Matchweek 21 is a unique Matchweek in the Premier League season, with the fixtures being split over two weekends to give each of the teams a mini “mid-season” winter break, there was five fixture played over the weekend of 12th to 14th January and the remaining five fixtures on 20th to 22nd January.
As always you can find last week Matchweek’s review – here
The current Kit Overview for Premier League is below, we now have all 60 shirts released… still waiting for confirmation of the shorts that will be used with Luton Town’s 3rd.
Matchweek 21 Fixtures
Total Kits Used
Kits Worn in Total – 91 (+2 from Matchweek 20)
Goalkeeper Kits – 57 (No Change from Matchweek 20)
New Kits this Matchweek
There were two new kit look on show through these fixtures.
Crystal Palace have worn their 3rd twice already this season, including the opening fixture back in August, however this is the first time that the kit has been worn in default look of all black, with the black socks getting the debut outing!
Nottingham Forest used their 3rd Kit with bespoke alternative orange shorts and socks for the first time this season in their game against Brentford, the overall look worked well with amount of orange in the shirt… a nice alternative and opens up more opportunities for mix and matching with the default navy blue shorts and socks.
Kit Highlights
Manchester United “Sock Watch”, it was the 2023 Adidas Teamwear socks again in the home game against Tottenham Hotspur, this seems to be the go to sock now for The Red Devils…
Wolverhampton Wanderers wore their away kit for only the second time this season and the first time since the third game of the season back in August against Everton, this also means they have worn Home, Away and 3rd Kits in their last three games!
My favourite Kit Match Up of this week was the match up between Brentford and Nottingham Forest, the alternative look against the classic Brentford kit worked well for me, I have seen comments that considered this to be a kit clash but I think there is enough destinction between the light and dark shorts and socks and in the shirts that this worked well under the lights of Gtech Community Stadium!
Kit Stats
Overall we have seen 14 Home Kits, 3 Away Kits and 3 3rd Kits in action in this Matchweek
There were four Kit Variation on show this week.
Luton Town, Away Kit with Home Shorts and Socks, this is the 3rd time this look has been used
Manchester United’s again in Black Teamwear Socks (with updated Adidas Logo), the 8th time they have been worn
Aston Villa, Home Kit with alternative claret shorts and socks, the 2nd time for this look
Nottingham Forest’s 3rd Kit with alternative shorts and socks (see above)
Kit Grid – Up to 23rd January 2024
Kit News
It is being widely reported that Aston Villa have signed “Major” Deal with Adidas, replacing Castore from next season. Aston Villa have been supplied by the many kit manufacturers over the years, however this would be the first time that they have worn the “Three Stripes” of Adidas and will be the second club to move from Castore to Adidas with Newcastle United also making that change from 2024/25 Season – Image from @TheShirtUnion
Manchester City have released a “Year of the Dragon” shirt to celebrate the Chinese New Year and it has been reported that this kit will be worn by both Men and Women’s teams at some point this season, with the kit having its own designed nameset I wonder if it will be a cup game that we see this kit, however with the Men away at Tottenham Hotspur in the 4th Round, its not likely to be that game.
Another interesting story that was being report at the end of last week was the potential introduction of “4th” Kits from 2024/25 season. It is not clear if this will be for every team but the reports suggested that one of Arsenal, Liverpool, Newcastle United, Manchester United, Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur or Chelsea will have a 4th Kit available for regular use and not seen as a “Special Kit”.
So what we have seen with Crystal Palace and Arsenal this season may become the norm in future season within Premier League!
Let me know your thoughts in the comments below or at @Kit_Geek
I created a graphic this week that showed a breakdown of the Kit Manufacturers of the current 92 English League Clubs from Premier League and EFL for this current season.
So thought I would create something with a little more detail for those Kit Nerds and Geeks out there, a form of reference guide for Kits and Clubs for the 2023/24 Season.
The FA Cup 3rd Round, one of the highlights of the Football Season for many of us, the round that sees teams from the Premier League and Championship join the competition, often with several “Non-League” teams still involved, the dreams and hope of a New Year replicated into Footballing dreams both big and small!
