Or perhaps that should be "'Match Worn' Football Shirts". You see, I speak as both a generally uninterested party and often a non-believer. The notion that a, as Frankie Boyle has it, "millionaire pervert" has sweated into an item of clothing does very little for me. It's not something I wish to own and it's not something I wish to trade in. And there have often been items sent to test that resolve.

The concept of match worn football shirts has an interesting history. A hundred years ago any football shirt you could get your hands on was in effect a match worn shirt or match issue at the very least - though why a shirt would be produced and never worn by a player in those modest days would be a mystery.

Then, in the latter quarter of the last century replica sales took off. This didn't really happen in earnest until the late 70s and early 80s, becoming an enormous source of revenue for clubs in the 90s onwards.

Here's where things started to get curious.  In the 80s/early 90s there would be two types of shirts produced by the leading manufacturers (at this time, particularly in the UK and Europe, Umbro & adidas).  One would be a higher quality example, for the players on the pitch, which would include beautifully embroidered-through crests and manufacturers' logos and a large-sized sponsor (an early concession for the tv cameras).  The other, for fans, would be very similar but with allowances made for mass-production.  This would include embossed badges or perhaps even all details being sublimated within the shirt, a very cheap and simple printing technique.

As well as this fact, player shirts would often come in more desirable larger sizes and have a choice of long or short sleeved.  As much as it pains me to say it, there is no superior on-pitch look than the Manchester United 1992-94 Third Shirt (Newton Heath) - with long sleeves, fully embroidered badges and larger sponsor - being carried untucked by Andrei Kanchelskis immediately after handling on his own goal line in the 1994 League Cup Final.  Genuinely, has anyone ever looked so cool before or since?

However, towards the end of the 1990s (it actually took this long for this realisation to dawn), football people sat down and noted that no footballers, nor any TV cameras, really needed embroidered badges.  No, as if a thousand ruptured athletes' nipples wasn't enough, in a standard definition age the embroidered badges were wasted on a tv audience.  So the decision was taken to flip reverse this state of affairs.  Fans would receive shirts with detailed, embroidered badges and stitched material stripes (adidas) and player wear would have printed or thin plastic top-mounted details, including stripes, and inner seams would be heat-bonded instead of stitched, with a view to these finely-tuned and highly-paid sportsmen having minimum distraction and discomfort as they went about their business.

So now we get to an age where adidas Techfit shirts, vacuum packing players worldwide since 2009, bear less resemblance to replica wear than any shirt that preceded them.  Now there is once again a benefit to owning the player specification shirt, should you feel you have the body for it, though it must be remembered that these items are now designed to be worn only the once, so may not be as sturdy - or survive as many washes - as a replica.  To this end, manufacturers now sell the player shirts, often as part of boxsets, with commemorative certificates 'proving' that they are to player specification.  Why so many of these Nike boxed items have fabric rather than printed wash-labels I can't answer, as players haven't been bothered by such an addition for several years.

Anyway, I digress.  The above sums up, in a basic way, the reasons why fans may like to choose a player specification shirt over a mass-produced version.  What it doesn't explain is why anyone would go onto eBay and pay several hundred pounds for an article that is supposedly - and supposition is the key - worn by a player, in a particular match.

Now I don't wish to offend or besmirch the reputation of collectors and traders - the guilty make a pretty good job of that themselves - but the only way you can be sure a shirt you own is match worn is if the player, immediately after stepping off the pitch, takes off the shirt and hands it to you.  Any other circumstance involves a level of faith and trust, often indirect and several times removed.

Which brings me on to a certain shirt on sale on eBay at time of publishing.  The seller has a quite formidable reputation, has been selling shirts listed as "match worn" for quite some time and, immediately after the announcement of the death of hugely respected Wales manager Gary Speed, decided to list a Wales shirt with a felt number 11 printed on the back which the seller states is "Match worn by Gary Speed against Moldova on 06/09/1995 on a rainy night at Arms Park."

