Notes
This lightweight v-necked shirt, made by
Umbro, made its first appearance against Wales in the second match of the
1954-55 season, after their first game, in Belfast, had seen the final
appearance of the short-sleeved collared shirt worn at the 1954 World Cup.
The new shirt's virtues were simplicity and economy; it was nothing more than
a white T-shirt with a badge on it. Whilst it was not particularly
attractive, the new uniform served notice that England had learnt some lessons
from their encounters with Hungary during the preceding season. They had
also had to endure two World Cups in the sunnier climes of Brazil and
Switzerland, in bulky attire more suited to the English winter. England
were about to emerge from splendid isolation into the modern footballing
world.
The shorts and stockings remained navy blue, but the shorts were much shorter
and tighter-fitting than the baggy variety worn previously. At first,
the stockings were the same as the previous uniform, with a broad white band
at the top. A red version of the white-topped stockings continued to be
worn whenever England faced a team who also wore blue stockings, as Northern
Ireland did at the time. They also changed to red when facing a team in
black stockings, which meant they always wore red against Scotland and had to
change in two of their three British Championship fixtures each season.
The colour of the stockings was also
coordinated with the colour of the numbers on the back of the shirt, so when
England wore navy blue socks, the numbers on the back of their shirts were
navy and when they wore red socks, they were paired with red numbers. However, when they travelled abroad, on their end-of-season tours, they made
no such concessions, presumably to minimise the amount of luggage they had to
take with them.
This dilemma, together with a desire to switch to a lighter sock, probably
brought about a change in England's stockings at the beginning of the 1957-58
season. A new red pair was introduced, incorporating a white band around
the calf, together with a second-choice navy blue equivalent. Unlike nowadays, where change colours have to be aired for the
replica-buying public, in the 1950s, teams tried to appear in their
first-choice colours in every single game. In fact, England went for three
years (1956-59) without having to change to a different shirt. Imagine what a
nightmare that would be for Umbro in the 21st century!
The 1957 sock design lived on beyond the Umbro contract and was paired with the
Bukta England shirt on many occasions right up until 1963. It could even
be found at the odd England training session in 1966. They did still
occasionally wear different sock designs. Against France, the month after the
Welsh game, England wore plain white stockings and a new white-sock design,
with a red and a blue stripe around the calf was worn on the odd occasion
towards the end of the Umbro contract, even making a further appearance with
the new Bukta uniform, against Scotland in 1961.
England's shirts continued to be adorned with the Three Lions emblem,
embroidered onto the white t-shirts together with the opponents' name in a
crescent and the year, or, in the case of the British Championship fixtures,
the season. As these patches were prepared separately to be added to the
shirts, the potential was there for them not to arrive together at the
designated location. England played the first half against France, in
Paris in 1955, without their emblems, but they miraculously appeared in their
rightful place for the second half. Not for the last time, travelling
abroad meant that the England uniform was susceptible to 'wardrobe
malfunction'.
This is pure speculation, but the Paris incident presumably led to the
practice being scrapped for the 1955-56 season. However, it was revived
again after a season's absence, though the 1958 World Cup was excluded from
the practice, with the potential for games to be organised at short notice,
with not enough time to get the appropriate emblems to Sweden. How ironic that
the only occasions when England were wearing uniforms more than once, were in
the most important of all competitions, whilst for home friendlies, they
always got nice new uniforms.
The crescents were worn with the emblem right up until the end of the Umbro
contract at the end of the 1959-60 season. They were successfully
applied for England's end-of-season trip to the Americas in 1959, but,
strangely, did not appear for the British Championship fixture with Scotland
in April of the same year. England's trip to Budapest in May 1960 was,
thus, the last occasion that the opponents' name appeared on the shirt until
the day of David Beckham's free-kick heroics in 2001.