In it’s 143rd season, the oldest competition in Football initially had 732 teams enter with qualifying rounds starting back in the summer of 2023, with 32 teams from these fixtures reaching the first round, where the EFL Teams first join the Competition.
A recap of the previous rounds…
1st Round
1st Round Replays
2nd Round
2nd Round Replays
The 3rd Round of The FA Cup took place over 5 days of the first weekend of 2024, between Thursday 4th January and Monday 8th January, the fixture between Crystal Palace and Everton the first to be played on Thursday of this weekend!
3rd Round Kit Log
64 Teams kicked off the 3rd Round in 32 Fixtures.
3rd Round Replays
There were 14 different Kit Manufacturers seen in this round of the FA Cup, with Macron having the most teams with 11 and Umbro with 10, the only two with double figures… four Kit Makers, Kappa, Kelme, New Balance (all Championship Clubs) and VX3 (Newport County) with just one club.
Kit Highlights
Crystal Palace kicked off the 3rd Round of the FA Cup on Thursday by wearing a special charity / 4th shirt, containing a sash something that The Eagles are well known for doning on their kits over the years. This shirt was paired with Home shorts and socks and with Everton in their 3rd Kit, it made for one of my favourite Kit Match Ups of the season so far.
For the 3rd Season in a row Arsenal used an all white kit, labelled as “No More Red”, highlighting teenage knife attacks in London. The shirts will not be for release and will sold for charities supporting the local communities. This season is different as the previous incarnations were used away from The Emirates Stadium, at Nottingham Forest in 2022 and Oxford United in 2023, so this is a rare ccurrence of Arsenal not in red at Home, Liverpool joind the No More Red theme by wearing their 3rd Kit for a unique look for one of the historic fixtures in English Football!
Maidstone United the lowest team left in the competition, continued to the 4th Round with their victory against League One Stevenage, The National League South (6th Tier) Kent Team have a kit which is based in design on the final Maidstone United kit from 1992 before the club folded and withdraw from The Football League.
An interesting Kit Match up with the Tyne / Wear Derby, in recent years when the clubs have played each other change kits have been worn to avoid a clash, this was not the case in this FA Cup game, with Newcastle United wearing alternative white shorts and socks with their Home Shirt to give a more traditional look to this fixture, something that raised mixed views across Social Media with both those glad to see this and those that called it out as a kit clash!
Blackpool are the only team that have worn three different kit looks in the opening three rounds of the Competition, having worn all Tangerine Home Kit in their opening round against Bromley, then their default home with against Forest Green Rovers and their Away Kit against Nottingham Forest.
Manchester City had one difference in their kit from any of the other competing clubs… as they continue to not use the offical FA Cup sleeve patches, due to the current sponsors of the competition, they do not use the patches as it is direct competition to their own principle sponsor. It is likely, as in previous seasons that will be fined for this action but that does not stop them! It also means the holders patch (which is silver not red) will not be seen this season.
Being a Cup competition meant that lots of clubs, introduced their own “Cup” Namesets instead of the standard league names and numbers that normally used, some stand out ones that we wanted to call out are the following…
Any of your FA Cup hightlights that I have missed or stand out, let me know your thoughts in the comments below or at @Kit_Geek
Something new for 2024 is my Facebook Page, which you can find here so please give have a look and give me a follow / like.
The season has now reached Matchweek 20 and the final round of the Premier League fixtures of the Festive Period also means this is the first set of return fixtures, with the reverse games being played in Matchweek 3.
As always you can find last week Matchweek’s review – here
The current Kit Overview for Premier League is below, we now have all 60 shirts released… still waiting for confirmation of the shorts that will be used with Luton Town’s 3rd.
Matchweek 20 Fixtures
Total Kits Used
Kits Worn in Total – 89 (+3 from Matchweek 19)
Goalkeeper Kits – 57 (+1 from Matchweek 19)
New Kits this Matchweek
There were three new kit look on show through these fixtures.
Sheffield United used alternative red shorts and socks to give a very 90s look when they visited Manchester City, this was the first alternative look they have used for their Home Kit this season.
