History of Football Kits
Victorian Period (1857-1899)
Organised Football first emerged in the early 1860s but it was not until 1863 that the first nationally recognised rules were introduced and established by the newly founded Football Association (FA). In the early days of football, clubs did not wear football kits; instead players would simply turn out in whatever they had to hand and would only be distinguished by wearing distinctively coloured scarves, caps or sashes.
The leading football clubs were formed by as associations of former pupils (Old Carthusians, Old Etonians etc), officers serving in the Army and at Oxford and Cambridge Universities.
Two sets of football rules were created:
The handling game, originating at Rugby School emerged as Rugby Football. While Association Football evolved from rules set out at Cambridge University and by the Sheffield Club.
Football in Scotland was pioneered by Queen's Park FC (formed in 1867) who affiliated to the (English) Football Association and helped form the Scottish FA in 1873.
Around the mid to late 1870s the first uniform football kits began to appear. The football kits in England were often linked to the public schools and sport clubs with which the game was associated. For example, Blackburn Rovers firstly wore the pale blue and white of Cambridge University, where many of their founders were educated.
Football kit colours were changed frequently depending on what the players could afford and what the local suppliers could provide. Football was originally played almost exclusively by middle class men who could afford to buy a football shirt in their clubs colours. However, plain white shirts were easily the most popular kit of the period, being both easily obtainable from suppliers and relatively cheap.
Bukta were the first manufacturer of football kits and sportswear in the UK, who were established in 1879.
A player’s football shirt was often referred to as "jerseys" (a garment without a collar) and sometimes as "guernseys" (a jersey and associated with fishermen).
While there were examples of halved and quartered football kits, the most popular designs were self-coloured or striped. Vertical stripes did not appear on football shirts until circa 1883, when the term "shirts" was used.
Players who were selected for their county or international team sewed the appropriate badge onto their football shirts and kit for club games and in team pictures. Over time the exotic football kit colour combinations of the earliest era of organised English football began to disappear.
Once clubs became professional, the expense of buying football kits fell on the club rather than the players. Many clubs preferred to spend as little as possible, reinforcing the trend towards simpler football kits in basic colours.
In 1890 the Football League required clubs to register their football kit colours for the first time and set rules that no two clubs could register similar football kits. This rule was later relaxed as more leagues were introduced, however football clubs were asked to bring along a second football kit in case any two kits clashed.
Knickerbockers (early shorts in football terms) had to cover the player’s knees, but were only available in white, black or navy blue. This part of the football kit was deemed as important as football shirts, as players could wear different shades of shorts, even if they were playing for the same football team.
By the end of the 19th century, most of the leading clubs were wearing football kits that would be recognisable today.
To continue the history of football kits please see the Edwardian period (1900-1915).