Now this is a quite astonishing act of altruism, as the seller will donate 50% of the selling price - up to £500 - to the young suicide prevention charity Papyrus.  What is desperately unfortunate is that this particular player specification style of shirt is available to purchase, as is the style of printing, so it would be possible to 'make up' a shirt in this form to pass off as a match worn Gary Speed shirt, or indeed the Ian Rush and Ryan Giggs shirts the seller also coincidentally is in possession of.  According to the "supporting document" produced by Memorabilia City, the "Gary Speed" item has been verified by a "Dawn Symons", perhaps a relation of Speed's former Wales teammate Kit, but as the availability of each element of the item is such, the potential of selling it to a collector must be significantly compromised.  That, it could be argued, is a real shame for Papyrus, but then faith and trust is the nature of the "match worn" beast.

Football kit design has shifted somewhat in recent years.  There seems to be a trend now for bolder, more obvious design features, a notable example being the new Chelsea away shirt - though the more warmly received third also displays these characteristics.

Gone, apparently, are subtleties.  Watermark patterns are rarely used; it's either a tiny Liver Bird recessed for the purposes of dissuading counterfeiters or a large and easily noticeable duplication of the crest, such as on the Scotland home shirt.  It seems that any detail that cannot be spotted from a distance is regarded as a waste of time and effort.

The fact is, as much as I may bemoan it, the majority of adidas & Nike's target markets do not see their favourite club's shirt for the first time on Football Shirt Culture.  No, they see it on tv.  And piping, watermarks and 2mm coloured trim to collars don't show up on tv, even in the High Definition age.

The first time I noticed this progression was in 2008 when Nike released a tribute to the 1988-91 Arsenal Away shirt, as worn in the incredible end to the 1988-89 Division One title race, when The Gunners went to Anfield on the last day needing to win by two clear goals and they scored the vital clincher with just seconds remaining.  The original shirt, by adidas, featured the most sparing use of red on the edges of the collar, stripes and sponsor and red piping at the join of main body and sleeves.  This also featured a watermark.  The tribute is devoid of any of this subtlety but on tv it looked great and did certainly bring back memories of '89 when Andrei Arshavin scored four to extinguish another Liverpool title challenge.

Nike is biggest culprit and has been for a few years, and now adidas seem to be following their lead.  There are beautiful details on modern examples which we've never seen before and can only spot close-up, such as the multicoloured crosses on the back of the England home shirt, or the messages on the reverses of crests on Nike's range, but there are three perspectives on a football shirt: from a longer distance - watching the games from the stands or a sofa - spitting distance, if you will - along the bar in a pub - and the view of the wearer, looking down on the article they have on.  The first and last are covered, the second is being neglected.

Player Issue shirts have long taken this approach.  Bigger sponsors and crests, manufacturers' logos and adidas stripes printed rather than embroidered or stitched on.  Now the design stage of the overall looks of new releases seem to be wholly geared towards marketing the shirt to the television audience, with the theory being that if the star player from forty yards and via a camera lens looks good then a fan will be sold on the idea.  For the sake of aesthetics it may be a sad development but no doubt the money has started talking and, until it shuts up, we can kiss goodbye to the multi-layered designs of yore.

I like to think I know a bit about football shirts. I write for DesignFootball.com, I keep abreast of football shirt news on FootballShirtCulture.com and even a good 20% of my working life so far has revolved around football shirts.  The genius Azmie from SwitchImageProject even recently told me he was a fan of this blog.  The highest of praise.

I also managed to set up a football team in London. Unfortunately, weeks after we played our first game I moved to Manchester so the team – Marceltipool – has since been on hiatus save for incessant tweeting about Olympique de Marseille, Celtic Football Club, Liverpool Football Club, football design and anything that gets my goat – not necessarily in that order. 

If I’m honest, a big factor in wanting to set up a football team was the desire to get back to wearing football kit again, ideally one I’ve designed myself or at least ok-ed the final design.  The taking part is great but only with a great big M, a four-leaved clover and a liver bird (even metaphorically) on my chest. I can play for a pub, but boy must I love the staff, clientele, politics and ethics of that pub. Tricky.  So I set up my own club, with ethics tied to those of the professional clubs I follow and with a view to elements of football kit design and my favourite OM, Celtic & Liverpool kits appearing on our playing wear.

Turns out, I’m an amateur.