Manchester United used their Away kit with alternative white socks, although used the socks before this was the first time that we have seen the look with the default away shorts… given us their 10th Kit variation of the season (more on that below)
Arsenal wore their 3rd for the first in the League, however it was worn with alternative white socks which is a variation that we have previoulsy seen this season in The Champions League when they played Sevilla.
There was one new Goalkeeper used this week, that was Brentford’s black version of the current Umbro Goalkeeper Template, the 3rd different Keeper look used by The Bees.
Kit Highlights
Manchester United have now worn 10 different kit variations / looks in 20 Premier League game in total. These are made up six different Home Kits, three away kit looks and just the one 3rd kit – this also means they have worn has many different kit looks as they have wins in The League.
The six Home Kit looks used…
The four Change Kits…
My favourite Kit Match Up of this week was the match up between Manchester City and Sheffield United, regular readers will know that I do enjoy an alternative Kit Look and this Sheffield United change up with red shorts and socks is great, as mentioned above something very 90s about the look and works well in contrast to Manchester City’s Home Kit.
Kit Stats
Overall we have seen 12 Home Kits, 3 Away Kits and 3 3rd Kits in action in this Matchweek
There were three Kit Variation on show this week, all three being new kit looks for the season…
Sheffield United, Home Kit with alternative red shorts and socks
Manchester United’s Away Kit with alternative white socks
Arsenal 3rd Kit with white socks
Kit Grid – Up to 3rd January 2024
Kit News
The Premier League fixture will come thick and fast over the fesitve period, so there is little in Kit News updates, if I have missed anything Premier League related please let me know.
Let me know your thoughts in the comments below or at @Kit_Geek
The Premier League returns after the third International Break of the season and this weekend kicks off a run of 8 Matchweeks between now and the end of 2023… so strap yourselves in as we take a more detailed look into the kits worn this weekend!
As always you can find last week Matchweek’s review – here
The current Kit Overview for Premier League is below, we now have all 60 shirts released… still waiting for confirmation of the shorts that will be used with Luton Town’s 3rd.
Matchweek 13 Fixtures
Total Kits Used
Kits Worn in Total – 75 (+2 from Matchweek 12)
Goalkeeper Kits – 53 (No Change from Matchweek 12)
New Kits this Matchweek
The new kit looks are still trickling in, with two new kits variations on show this week, both variations of Home Kits.
Aston Villa in their third different Home Kit look this season, using alternative claret shorts and socks for their visit to Tottenham Hotspur.
Manchester United used their home kit with alternative black shorts and Teamwear (2023 version) socks for the first time, the second Red / Black / Black look of the season but first with these socks.
Kit Highlights
“Sock Watch”, with Manchester United going for the Teamwear socks with the new Adidas logo this week but with alternative Black shorts meant a new kit variation (see above), this is the 6th different Home Kit look of the season for Manchester United and the 9th in total in just 13 games!
Aston Villa have now worn six different kit variaions so far this season, 2nd highest in the Premier League… they have used 2 Home Kits, 2 Away and 3rd kit in the first 13 games of the season, yet to wear their default Home Kit look on the road this season.
AFC Bournemouth played in a change kit for the first time in eight games against Sheffield United, which was almost 3 months ago on September 2nd against Brentford.
My favourite Kit Match Up of the weekend was the game between Brentford and Arsenal, a nice balance between the two kits and both using black shorts which adds to the aesthetic to me, plus the Arsenal away kit keeps growing on me, I really do like seeing it in action!
Kit Stats
Overall we have seen 16 Home Kits, 3 Away Kits and again just the 1 3rd kits in action in this Matchweek.
However there was four variations on show, all home kits..!
Chelsea with all blue look for the 2nd time this season
Aston Villa with alternative claret shorts and socks (again mentioned above)
Manchester United with black shorts and Teamwear (new Adidas Logo) black socks (as mentioned above)
Wolverhampton Wanderers used their alternative shorts to create an all “Old Gold” look
Kit Grid – Up to 27th November
Kit News
It is a quiet week on the Premier League Kit News front over the last few weeks.
We are starting to see some leaks for next season’s kits hitting Social Media, I am not one to share until we have offical launch pictures however there are some interesting colour / crest choices for clubs if the leaks are accurate.
