Can you remember that first shirt or kit that sparked your interest in Football Kits??
For me it was the set of Tottenham Hotspur kits made by Hummel, used between 1985 and 1987, as a 9/10 year old this was the first time I can remember just loving the look of a team’s kit, so much so I was drawn to support Tottenham through this period mainly due to their kit (and Chris Waddle)… and pictures of the kits within Shoot or Match Magazine, these truly were the kits that sparked my love of all things football kit now.
I want to take some time to look into these kits in a little more detail and maybe get all nostaligic about them!
Home Kit
The home kit, probably the most iconic in terms of design from Hummel with its famous chevrons playing a prodement role within the shirt itself, from their traditional location on each sleeve but also running across the middle of the shirt to create solitary band.
This chevron band seeing pinstripes coming on the yolk of the shirt at 45′ angle creating a look that has remained almost unique in the past 35 years, with only the Danish National Team have a similar look at the same time with their away kit (the kit before their own iconic Hummel Kit of the Mexico 1986 World Cup), see the end of post for a picture of that kit.
These kits were used for two seasons, in the 1985/86 season was paired with white shorts in the following season the kit was used with navy shorts as first choice, which complement the navy detailling of the shirt well.
The Home kit was also used in other forms of Mash up, looking at the wonderful Museum of Jersey’s article – Tottenham Hotspur: The Hummel Years the home kit was used with away shorts (at Manchester City in August 1985) and Away socks (at Southampton in November 1985).
Away Kit
The away kit, a sky blue kit with navy and white detailing on shirts and white trim on shorts. This was used as the away kit in 1985/86 and 1986/87 season but also made an appearence as a third kit in 1987/88, more on that shortly.
Although Sky blue is colour that is considered fairly common within the Tottenham Hotspur change colour palette nowadays, this was only introducted by Le Coq Sportif as a away kit colour choice in 1982 so was still a new choice as alternative colour for Spurs at this point. From my research there are not many pictures of the kit in action, I did find this video where the kit was worn at Newcastle United in March 1987 – Highlights Here
Also used in 1988 FA Cup game against Port Vale, which saw the 1987 Runners Up knocked out by then Division 3 (Now League One) team.
3rd Kit
The 3rd Kit, which had a similar template to the away but in navy blue with sky blue and white detailing, initially intorduced as a 3rd kit in 1986/87 season and then got moved up to “Away Kit” status in 1987/88 season however paired with the home shorts from that season.
Navy blue a more common colour for a Tottenham Hotspur change kit with it being used through the clubs history but regularly within 1960s and 1970s. Again not many pictures of the team in action in this kit, the image below was taken from 87/88 season and Spurs’ trip to Coventry City.
Goalkeeper Kit
Ray Clemence used a couple of different kits, using a similar template seen on this Tottenham Hotspur Home Kit.
Memorable Moments
Tottenham reached the FA Cup final in the 1986/87 season, where they played (and eventually lost to Coventry City After Extra Time), although using these kits that season then played in the final in their new Home Kit (which was used between 1987 and 1989)… if they had not used their new kit and carried on with this home kit as kit enthusiasts we would have been robbed of one of the most famous kit tales in football history… those sponsorless shirts!
Full details can be found here
Who remembers this advert in Shoot or Match at the time…
Maradonna wore the home kit in Ossie Ardiles Testimonial in 1986 against Inter Milan
Mordern versions
A popular set of kits with the fans has recently seen Score Draw Remakes for home and 3rd kitd that are curently available via the Tottenham Hotspur shop
AFC Sudbury’s Goalkeeper worn a version of this classic template in the 2021/22 FA Cup against Colchester United.
Denmark, as mentioned above the only other example I am aware of used at the same time with their 1985/86 Away kit.
In 2018/19 season, Tottenham’s 3rd Kit drew some inspriation from the Hummel home kit with its diagonal pinstripes in the upper yolk of the shirt, this kit was famously worn in the Champions League Semi-Final second leg with saw a Lucas Moura’s second half hat-trick take the North London team to their first Champions League Final.
Let me know what you think of this Tottenham Hotspur Hummel kit set and I would love to know what your first kit loves were? Please use the comments below or over at Twitter – @Kit_Geek
Books / Links to sites used for research for this post and thanks to Denis Hurley for allowing me to use his illustrations as part of my article.
- True Colours Volume 1
- True Colours International Football Kits
- Musuem of Jerseys –Tottenham Hotspur: The Hummel Years
- Historical Football Kits
Football Kit Geek - @Kit_Geek 