England's Away Uniform 1930's to 1949

Shirt photo TOFFS old-fashioned shirts website

Notes

England made a slight change in their strip beginning with the 1949-50 season although the shirt's basic design--collar, long sleeves (typically rolled up above the elbows during play), buttons down the front--remained the same.  The most noticeable change came in the three-lions emblem.  The crown at the emblem's top disappeared, and the emblem's shape and design became close to what they are today.  The name of the opposition team was added in capitalised blue letters in a crescent below the emblem, and the season was inscribed in red underneath that.  The contrast between the new and immediately preceding shirts is demonstrated by the first two photographs below.

This white shirt, like the one before, was worn with navy blue shorts and navy blue stockings bearing a broad white band at their top, although on occasion it was accompanied by the red away stockings, which also bore the broad white band.  It was on display at two World Cup finals, the 1950 tournament in Brazil and the 1954 tournament in Switzerland, where it made its last appearance.

The traditional collared shirt England wore for decades, rather heavy and bulky, was discarded after the 1953-54 season in the wake of two friendly match trouncings by Hungary, 6-3 at Wembley and 7-1 in Budapest.  At the beginning of the 1954-55 season, England sported a lightweight, V-necked shirt, just like the one the Hungarians wore in their Budapest victory, depicted in the third photograph below.  Not for another two decades were England to wear a collared shirt again.

Matches in Which England Wore the 1949 Home White Shirt
No.	Date	Opposition	Venue	Type	F	A	Result	H.T.
-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
291	02-Oct-1954	Northern Ireland	Windsor Park, Belfast	BC	2	0	AW	[0-0]
England wore the white home shirt and blue shorts with the 1954 red away change stockings--against Northern Ireland.

Stan Mortensen, pictured in the 1948-49 season on the left, wears the old shirt and Jimmy Dickinson, pictured in the 1951-52 season on the right, the new.  While the shirts were quite similar, the three-lions emblems they bore were very different.

(left) Empire Stadium, Wembley, 25th of November, 1953 - Centre-forward Stan Mortensen, wearing the home white shirt over the home navy blue stockings, challenges Gyula Grosics as England go down to Hungary, 6-3, their first loss on home soil to a team from outside the British Isles.
(right) White Hart Lane, Tottenham, 30th of November, 1949 - Centre-forward Jack Rowley, wearing the home white shirt over the red away stockings,  goes up with Giuseppe Moro as England beat Italy, 2-0.  The F.A. Year Books are from England Football Online's collection.

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