That wraps up Matchweek 13 and watch this space for future Premier League Kit Reviews.
Let me know your thoughts in the comments below or at @Kit_Geek
Matchweek 12 is completed and we are just under a third of the way through the season, time to take a deeper look into some of the kits worn this weekend in the Premier League.
As always you can find last week Matchweek’s review – here
The current Kit Overview for Premier League is below, we now have all 60 shirts released… still waiting for confirmation of the shorts that will be used with Luton Town’s 3rd.
Matchweek 12 Fixtures
Total Kits Used
Kits Worn in Total – 73 (+3 from Matchweek 11)
Goalkeeper Kits – 53 (+1 from Matchweek 11)
New Kits this Matchweek
The new kit looks keep rolling in, with three new kits variations on show this week with a couple of default away kits seen for the first time and one incredible away kit alternative, there was also a new goalkeeper this week!
Tottenham Hotspur used their away kit in it’s default look of all navy blue for the first time this season, the kits previous outings have been with white (Home) socks.
Luton Town were the other team to use their away kit in its default look for the first time as well, the all white kit used at Manchester United for the first time, the interchangablilty of the Luton Town kits have meant this is the first time in the kits five uses the all white look has been used.
Sheffield United provided one of the best kit looks of the season so far with this combinaton used at Brighton & Hove Albion, the yellow away shirt paired with alternative red shorts and socks, given us a kit reminiscent of their away kit in the very first Premier League season!
Fulham gave us our only new goalkeeper look of the weekend, this is 3rd different keeper kit of the season and matches the others in the current Adidas Goalkeeper template in blue, the same kit used by Arsenal as an alternative goalkeeper kit.
Kit Highlights
First place to start this week with with Luton Town, who have worn four different kit looks in their last four games, with three different away kit looks and one home kit!
“Sock Watch” at Old Trafford, with Manchester United going for the Teamwear socks with the new Adidas logo this week, this is the 3rd time that these socks have been used this in Premier League this season!
Sheffield United continued their run of change kits in all away games this season, with their 3rd kit look on the road in their six games so far, this was the first point won in an away game for The Blades, therefore the first points in change kits this season… and well it gives me another excuse to share a picture of this kit!
My favourite Kit Match Up of the weekend was the game between Crystal Palace and Everton, this fixture has given us the only “halved shirt” derby of the season, with two cracking kits on show… it was always going to be my choice of Kit Match up of the weekend!
Kit Stats
Overall we have seen 12 Home Kits, 7 Away Kits and 1 3rd kits in action in this Matchweek.
However there was three variations on show
Manchester United, Home with white shorts and Teamwear (new Adidas Logo) black socks
Newcastle United used their away kit with alternative white socks for the second time this season
Sheffield United and that wonderful away kit look of Yellow / Red / Red
Kit Grid – Up to 14th November
Kit News
It is a quiet week on the Premier League Kit News front this weekend, with no stories reaching Kit Geek Towers this week, so what this space over the coming two weeks for any updates!
And Finally, the latest Episode (Ep.23) of The Football Kit Podcast is out now, in this episode we are joined by well known Kit Guru and all round good guy Phil Delves and discuss the Kits of the 00’s, often a forgotten decade when it comes to kit designs!
The Podcast can be downloaded in your Pod Catcher of Choice here
That wraps up Matchweek 12, and we have reached the final International Break of 2023, so I will return in two weeks time!
Let me know your thoughts in the comments below or at @Kit_Geek
The clocks have changed, we are now into November and the Premier League Winter Ball is in action… but what happened on the Kit front in this week’s Premier League Fixtures….
As always you can find last week Matchweek’s review – here
The current Kit Overview for Premier League is below, we now have all 60 shirts released… still waiting for confirmation of the shorts that will be used with Luton Town’s 3rd.
Matchweek 11 Fixtures
Total Kits Used
Kits Worn in Total – 70 (+6 from Matchweek 11)
Goalkeeper Kits – 52 (+2 from Matchweek 11)
New Kits this Matchweek
After two weeks of four new kits on show we had one better with this weekend with six new outfield kits, meaning over half the games fielded a kit look we have not seen yet this season, plus a couple new Goalkeeper kits in their as well!