Along came Portman Kunis United FC.  Brought to my attention by a rival site to DF (which, I hate to say, is really quite brilliant) they play in Division 11 (E-L-E-V-E-N) of an indoor league at Inwood Soccer Center in Addison, Dallas, Texas (and people say no-one plays football in America!) and have suddenly taken the internet by storm, basically by virtue of a clever name and the even cleverer – and stylishly created – symbolism on their kit.

To get this out of the way, their name is essentially a fratboy-style joke referencing a “love” scene in the film Black Swan, acted out by the two stars Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis.  Without going into too much detail – this is a family website after all – “Unite” they did, somewhat comprehensively.  So PKUFC have emerged as a tribute to the beauty of the two actresses and, probably, the beauty of lesbian sex.  I would suggest that as a combination of sporting endeavour and sapphism, Portman Kunis United are the tame yin to Ultimate Surrender’s monstrous yang (Google it AT YOUR OWN RISK).

So far, so juvenile.  But this is about the kit.  It’s incredible.  Aesthetics to rival those which God bestowed on Ms Portman and Kunis and far more pleasing on the eye than the trauma of sitting through the awkward squirm-fest that is Black Swan.  The basic template may be an adidas Predator training shirt but that acts as a mere canvas for a designer – we assume a certain Mike Miller – to let his skilfully controlled imagination create a masterpiece.

It’s here for you to see and, naturally, purchase.  My dream was to retail a Marceltipool shirt that could be carried at Le Stade Velodrome, Celtic Park and Anfield, as a display of unity with other clubs similar to the antifa Alerta network.  PKU have got there emphatically first.  That said, and bitterness aside, a personalised shirt for fifty-five “bucks” I think is great value.  I suggest you This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. first to check postage charges for wherever you are but it’s surely worth the price for the understated and classic crest (far better than anything on show in the MLS), the *nudge-nudge, wink-wink* scissor detail on the back of the collar, the wonderfully befitting and presumably independent sponsor and a name and number style, complete with swan detail, that Sporting ID would be proud of.

Therefore, Portman Kunis United, it’s 1-0 to you.  In fact, a quick Google gives us 1900 “Marceltipool” results to 1.5million results for “Portman Kunis United”.  So a ratio of 1:789.  That doesn’t really equate to 1-0 does it?  But we’re still here, have our second game in a month’s time, and our support rises every time someone designs a new Mc’ool kit.  So that just leaves us with one question: Fancy a game?

Excuse the pun but it’s been a very odd couple of days in the football design world – particularly for DesignFootball.com. To give you a quick breakdown of events from my point of view, yesterday I saw a story on our sister/parent site Football Shirt Culture which featured a possible leaked image of a Liverpool change shirt due to be released for 2011/12. Yellow with what could be described as red chalkstripes (though each crucially was made up of adidas’s signature three), the shirt unquestionably referenced the yellow Umbro aways and adidas thirds from the 80s. But this shirt looked extra-familiar. Not only did I feel I had seen shirts like it before, but also like I had seen it before.

This morning (it’s been a long day, it’s actually past midnight now, but let’s pretend it’s still Wednesday) I logged on to msn and was met with a barrage of offline messages which directed me back to the FSC story. But now the story had been edited. Now it confirmed the shirt was a fake. The shirt was proved to be a fake because a comment revealed it to be a fully manufactured article created from the designs of DF member Steevo.

Steevo, as most regular visitors to DF will agree, is one of the most talented designers we’ve got. Specialising in creating kits for his beloved Liverpool FC, I for one accused him of being a “ringer” when he suddenly starting posting these works of genius on the (fast-approaching-10000-designs-strong) Fantasy Kit Designs on FSC. And since, many a time I have bemoaned the fact that – as it transpired - he isn’t actually working under the employ of the German sportswear giant and, it seemed, his designs would never see the light of day in fabric form.

