When Did We Start Wearing Replica Shirts?

My Mum and Dad bought me the white kit made by Bukta for Christmas. I really loved it because I had a picture of Colin Lee in it and we were heading for promotion until he departed for Spurs.

I had the shirt, shorts and socks and yes, i still have it and no, it doesn't fit that well these days ;D but I can still get in it 32 years later!!

I never wore it to a game like people do these days.

just searched through my chest of drawers but can't find it at the moment. perhaps it's a good thing until my diet is successful ;D

I'll keep you waiting in anticipation!!

The first replica kit I had was the Admiral 1982 England world cup shirt. I have very proud pictures of it somewhere taken on a family holiday to Torremolinos in 1983. The shirt was brilliant white and very smart, unfortunately earlier in the day my dear parents let me burn to a crisp on Fuengirola beach in temperatures nudging 100 degrees. My poor little knees were so burnt that I could hardly walk. In revenge I took a crafty slug of my father's Sangria (the poof) and blamed the empty glass on my dad's mate. Not only was my revenge served cold, it was slightly chilled. ;D

The 1982 World Cup. A great England shirt, great stadiums, radio phone commentary, Tele Santana, Tardelli's screaming celebration, Arconada's fumble, David Narey's toe punt. Every world cup since has been a bit shit in comparison. Mexico 86 wasn't bad I guess!

A great picture of the White Horse Final. For a minute I was hoping to see a Merse ancestor looking for a flat cap that some oik had just stolen of his head.

Haven't I seen the predominantly white shirt with the blue and white stripe down one side worn by a fan at Plainmoor. Surely this must be the oldest replica shirt - season 74/75 I think. Alan Merson might be able to throw some light on this as I think he was involved with the club around this time.

The 'ammers arrive at Wembley in 1923 and - again - not a Dagenham Motors logo in sight:



England's original Admiral shirt, which dated from the days of Don Revie, was a break with tradition and, at the time, was regarded as as an example of gross commercialisation. It was also the first shirt I bought and I remember it as being something of a tipping point in the growth of the replica shirt market. But - with respect to mass-wearing of replica shirts (i.e XXXLs worn by the over 45s) - I rather think you have to look to the early 1990s onwards. I went to a B&H semi-final between Hants and Somerset around then and recall being amused by the sight of a ordinary-looking, middle-aged bloke in a Spurs shirt. Just a few years later this would have been relatively commonplace.

The first replica shirts offered for sale at Plainmoor were the predominantly white ones manufactured in Plymouth by Pilgrim Sports in 1975.

The players of the time felt that the quality of the kit they had to wear was so poor that the club then discontinued using Pilgrim after one season and Bukta became the supplier, followed by a return to Umbro. I thought the latter two to be of particularly high quality and certainly superior to today's product ~ but then, it's more about profitability today rather than quality of product.

The "triple striped" shirt (introduced by Malcolm Musgrove) manufactured by Umbro that preceded the Pilgrim effort, was inspired by a Dutch kit that Malcolm had seen during a trip to Holland. I've seen the "Toffs" version and it is inaccurate in that the stripes are too narrow. I used to be the proud recipient of one of the originals given to me by Phil Sandercock complete with his trademark "no. 3" on the back but foolishly swapped it with a young lad in Porto whilst looking around the Boavista Stadium (such as it was at the time) and through my largess I became the owner of a black and white chequered shirt that so ill fitted me I gave that away on returning to England!

Apart from a couple of unusual German shirts (a brown & white striped St Pauli, and a purple and white striped Erzgebirge Aue one), I can honestly say that all the replica shirts I own (including three Gulls ones) are gifts from others; although my kids seem to have scores of them and I must say Anthony's complete all white TU kit draws particular attention and approval whenever he wears it training.

The most unusual and for that matter rare complete kit I had was an all blue one from Shanghai Shenhua F.C. that was given to me resplendent in multi sponsor patches and a players name on the back in Chinese characters. It was a dead ringer for a Man United all blue kit of the time. Another was a bright yellow referee's shirt with black collar and sleeve ends provided for me by the team management of the black shirted AIK Stockholm Youth squad whom I refereed in a summer tournament many years ago.

My assumption that 'fans' without colours are just thugs looking for trouble is confirmed by your picture of the 'White Horse Final' Dave! They're even invading the pitch!

But seriously, colours have been around a lot longer in the form of hats/scarves/rosettes... the 'replica shirt' seems to be a relative newcomer!?

My wife (bless her) said that if ever I got a shirt, she'd divorce me! Thankfully someone else got it for me... and the other three! First was the yellow and white re-run of the successful Mod-Dec version... but with Sparkworld on the front. The only one I'll wear. The others are Reuben Hazells signed away shirt (black and white stripes), a home shirt of that season and an auction shirt from Dean Oliver! You can see why I wear the 'deckchair' above all others.