Manchester United, sporting their 5th different Home Kit look of the season (8th Overall) with one of their more traditional Home Kit Variations, using white shorts and socks against Fulham.
West Ham United used their 3rd Kit for the first time this season in the League, having previously used it in Europe.
Wolverhampton Wanderers used alternative shorts to create an all “Old Gold” look on the road, this was the first time we have seen this kit colour variation since 2018/19 Season against Southampton (13th April 2019).
Aston Villa were another team to use their 3rd Kit for the first time in the league having previously used it in Europe this season.
Liverpool used a change kit for the first time this season in their visit to Luton Town, using their away kit!
Chelsea used a variation of their Home Kit for the first time this season, pairing it up with alternative blue socks, to give an all blue look, something not seen since 2021/22 season, as navy socks (from the Away kit) were used as alternative last season
There were two new goalkeeper kits also used for the first time this weekend, both shades of purple…. Having used just one kit for the first nine games of the Season Everton made it three kits in three games for Jordan Pickford and Luton Town used a purple keeper kit, interestingly it was the keeper template from last season that they used not the current Umbro goalkeeper offering!
Kit Highlights
Nottingham Forest have now worn their default Home Kit (Red / White / Red) six times in total and are unbeaten this season in this look, winning three and drawing three of their games!
My favourite Kit Match Up of the weekend was the game between Luton Town and Liverpool, Liverpool in one their best away kit looks of recent years, matched up with Luton Town’s retro inspired home kit just worked for me and looked great in action.
Kit Stats
Overall we have seen 15 Home Kits, 3 Away Kits and 2 3rd kits in action in this Matchweek.
However there was four variations on show, all from home kits
Manchester United, Home with white shorts and socks
Arsenal used their Home kit with alternative red socks, this was the 3rd time this has been used this season
Wolverhampton Wanderers and their All Old Gold look
Chelsea in all blue using alternative blue socks with their home kit
Kit Grid – Up to 7th November
Kit News
Something we have been looking into is the Manchester United sock situation, well we may have some more insights on what is going… Kit Guru Phil Delves has got some inside information, which appears to be that the players are not happy with the default socks, complaining that they are too tight, this being the reason behind the use of Teamwear Socks.
There may be some interesting looking logos for some teams next season, it is rumour that Adidas will bring back the “Trefoil” Logo for their teams third kits next season likely to be Arsenal and Manchester United in the Premier League.
Nike also looking to do something different with their logo, having used the “Futura” logo a couple of seasons ago, this time it is rumoured that Nike shirts will have a double tick, and possibly have it on its side (potrait view rather than landscape if you will)… I guess we will find out next summer but interesting both stories being reported in the same week!
That wraps up Matchweek 11, plenty of new kits to look back on both outfield and goalkeepers.
Let me know your thoughts in the comments below or at @Kit_Geek and Matchweek Kit Review will return next week.
The 2023 Rugby World Cup held in France ended with South Africa taking a record 4th Title with an 12-11 Victory against New Zealand.
The tournament was held between 8th September and 28th October 2023, with 20 teams playing in total of 48 games during 7 week Tournament.
I shared some regular updates on the Kits used during the competition, but wanted to consildate this in one place for your perusal.
Overall Kit Stats:
20 Teams
37 Kits worn in the Tournament
2 Teams in 3 Kits
13 Teams in 2 Kits
5 Teams in just the 1 Kit
Pool Stage, there were four Pools containg Five Nations, with the Top Two Nations moving to the Knock-Out Stages.
Pool Fixtures Overview
Knock-Out Rounds
Knock-Out Rounds, this consisted of Quarter-Finals, Semi-Finals, 3rd / 4th Place Playoff and of course the final, so a total of eight fixtures in the final stages of the Tournament.
Quarter-Finals
Semi-Finals / 3rd & 4th Place / Final
Looking at the Nations in more detail, I will look at each Pool and the Kits worn by the Nations here!