But football design’s a funny old game. And the shirt, now seen on forums and newspages worldwide, such as Caught Offside and EPL Talk, exists. It’s fake, there’s no doubt. But there’s also no doubt that this item, being sold over and over on eBay as I type, is Steevo’s design. The three-striped chalkstripes, the Shankly Gate top on the back of the neck, the unusual sleeve cuff design, it’s all there. The collar colours have been switched but it’s barely noticeable, the crest is the current bête noir rather than the simple Liver Bird that Steevo prefers but this is just an attempt at replicating dour authenticity. It’s Steevo’s shirt.

So what does this mean? Has this come about through a mistake? Did someone from the South East Asian corner of this planet (where these articles certainly originate from) see the design on a forum, assume it had been leaked from adidas, and made it up from that, hoping to see the genuine shirt released and look virtually identical? Possibly, but I doubt it. I think this shirt has been created because the positive reaction to Steevo’s design put dollar signs in someone’s eyes. Who cares what the real designs end up looking like when people will buy this version now? Football (shirt) fans have many qualities but patience is seldom one of them. We want everything new and we want it immediately.

Let’s make it very clear, this is WRONG. The likes of adidas and Nike have had all kinds of human rights-related accusations thrown at them but there’s little doubt that the counterfeit sportswear industry often cares zero about working conditions, health & safety laws (if applicable) and fair pay. As interesting as this design is, and there should also be a (dis)honourable mention for the modern Newton Heath “Nike” shirt also being apparently sold as an alternative to genuine and official designs, not myself nor DF nor - I assume - the entirely innocent Steevo would condone this practice.

That said, flattery comes in many forms and though Zoran’s fantastic designs take pride of place on the header of the Association of Irish Celtic Supporters Clubs’ website and both Middlesbrough Futsal Club and Stafford Rangers have enlisted the help of DF members on their kit designs, Steevo’s realised design unwittingly tricking such a significant proportion of the world’s football blogging community is huge. It’s not how we envisioned it but amateur kit design just went big time.

Football design to me, for the most part, means football shirts, and has done for as long as I can remember. Football Shirt Culture is not my homepage for nothing. I can occasionally have my head turned by other examples, such as a new pair of boots, but I don’t fawn over these new releases like devotees of Footy-Boots.com. No, for me the fruits of a creative labour can be found on the cut, colour, watermark (or lack thereof) on the top that’s carried by our favourite team or even, grudgingly, an opponent.

But as the years start to tell and the cut of the newer styles less flattering to the older gentleman, there’s less cause for wearing shirts. Football training is mostly a thing of my youthful past and now the only times I kick a ball in anger are in five-a-side or the occasional 11-sided game for Marceltipool (no time to explain, just Google it). In both of these endeavours, shirt selection is dictated by the requirements of a collective rather than a matter of taste. Perhaps for Mc’ool I can wear a white shirt of my choice at least until we have the green hooped-left sleeved bespoke design we crave but when wanting to express oneself this can be a restriction too far – especially after a few weeks. In the Powerleague I can have few complaints about the player issue Milan away shirt I am “forced” to wear and I at least had something of a choice of number (I plumped for a #16) but still suffer at the hands of monotony.

At waist level, however, the shackles are removed. To continue the use of Marceltipool as an example, shorts offer endless opportunity to experiment and wear one’s heart on one’s, well, backside. Do I wear Celtic 2005-07 homes with #29 in official SPL print (a gift from a past lover)? Or perhaps the 2008-09 Marseille equivalent? As long as they’re white they’re acceptable and whilst this may sound like a similar tale of woe that I referred to with the shirt it is definitely not so. With the latter, should the wardrobe offer no options which quench the thirst for individualism then a new item can cost up to £60-70 if going the whole hog with long sleeves, naming and numbering (or as I prefer, “flocage”) and league/tournament patches. But a new pair of shorts? Anything from £5 to £25 for the full – personalised – monty. Not the small fortune of its torso-covering sibling. When we add to this the fact that the in small-sided leagues a colour consistency is only a matter for shirts/bibs this opens up whole new avenues for expression.

History has provided us with a plethora of options in shorts. The image of wee Gordon Strachan so bravely attempting to surmount the advertising hoarding after scoring at Mexico ’86 is stamped on many a Scotman’s memory, as is the navy hoop that adorned Strachan’s shorts. A brave man would wear these tiny examples – assuming an adult size can be located – but all the same they will wow a co-equipper on a Thursday evening. Certainly, a friend who I managed to procure a pair of 1991-93 Spurs shorts for told me that only seconds after his arrival at training wearing these classics a teammate had offered kudos of the highest order.

