Notes
Prior to World War I,
goalkeepers wore the same colours as their team mates, and were distinguished
by donning a cap. In modern times, England's goalkeepers have
traditionally worn yellow jerseys, switching to a blue change jersey when
facing yellow opposition. Since 2001, the colour of the choice for the
goalkeeper's shirt was switched from yellow to black, whilst keeping blue as
the change colour.
The styles of the goalkeepers shirts generally reflect the style of the
outfield players of the time, and these days, whenever a new outfield kit is
launched, it is accompanied by a similarly styled goalkeepers shirt. So, for
example, the stripes at the top of the chest in the early 1980's were also
included in the goalkeeper's shirts, the large central badges of the mid to
late 1990's were included on the goalkeeper's design, and more recently, the
flag motifs on the shoulder have been part of the outfield and goalkeepers
shirts, along with the running total of World Cup stars.
Any restraint shown to the outfield kit design by the fashion experimenters of
the early 1990's was not shown when designing the goalkeepers shirts,
resulting in some truly shocking designs. This culminated in a horrendous
multi coloured red kit as donned by David Seaman during the semi-final of Euro
96, which was seemingly designed to dazzle opposing strikers to distraction.
Goalkeepers shirts were also the first to display manufacturer's logos, the
Umbro logo was included on the goalkeepers shirts of the early1970s, years
before it first appeared on the shirts of the outfield
players.
Sometimes, when England wear an outfield kit which is neither white nor red,
they will also wear a goalkeepers shirts which deviates from the traditional
yellow and blue. So, for example, the yellow shirts worn during a few away
matches in 1973 were accompanied by a green goalkeepers shirt. The 'Indigo
Blue' (or grey) kit of 1996 was accompanied by the all-red kit mentioned
above.
On a few occasions, mistakes are made and goalkeepers have to improvise with
the kit they wear. Gordon Banks switched to a red shirt half way through their
first game of the 1970 World Cup as his yellow shirt clashed with the
Romanians. Ray Clemence once wore a green adidas shirt for another game against
[Romania]. Having a choice of only black or blue recently, Umbro have had
to supply a yellow 'alternative' shirt for use when playing teams in dark
blue, most recently in the 3-2 victory over Argentina in November 2005. - BD
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CG/BD/GI