Pool A
Pool A provided four Nations with Blue as their Primary Colour and New Zealand in their traditional “All Black” look, so there was plenty of Alternative Kits on show from this group, with a total of 9 Kits seen in the Pool Stage here.
Uruguay and Italy both used their Alternative Kit in 3 of their 4 Pool Matches, with Namibia using their two kits twice each and Tournament Hosts France only using their Alternative Kit once, in the opening game of the Competition against New Zealand.
New Zealand who reached the final ended playing all seven of their games in their Primary All Black Kit
Pool B
Pool B provided the most Kits used in the Pool Stage, with a total of 10 Kits used by the Nations here.
South Africa were one of two teams to use three kits through the tournament, and the only Nation to use three different shirts, with their Alternative Shirt deemed to contain too much green when they played Ireland, this also meant they wore three different kits in their opening three games.
Ireland, Romania and Tonga all wore two kits in total, with their Primary used three times and their alternative kit worn just the once.
Scotland the other team in the group only appeared in their Primary kit, unusual as even in the 6 Nations Tournament they are one of three teams who play in Blue but with Pool A taking a large portion of the teams in Blue meant it was only the Primary Kit this time around for the Scots.
Pool C
Pool C was another Pool with 9 Kits used, however only 8 were used in the Pool Stage with Fiji being the only Nation to use a kit in the Knock-out Stages that was not previously used in the Pool Stage, with their Alternative Kit used in the Quarter-Final game against England.
Along with Fiji, Georgia, Portugal and Wales all used two kits, with Georgia and Portugal going with Primary and Alternative kits in two games each and Wales just the once in their game againt Portugal.
Australia were one of the five Nations to use just their Primary Kit after failing to progress from the Pool Stage.
Pool D
The final Pool, Pool D was one of the most interesting in terms of kits used.
In total their were 9 Kits used by the Nations here, however it was the only Pool that had two Nations that used just the one Kit, with Chile and Japan playing their four Pool games in their Primary Kits.
Argentina and Samoa would use both Primary and Alternative Kits in their Pool matches, with Argentina also using their alternative kit in a later game (we will come on to that below).
England however were the second team in the Tournament to use three different Kit Looks, this one being a little more subtle than the South Africans, as the Alternative red socks were used with the Primary shirts / shorts to create the only Kit Mash up of the competition, this look was used twice, once in the Pool game against Samoa and then in their second meeting against Argentina in the 3rd / 4th Placed Play-Off.
Kit Highlights
As mentioned there were two teams that used three different kits in the tournament:
South Africa Kits – Primary worn 5 times, Alternative worn 1 time and White Alternative shirt worn 1
England Kits – Primary Kit worn 3 times, Alternative Kit worn 2 times and Primary / Alternative socks worn 2 times
Argentina v England – The two nations met twice in the Tournament, in their opening game in Pool D and then in the 3rd / 4th Place Playoff game, so their final game of the tournament, each game game was played in different kits….
There we have it, the 2023 Rugby World Cup in Kits and congratulations to South Africa on their Record Victory.
Let me know your thoughts in the comments below or over at @Kit_Geek
The second International Break is completed and the Premier League returns reaching Matchweek 9 and we around a quarter of the way through the season..!
As always you can find Matchweek 8’s review – here
The current Kit Overview for Premier League is below, we now have all 60 shirts released… still waiting for confirmation of the shorts that will be used with Luton Town’s 3rd.
Matchweek 9 Fixtures
Total Kits Used
Kits Worn in Total – 60 (+4 from Matchweek 8)
Goalkeeper Kits – 47 (No Change from Matchweek 8)
New Kits this Matchweek
There was quite a few new kits on show this Matchweek, with four new looks seen!
Brighton & Hove Albion were used their Away Kit for the 2023/24 season for the first time, this was the first time they have used any change kit this season.
Luton Town used another different combination of their Away kit, this one paired with Home Shorts created the third different look on the road this season with their change shirt!
Manchester United used their Away kit for the second time, this time paired with bespoke alternative White Shorts and socks. We will talk about this kit a bit more in the Kit Highlights….
