The Kit

The development of football kit has really been a conflict between the need to protect the players against the climate and their skin from injury on the one hand and freedom of limb movement on the other.

Looking back at early pictures of nineteenth century players probably the most striking feature is the degree of cover-up not only for matches but also for training.

1900 - The West Bromwich Albion team on a training stroll

Aston Villa, League Champions and Cup Winners in 1897 played in heavy boots, thick woollen stockings, three-quarter-length trousers that reached down over their stockings and heavy woollen jerseys. Protected in this way, hardly the smallest patch of bare leg was exposed to the elements or to scratches and cuts inflicted by their opponents.

In these early matches, heavy shin pads were strapped to the lower legs on the outside of the stockings. Such protective clothing clearly had the effect of slowing down the players, but football in the nineteenth century was a much slower, more ponderous game than it is today.

As play began to speed up, the kit became gradually lighter in weight. The sleeves of jerseys became shorter and the hems of trousers rose to just above the knee. Bare knees were now exposed to cold weather and to injury, but were able to enjoy much more freedom of movement. The cumbersome leather leg pads were also reduced in size and tucked down inside the socks.

About the same time this advertisement shows us what the well-dressed footballers should be wearing on the field of play.

Eventually trousers were restyled to make them looser and baggier. The thigh muscles may have been colder, but they, like the knees, had greater freedom of movement.

1928

Numbered shirts were worn for the first time in the Football League by:

Arsenal playing away at Hillsborough and by

Chelsea at Stamford Bridge

1933

Numbered shirts were worn for the first time at the Cup Final. Everton were numbered 1 to 11 and Manchester City 12 - 22.

1939

The numbering of players shirts became compulsory.

It was then that players from the cold countries of Northern Europe, the traditional home of soccer, began to encounter a new and exciting brand of player from the warmer regions of the Mediterranean and South America.

These players experienced problems exactly opposite to the Northerners. During fast play their bodies suffered from overheating. Their solution was to ‘shrink’ their football kit. They favoured:

very short shorts

short sleeved shirts

lightweight materials, and

light flexible boots that were little more than studded track shoes.

In other words they dressed as modern athletes.

When these scantily dressed footballers were first seen in Northern Europe they were greeted with mild astonishment. However, their speed and skill was undeniable and before long the baggy shorts of the Northerners were being exchanged for the mini shorts that the whole of football then took for granted as the standard kit.

The heavy old style leather boots have all disappeared now, confined to glass cases in museums. Shin-pads are smaller and lighter. In recent years longer slightly baggier shorts have again become fashionable. They are more comfortable and protect a greater area of the thighs.

Changes in football kit fashions