that almost certainly means Croatia will be eliminated.

Photo credit: UEFA

Odds & Sods

My thanks to Paul Galliford for pointing out that the stripes on Brighton & Hove Albion's 1972-73 kits needed a tweak.

This extremely battered photograph was sent to me recently by Christine Hamilton from Australia and taken in 1905-06. Although captioned Leith Athletic, I think this is more properly Leith FC, which was formed in 1905 to replace the original club. One of the players is John Hamilton, the great-grandfather of Christine's husband. The Hamiltons are investigating their family tree so if you can shed any light on this team or John Hamilton's career please get in touch and I'll forward the information.

Photo credit: Christine Hamilton

19 June

With the first round of group matches now complete, there has been much to enjoy in the Euros so far. Both of yesterday's Group F matches produced exciting football with the result in doubt right up to the final whistle. I was especially impressed with Georgia who gave it everything in their match with Turkey. The 3-1 scoreline, courtesy of Akturkoglu slotting the ball into the undefended Georgian goal at the end of added time, really does not do justice to their efforts.

Photo credit: The Guardian

17 June

Our Euro 24 coverage continues with yesterday's match details now on the site. Watching the Serbia v England match last night I noticed that Jude Bellingham had large holes in the back of his socks. At first I thought the poor lamb had suffered a kit malfunction but then I noticed several more players wearing holy stockings. Clearly I've not been paying enough attetion because this trend for cutting holes in socks has become a thing among elite footballers and will no doubt start appearing on school playing fields shortly. It is claimed that the holes reduce the risk of injury and release muscle tension. This sounds like horse feathers to me but it can only be a matter of time before the kit manufacturers come up with a new magic polyester gimmick that will deliver soothing massages for tired calf muscles.