West Ham United used their Away for the fourth time this season, however this look was paired with Alternative light blue shorts, likely to be also available to use with Home Kit too.
Kit Highlights
As with most weeks we will start with Manchester United, who wore their 7th Kit Variation in the opening 9 games of the season, with their Away Kit with alternative shorts and socks at Sheffield United
There was some controversy around this shirt choice given the impacts to colourblind fans / viewers (impacting 12% of Male population, 5% Female population), arguably it could be considered that the 3rd All “Off-White” Kit may have been a more suitbale alternative given the prodomentaly red Sheffield United Shirt.
Although there was no “new” goalkeeper kit on show, there was an interesting detail highlighed by Museum of Jerserys with Manchester United’s goalkeeper kit, with André Onana has now worn both the Competition and Pro versions of the yellow Tiro 23, wearing the Pro version of the shirt this weekend
Details of differences can be seen below in the illistration from MoJ. There is also a difference in fit, with the competition version being a more form fitting shirt, could this be the reason behind the choice in style of shirt?
Luton Town have now used their Away Kit with three different combinations and yet to use it in its default All White look. Each variation has only been used the once but we have seen the following (SHIRT / SHORTS / SOCKS):
Away / Away / 3rd at Chelsea
Away / Home / Home at Everton
Away / Home / Away at Nottingham Forest
My favourite kit match up of the weekend was the game was the Claret / Blue Derby with Aston Villa and West Ham United, the use of the alternative shorts by West Ham and the claret details in collar / cuff of their away shirt gave a nice overall balance against Aston Villa in their home kit, very pleasing on the eye (for me anyway).
Kit Stats
Overall we have seen 13 Home Kits, 5 Away Kits and 2 3rd kits in action in this Matchweek.
However there were a few variations on show as we looked in the new kits of the week!
Arsenal in alternative red socks with their home kit for the 2nd time
Luton Town, Away with Home shorts
Manchester United, Away with alternative white shorts and socks
West Ham United, Away with alternative blue shorts
Liverpool are now the only team to wear just one kit this season, now 9 games since the start of season in their Home Kit, being at Home Next week means this is streak will continue for 10 games.
And again Everton have used just the one Goalkeeper kit
Kit Grid – Up to 24th October
Kit News
A very quiet week on the Premier League Kit News front.
The only story that peaked our interest was after signing for Luton Town Andros Townsend is going for a slight change of name on his shirt for his new club, adding “Sr” to as a tribute his son (Andros Junior).
That wraps up Matchweek 8 and a few new kits on show, some interesting kit highlights.
Let me know your thoughts in the comments below or at @Kit_Geek and Matchweek Kit Review will return next week.
The 13th Cricket World Cup will be “kicking off” on Thursday 5th October, being held in India who are hosting the tournament on their own for the first time, previously “Co-Hosting” in 1987, 1996 and 2011.
England will be kicking off the competition at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad where they will play New Zealand, who they beat by the “barest of margins” in the 2019 Final.
I want to take some time to look at the “ODI” (One Day International) colours worn by England through-out the tournament’s history, from 1992 up to the current 2023 competition and will rate each kit out of 5 Stars!
1975 to 1987
First, a quick overview of the those earlier tournaments, there were four competitions here with England hosting the first three (1975, 1979, 1983) and India / Pakistan hosting in 1987, These tournaments were all completed with Countries wearing the traditional whites, with the England Team barely changing their look over these 12 years!
1992: Australia / New Zealand
Welcome to modern cricket, coloured clothing, the return of South Africa, new ways to calculate rain effected matches… the Cricket World Cup was about to change!
The Biggest Change was the introduction of coloured kit for each country, there was a nice uniformity to the kit with all countries having the “rainbow” element across the shoulders of the shirt and names were introduced to the back of players shirts. The shirts were produced by Australia Manufacture Hogger Sports.
Each Country was a different colour and England were in Sky Blue, a colour used before the country in their tours of Australia and the ODI Competitions on those tours of the late 80s and early 90s.