|
Matches
in Which England Wore the 1954 Home White Shirt |
|
No. |
Date |
Opposition |
Venue |
Type |
F |
A |
Result |
H.T. |
|
Please
note, between 1954 and 1957, England's first choice stockings were navy blue
with white tops. |
|
292 |
10-Nov-1954 |
Wales |
Empire Stadium, Wembley, London |
BC |
3 |
2 |
HW |
[0-1] |
|
294 |
02-Apr-1955 |
Scotland |
Empire Stadium, Wembley, London |
BC |
7 |
2 |
HW |
[4-1] |
|
England wore the white home shirt and blue shorts with the 1954 red away
change stockings--against Scotland. |
|
295 |
15-May-1955 |
France |
Stade Olympique Yves-du-Manoir, Colombes, Paris |
F |
0 |
1 |
AL |
[0-1] |
|
England wore
plain white shirts in the first half. |
|
296 |
18-May-1955 |
Spain |
El Estadio Santiago Bernabéu, Madrid |
F |
1 |
1 |
AD |
[1-0] |
|
297 |
22-May-1955 |
Portugal |
Estádio do Futebol Clube do Porto, Oporto |
F |
1 |
3 |
AL |
[1-1] |
|
298 |
02-Oct-1955 |
Denmark |
Idrćtsparken,
Křbenhavn |
F |
5 |
1 |
AW |
[3-0] |
|
299 |
22-Oct-1955 |
Wales |
Ninian
Park, Cardiff |
BC |
1 |
2 |
AL |
[0-2] |
|
300 |
02-Nov-1955 |
Northern
Ireland |
Empire Stadium, Wembley, London |
BC |
3 |
0 |
HW |
[0-0] |
|
England wore the white home shirt and blue shorts with the 1954 red away
change stockings--against Northern Ireland. |
|
301 |
30-Nov-1955 |
Spain |
Empire
Stadium, Wembley, London |
F |
4 |
1 |
HW |
[2-0] |
|
302 |
14-Apr-1956 |
Scotland |
Hampden Park,
Mount Florida, Glasgow |
BC |
1 |
1 |
AD |
[0-0] |
|
England wore the white home shirt and blue shorts with the 1954 red away
change stockings--against Scotland. |
|
303 |
09-May-1956 |
Brazil |
Empire
Stadium, Wembley, London |
F |
4 |
2 |
HW |
[2-0] |
|
England wore the white home shirt and blue shorts with the 1954 red away
change stockings--against Brazil. |
|
304 |
16-May-1956 |
Sweden |
Rĺsunda Stadion, Solna |
F |
0 |
0 |
AD |
[0-0] |
|
305 |
20-May-1956 |
Finland |
Olympiastadion,
Helsinki |
F |
5 |
1 |
AW |
[3-1] |
|
307 |
06-Oct-1956 |
Northern
Ireland |
Windsor
Park, Belfast |
BC |
1 |
1 |
AD |
[1-1] |
|
England wore the white home shirt and blue shorts with the 1954 red away
change stockings--against Northern Ireland. |
|
308 |
14-Nov-1956 |
Wales |
Empire Stadium, Wembley, London |
BC |
3 |
1 |
HW |
[0-1] |
|
309 |
28-Nov-1956 |
Yugoslavia |
Empire
Stadium, Wembley, London |
F |
3 |
0 |
HW |
[1-0] |
|
310 |
05-Dec-1956 |
Denmark |
Molineux Ground, Wolverhampton |
WCP |
5 |
2 |
HW |
[2-1] |
|
England wore the white home shirt and blue shorts with the 1954 red away
change stockings--against Denmark. |
|
311 |
06-Apr-1957 |
Scotland |
Empire
Stadium, Wembley, London |
BC |
2 |
1 |
HW |
[0-1] |
|
312 |
08-May-1957 |
Republic of Ireland |
Empire Stadium, Wembley, London |
WCP |
5 |
1 |
HW |
[4-0] |
|
313 |
15-May-1957 |
Denmark |
Idrćtsparken,
Křbenhavn |
WCP |
4 |
1 |
AW |
[1-1] |
|
314 |
19-May-1957 |
Republic of Ireland |
Dalymount Park, Dublin |
WCP |
1 |
1 |
AD |
[0-1] |
|
Please
note, between 1957 and 1961, England's first choice stockings were red with
a white band around the calf. |
|
315 |
19-Oct-1957 |
Wales |
Ninian
Park, Cardiff |
BC |
4 |
0 |
AW |
[2-0] |
|
England wore the white home shirt and blue shorts and stockings with a white
band around the calf--against Wales. |
|
316 |
06-Nov-1957 |
Northern
Ireland |
Empire Stadium, Wembley, London |
