KIT AND CABOODLE: FOOTBALL’S SHIRT STORIES by Matt Riley

Kits are cultural touchstones that tell us more about our club, ourselves and the beautiful game’s custodians than we often realise.

The colours, crests, designs and prices show what makes the game – and us – tick. Kit and Caboodle searches out the stories that our shirts tell us about our support and the society we accept or try to rebel against.

The book alternates short, shirt stories with a deeper dive into themes of ethics, philanthropy and dumb decision making.

We listen to MP Tracey Crouch as she tells us about her Fan Led Review and how shirts show the progress being made to a more equitable football ecosystem.

Shirts also illustrate the rise and mutation of gambling from pools to NFTs and cryptocurrencies, attitudes to the LGBTQ+ community, how clubs like St Pauli are determined to be driven by their values and why Messi’s transfer to PSG Qatar can never be financed by shirt sales.

Unlike anything else we wear, our club shirts envelop us in the history of our team and give us a hint of the future.

(Publisher: Pitch Publishing Ltd. September 2022. Hardcover: 224 pages)

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UEFA 2020 Euro Championship – Day 25

The start of the last week of the 2020 European Championship Finals and just three games left, with the two Semi-Finals (Tuesday and Wednesday), culminating with the Final on Sunday. But for now it’s a rest day, so a look at instead the shirt manufacturers that the twenty-four nations have donned in this competition.

Leading the way is Nike with 9 countries (Croatia, England, Finland, France, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia and Turkey), with the German giant Adidas just behind on 8 (Belgium, Hungary, Germany, Russia, Scotland, Spain, Sweden and Wales), with the remaining 7 split between Puma with 4 (Austria, Czech Republic, Italy and Switzerland) and Hummel (Denmark), Jako (North Macedonia) and Joma (Ukraine), all having just one nation to their name.

England (c) Historical Football Kits

Sales no doubt of England’s shirts will have gone through the roof, as will replicas from the past, as the Three Lions have made it to the Semi-Finals and expect that to increase even further if England manage to make it to the Final. If they do and went on to win it, the shirt will attain iconic status – but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

Austria (c) Historical Football KIts

It is disappointing to see that Puma have provided a templated approach to the change strips for their teams at this tournament and come in for more criticism from me for a quite eye-wateringly bad colour combo for the Austrian alternate strip. Whilst on the warpath, I’m also not a fan of the Portugal kits by Nike, with the collar and button on the red strip giving it the appearance of a polo shirt and as for the change strip with the weird, coloured bands…eeewwww.

Denmark (c) Historical Football Kits

My favourite…well it has to be Denmark’s distinctive red and white Hummel kit. There is something about the chevrons that is standout, and no doubt brings back memories of the Danes 1992 winning the Euros. Its good to see Hummel back in the English market with Everton and Southampton, amongst others donning Hummel strips and I look forward to seeing those designs in the forthcoming new season.

I’ll leave you with a little curious shirt stat from the Quarter-Finals. All the winners wore white shirts…

Category: UEFA 2020 Euro Championship | LEAVE A COMMENT