One of my own personal favourite styles of shorts were the adidas variety from 2006-07, worn by Ajax and my beloved Marseille away from home (a pair of which I wear to this day) – a main colour with a curve of a secondary on one thigh. Liverpool had a similar style but I’m not sure whether I feel pride or shame in the fact that I know that was in fact a different template with less obscurance of the adidas three stripes.

The list goes on: Silver England 2002 World Cup away – owned, France 2006 home #10 (as worn by Zidane as he destroyed Brazil and, well, other things…) – still hoping, Milan 2008-09/2009-10 home, away or third #32 (Beckham) – fingers crossed they could be mine before too long. In 2007 I even created (via the now arthritic hands of my significant other of the time and a plain purchase from Toffs) a #29 carrying pair of Celtic ’67 shorts in which to run the London Marathon.

With this level of artistic licence at one’s disposal and the mixing and matching seen so regularly by clubs (Liverpool’s red shorts and grey shirts versus Arsenal two years ago being a notable example) it beggars belief that Cameroon and Puma once conspired to create a one-piece strip. That said, I do subscribe to the belief that no side should have anything more than one example of shorts in each required colour – interchangeability ftw! Umbro and England, this means you!

Of course, we find ourselves only at knee level (barely hip level in some cases, Gordon) and the socks are where individualism has even greater freedom. Hooped socks to confuse the opposition (so said Herbert Chapman), over the knee unfurling by Henry and John Terry, 70s number tags which resurfaced briefly over the last decade, I could go on and on. Unfortunately, I’m sure you’ll agree I’ve gone on long enough but for between £2 and £15 we can wear the pink-cum-orange of Barça, the (nodding to Celtic?) hooped current Republic of Ireland socks or, if you can find them, my ideal style for Marceltipool in the Liverpool 1993-95 homes by adidas (the brand with the three hoops?).

Should you ever doubt that individualism in shorts and socks is synonymous with amateurism then note that in the 1990 World Cup Diego Maradona - no less – wore Napoli socks in Argentina’s Quarter Final against Yugoslavia. And I’ll leave you with this: When it comes to socks, if what history has to offer (or indeed what the current replica market, eBay and Classic Football Shirts have available) doesn’t quite hit the spot, I found a way to just design your own.

The new England away shirt has been available for quite a while now but this afternoon the side will turn out in all red against Slovenia and the combination’s supposed talismanic qualities (1962 World Cup etc) will be put to the test.  By the time you read this you’ll probably know how they fared – dare I say it, maybe even whether or not England’s World Cup 2010 has been a success.  About time myself and fellow DesignFootball.com reviewer curswine put it through its paces…

Review 1 - Jay

So the new England away shirt.  I’ve already bleated on about how great the current home is, how important a release a red England away is and how impressive Nike and Umbro are in marketing such items, but how good really is this jewel in the British manufacturer’s crown?

First impressions, it’s simple.  We knew it would scream 1966 and it doesn’t disappoint.  It has as many World Cup failure connotations as Bobby Charlton’s head has strands of hair (ie. none) and is as red as the mist that must have surrounded Jimmy Greaves when Moore and co lifted M. Rimet’s trophy.  But - and designer Aitor Throup will remind you of this - it’s actually based on the generic Azteca design from the 60s and 70s.  Accordingly, it has, get this, white cuffs!

When you get a little closer you can see that it is something more than just a throwback (designers surely couldn’t command their salaries if that was the case).  Yes indeed, it’s made of only a few oddly shaped pieces of different fabrics stitched together to optimise flexibility, movement and body temperature when worn.  Apparently these different pieces of fabric are all slightly differently coloured but forgive me for not really detecting a change at each seam in the replica version.  Perhaps this is simply my ultra-modern geosociologically colourblind view of border controls in microcosm.  Perhaps not.  So this bit fits into that bit and then this bit goes across here and then the shirt is comple- Oh, to aid flexibility even more they had to put in two extra little bits just below the shoulder blades.  Hmmm.