BC |
2 |
3 |
HL |
[0-1] |
|
317 |
27-Nov-1957 |
France |
Empire
Stadium, Wembley, London |
F |
4 |
0 |
HW |
[3-0] |
|
England wore the white home shirt and blue shorts with plain white
stockings--against France. |
|
318 |
19-Apr-1958 |
Scotland |
Hampden Park,
Mount Florida, Glasgow |
BC |
4 |
0 |
AW |
[2-0] |
|
319 |
07-May-1958 |
Portugal |
Empire
Stadium, Wembley, London |
F |
2 |
1 |
HW |
[1-0] |
|
320 |
11-May-1958 |
Yugoslavia |
Stadion J.N.A., Beograd |
F |
0 |
5 |
AL |
[0-1] |
|
321 |
18-May-1958 |
U.S.S.R. |
Lenin Stadium, Moskva |
F |
1 |
1 |
AD |
[1-0] |
|
322 |
08-Jun-1958 |
U.S.S.R. |
Nya Ullevi Stadion, Göteborg, Sweden |
WCF |
2 |
2 |
ND |
[0-1] |
|
323 |
11-Jun-1958 |
Brazil |
Nya
Ullevi Stadion, Göteborg, Sweden |
WCF |
0 |
0 |
ND |
[0-0] |
|
324 |
15-Jun-1958 |
Austria |
Ryavallen Stadion, Boras, Sweden |
WCF |
2 |
2 |
ND |
[0-1] |
|
325 |
17-Jun-1958 |
U.S.S.R. |
Nya
Ullevi Stadion, Göteborg, Sweden |
WCF |
0 |
1 |
NL |
[0-0] |
|
326 |
04-Oct-1958 |
Northern
Ireland |
Windsor Park, Belfast |
BC |
3 |
3 |
AD |
[1-1] |
|
327 |
22-Oct-1958 |
U.S.S.R. |
Empire
Stadium, Wembley, London |
F |
5 |
0 |
HW |
[1-0] |
|
England wore the white home shirt and blue shorts and stockings with a white
band around the calf--against USSR. |
|
328 |
26-Nov-1958 |
Wales |
Villa Park, Birmingham |
BC |
2 |
2 |
HD |
[1-1] |
|
England wore the white home shirt and blue shorts and stockings with a white
band around the calf--against Wales. |
|
329 |
11-Apr-1959 |
Scotland |
Empire
Stadium, Wembley, London |
BC |
1 |
0 |
HW |
[0-0] |
|
330 |
06-May-1959 |
Italy |
Empire Stadium, Wembley, London |
F |
2 |
2 |
HD |
[2-0] |
|
331 |
13-May-1959 |
Brazil |
Estádio Jornalista Mário Filho,
Maracană, Rio de Janeiro |
F |
0 |
2 |
AL |
[0-2] |
|
England wore the white home shirt and red stockings with the 1954 white away
change shorts--against Brazil. |
|
333 |
24-May-1959 |
Mexico |
Estadio Olímpico Universitario,
Ciudad Universitaria, Mexico City |
F |
1 |
2 |
AL |
[1-1] |
|
England
wore all white--the
white home shirt with the 1954 white away change shorts and
white stockings with a red and a blue stripe around the calf--against
Mexico. |
|
334 |
28-May-1959 |
U.S.A. |
Wrigley Field, Los Angeles |
F |
8 |
1 |
AW |
[1-1] |
|
335 |
17-Oct-1959 |
Wales |
Ninian
Park, Cardiff |
BC |
1 |
1 |
AD |
[1-0] |
|
England wore the white home shirt and blue shorts and stockings with a white
band around the calf--against Wales. |
|
336 |
28-Oct-1959 |
Sweden |
Empire Stadium, Wembley, London |
F |
2 |
3 |
HL |
[1-0] |
|
337 |
18-Nov-1959 |
Northern
Ireland |
Empire
Stadium, Wembley, London |
BC |
2 |
1 |
HW |
[1-0] |
|
338 |
09-Apr-1960 |
Scotland |
Hampden Park,
Mount Florida, Glasgow |
BC |
1 |
1 |
AD |
[0-1] |
|
339 |
11-May-1960 |
Yugoslavia |
Empire
Stadium, Wembley, London |
F |
3 |
3 |
HD |
[1-1] |
|
England wore the white home shirt and blue shorts with white stockings with
a red and a blue stripe around the calf--against Yugoslavia. |
|
340 |
15-May-1960 |
Spain |
El Estadio Santiago Bernabéu, Madrid |
F |
0 |
3 |
AL |
[0-1] |
|
England
wore all white--the
white home shirt with the 1954 white away change shorts and plain white
stockings--against
Spain. |
|
341 |
22-May-1960 |
Hungary |
Népstadion,
Budapest |
F |
0 |
2 |
AL |
[0-0] |
|