True Colours Football Kits

Visit to Umbro article

Posted by John Devlin

I’ve just posted an article about my recent visit to Umbro (not the new England away kit yet though of course!).

Click here to read it.

Poll: Favourite England Kit Ever

Posted by John Devlin

While we’re on the subject of polls, John suggested voting for the best England kit ever. I’ll try and get some illustrations up to remind everyone of the nation’s kits over the years but for now, just from memory what were the best and worst England kits in your opinion?

For me, the best without a doubt is the current home kit – an absolute classic in my view. The worst has to be the 92-93 pale blue third kit with the large ‘cartoony’ lion print. Although I have to say I wasn’t fond of the 94-95 away kit either – very dark red with a really floppy collar!

Poll: Favourite Premier League Kit 09-10

Posted by John Devlin

On the 09-10 kits blog page (http://www.truecoloursfootballkits.com/truecolours/09-10-kits-page) Adam had the great idea of getting some opinions on the best (and worst) 09-10 Premier League kits. Hope you don’t mind Adam but I thought it deserved its own page.

Over to you…lets hear about the 09-10 EPL kits you love and hate. To refresh your memory click here: http://www.truecoloursfootballkits.com/09-10-kits

New England away kit

Posted by John Devlin

I had the real privilege to be invited up to Umbro’s design studio in Manchester yesterday as part of a small group for a special presentation of the new England away kit by the designers themselves.

It was a wonderful evening as you can imagine and I will be posting a full write up of the event when the new kit is unveiled on the 3rd March.

I chatted at length to designers Aitor Throup and David Blanch (who is Umbro’s head kit designer) about the current England kits and the way Umbro are approaching kit design now. They were very open and answered all questions honestly which was fascinating. We also had the chance to rummage through the Umbro shirts archive!

Huddersfield Town Charity Kit 2009-10

Posted by John Devlin

There’s been loads of special charity shirts worn by clubs in the past few years. I’ve referred to a few of the higher profile ones in my recent article for the Umbro blog site.

But this worthwhile trend is also prevalent in the lower leagues. One of the most recent examples is this fine Huddersfield Town kit worn in their January 2010 home clash with Southend United. The club replaced their traditional blue and white stripes for the red and yellow colour scheme of the Yorkshire Air Ambulance to whom the Terriers have generously donated their standard home sponsorship package for the next three seasons. Its all part of the ‘Keep It Up’ campaign designed to raise the £7,200 a day needed to keep the lifesaving air ambulance service in operation.

The Mitre outfit followed the same design of the home and also included a red and yellow version of the Town badge. As with all similar kits special permission had to be sought from the Football League to wear the kit. Replica versions (all for the cause) are available from the club shop.

Worn in: The 2–1 win over Southend United
Worn by: Robbie Williams, Jordan Rhodes and Antony Kay.

To read more about the appeal and to lend support visit www.yorkshireairambulance.org.uk.

Thanks to Mark Jessop for the suggestion.

Southend United Home Kit 1985-86

Posted by John Devlin

At first glance this kit may seem nothing out of the ordinary but there is an interesting story behind it.

In the mid-80s (the height of the British football downturn) Southend were facing an uncertain future. The side had spent the previous season sponsorless after a lack of interest from local firms. Another campaign in Division 4 without the valuable income a shirt sponsor brings was a real crisis for the club. In stepped local construction firm Laing and a deal was put together. The only problem was that Laing’s corporate colour was yellow and it was requested that this branding be somehow incorporated into the Southend kit.

Desperate times cause for desperate measures and despite the club’s 80-year history of various combinations of blue and white kits they switched to blue and yellow to allow the deal with Laing to be sealed and bring vital revenue into the club coffers. Interestingly the club badge and logo of kit manufacturers Elite were placed on either side of the Laing logo on the yellow horizontal band – presumably to indicate the unity between club and its commercial partners.

Yellow remained a crucial part of Southend’s home kit for another 10 years before the blue and white colour scheme so engrained in the club’s past returned.

Worn in: A cracking 5–1 win over (relatively) local rivals Orient and consecutive 3–1 victories over Mansfield and Hereford.
Worn by: Steve Phillips, Glenn Pennyfather and Roy McDonough.

Manchester City Third Kit 1972-73

Posted by John Devlin

This kit could be considered a myth-buster on two counts; firstly it proves that third kits were as common decades ago as they are now (most of us know that anyway of course) but secondly it shows that the recent trend for sporting away colours that are the same (albeit in a different shade) as the home kit is also not a modern day invention. City’s famous pale blue strip has often caused problems when featuring against teams wearing white as it can be just too light to always provide adequate colour differentiation. Therefore, back in the early 70s when the club favoured a white away kit (also with sash) a clash occured when playing away at teams with white jerseys; hence the need for this royal blue third kit. Clearly influenced by their flamboyant manager Malcolm Allison (who also introduced the sash at Palace when he managed them some years later) this smart, and pretty rare, kit also features player numbers on the sleeves – a short lived 70s trend.

Worn in: A great 3-2 win at Spurs with goals by Marsh and Lee (2).
Worn by: Rodney Marsh, Francis Lee and Mike Summerbee.

Thanks to Jon Jones for the suggestion.

09-10 Away Kits – Its Black and White

Posted by John Devlin

I’ve been working on the 09-10 kits for the site and although I’ve already mentioned the overload of black/dark navy away kits this season I hadn’t realised quite how many sides are also using white as a change colour – meaning that virtually every away kit in the Premiership is either black/dark navy or white.

Take a look.

Out of the first 14 teams alphabetically, only Fulham and Hull avoid the mono look for their change kits (and of course Fulham play in white as first choice anyway and have their fairly dark midnight blue away kit). Of course there is Everton’s purple third and Villa’s blue third but other than that its black and white throughout.

Are we getting to a situation reminiscent of the early days of football where one team always played in white when there was a clash of colours – or is it just a trend? Hope its the latter – but it makes for a pretty dull colour palette this season.

New article for Umbro blog

Posted by John Devlin

Umbro have just posted a new article I wrote for them entitled ‘Kits with a Conscience’ that looks at the different ways football shirts are now being used to support charities and forge links with the community.

You can read it here