As you may be getting from this, the shirt is neither one thing nor the other.  They could have made a modern kit but they chose, like with the home, to add modern touches to a classic instead.  What Umbro forgot was that whilst the 50s shirts they took inspiration from for the white strip were actually pretty cool, the ’66 shirt was solely iconic due to its historical significance and as a design piece didn’t quite have enough.  This shirt has even been created with a push towards players moving away from short sleeved versions with base layers and instead choosing this supposed hybrid in long-sleeved.  Obviously Wayne Rooney and Jermain Defoe didn’t attend that meeting before debuting the kit against Egypt.

But what is it like to wear?  Firstly, if you usually wear a Small, DO NOT get Umbro’s “equivalent” 36” chest (“Tailored” you see?).  It’ll look tight and will betray the eating habits of the dietarily-challenged.  Get a size up.  But does that explain the pointy uppy bits on the upper back reported by many and that I also experienced?  Possibly, but the shoulders not falling flat on such a hi-tech item is worrying.  Aside from this it seems to do everything you’d want from modern-day performance technology; not restrictive, not too hot, not too cold etc.

Don’t get me wrong, the crest is beautiful, the Umbro logo is thankfully understated and the shirt is no doubt wonderfully practical for the modern day footballer without looking like a Terminator costume.  But, frankly, we saw all that with the home.  Umbro, that joke isn’t funny anymore.

PS: The shorts and socks don’t warrant much mention, as basic as they are (something about longer at the front to aid knee flexing.  Whatever), but it’ll be fun to see England sporting Liverpool’s colours later.  The shorts look better in red.  On that profound note...

Review 2 – curswine

He goes on a bit doesn’t he?  The new England away shirt is a masterpiece.  The most important day in the Three Lions’ history was the day they wore the famous red shirt to defeat West Germany at Wembley.  This release is a modern interpretation of a design classic that not only pays its dues but also holds its own against other international team kits.

1966 shouldn’t be forgotten and is rightly respected here.  The red star above the crest may not stand out but does pay tribute to the heroes of 44 years ago in a way that shouldn’t put too much pressure on our current squad.  The ’66 kit IS a classic and Umbro are right to revive it.

As for the different materials used, these add depth to a kit that otherwise would come across as somewhat basic.  Umbro’s design teams have worked very hard to ensure that each carefully tested section carries out its purpose to perfection and link with each other to make a whole shirt that performs brilliantly for the stars that wear it.  The smaller sections on the shoulder blades allow freedom of movement that otherwise wouldn’t be possible in a similarly fitted design.  For the players it will mean they don’t get held back by a poorly fitting shirt and for the fans it’s a really comfy top to watch the games in.

It could be said the shirt suffers from the comparisons to the Azteca and 1966 rather than relying on them.  As much as it is retro it also has everything you’d want in a 2010 release and can be judged against any other modern shirt.  That is, if you get the right size.  It’s not Umbro’s fault if we’re not as slim as we used to be and I found none of the “pointy uppy bits” that people have supposedly mentioned.

Regarding the push towards new Umbro shirts combining the outer garment with the popular base layers, Rooney and Defoe may have worn the short-sleeved type with base-layers against Egypt but Peter Crouch and Shaun Wright-Phillips wore long sleeves and both scored.  So maybe long-sleeved shirts are going to become more popular again.

Overall Umbro have created another great kit.  If you look closely at the crest, the finer detailing is lovely and the Lions and roses have never been so beautifully defined.  The whole attention to detail means the shirt looks great on the pitch but also close up and fills you with pride when you pull it on.

Whether wearing white or red, Fabio Capello’s men will be sure their kit performs well and looks good.  This afternoon the classy red shorts with a white stripe will be worn with the red shirt and red socks.  The crest on the shorts is all white rather than fully coloured like on the shirt and this is another subtle touch that adds to how classy the look is. 

Bill Shankly famously sent out Liverpool in all red in the sixties to intimidate the opposition and they never looked back.  Hopefully this great kit will be as effective against Slovenia and England will get the victory they need whilst looking the part.  C’mon England!