England CWC Performance:
Runners Up
2nd in League Phase (9 Countries)
Total Games – 10 (6 Wins, 3 Lost, 1 No Result)
ODI Kit Rating – ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
1996: Pakistan / India / Sri Lanka
The second Cricket World Cup that saw a uniformity in the kit design of coloured clothing, with all Twelve (increased from 1992) Countries in the same “Template” with each country in it’s own colour. Again a “Rainbow” element was part of this design, this kits were produced by Rolex Hosiery a Delhi based clothing company and Wills was a brand of cigarettes made by the India Tobacco Company who sponsored the 96 World Cup – thank you to Andy Rockall (@Statto_74) for this information.
England had a darker shade of Blue for this tournament not quite a Royal Blue but certainly darker than England had been seen in before with coloured cricket clothing becoming more and more common place in the International matches, again there were player names on the shirts.
England CWC Performance:
Quarter-Finals
4th in Group B
Total Games – 6 (2 Wins, 4 Lost)
ODI Kit Rating – ⭐⭐⭐⭐
1999: England / Wales / Scotland / Ireland / Netherlands
The Cricket World Cup returned to England but this time with 5 Countries in Total hosting games across Europe. The 1999 Tournament was the final time that there was just one company making all the kits for the 12 countries participating in this competition, with Asics. The Japanese sports manufacturer produced bespoke kits for all Nations, each using elements of their National Crests into the shirt desgin.
Another first in Cricket World Cup History was Squad Numbers, which paired with player names on the shirts were used in this tournament, the numbers used were just 1-15 (as we see in Internation Football tournaments), rather than the free for all with numbers we see now.
England’s blue kit was another shade of blue, not as dark as the previous World Cup but it was the first time red was included in the kit as additional detail, something that would be part of the England kits for the next 12 years in World Cups.
England CWC Performance:
Group Stage
4th in Group A
Total Games – 5 (3 Wins, 2 Lost)
ODI Kit Rating – ⭐⭐⭐
2003: South Africa / Zimbabwe / Kenya
2003 Tournament was the first to be held in Africa and became the first tournament when countries could use their own Kit Suppliers in the competition, as well as players using their own numbers from ODI Cricket, so numbers 1-99 could be used by players.
Another first was that the Country names appeared on the front of the shirts, something seen in tournaments to this day and probably linked to the introduction of sponsors being front and centre of cricket playing shirts (as we see in football), having the country name across the chest and sponsor moving to the sleeve, reduced the visibility of sponsors to International Shirts.
England had moved on from Asics and were supplied by Admiral, the first time Admiral had supplied kits for England in a World Cup since the football team in 1982! A return to darker blue, probably the darkerst blue used up to that point by the team.
England CWC Performance:
Group Stage
4th in Pool A
Total Games – 6 (3 Wins, 3 Lost)
ODI Kit Rating – ⭐⭐
2007: West Indies
The Cricket World Cup Circus moved to The Caribbean for the first time and it was the second tournament where the England ODI kit was supplied by Admiral, meaning the classic football kit manufacturer made more appreances in the Cricket World Cup than the Football World Cup for the English National Team.
The red of this kit was a more prominent feature of this kit’s aesthic increasing more the previous two incarnations, this kit was paired with asymmetric red sleeves and trousers.
For me the most dull ODI Kit seen in World Cups for England and what would be the end of the England x Admiral Relationship.
England CWC Performance:
Super 8 Stage
2nd in Group C
5th in Super 8 Group
Total Games – 9 (5 Wins, 4 Lost)
ODI Kit Rating – ⭐
2011: Bangladesh / India / Sri Lanka
In the years between 2007 and 2011 World Cups the England team moved kit manufacturers and were now with Adidas, not necessarily known for the work in the cricketing world but produced some wonderful kits for the team, including a shift to a very dark shade of blue, a colour which was worn in the team’s first victory in an ICC International Tournament winning the T20 World Cup in 2010.
For this World Cup which returned to the Asian Continent, the dark blue was paired with Red Sleeves providing a new look in design for the English Team and one of the best seen in The Cricket World Cup.
England CWC Performance:
Quarter-Finals
3rd in Group B
Total Games – 7 (3 Wins, 3 Lost, 1 Tie)
ODI Kit Rating – ⭐⭐⭐⭐
2015: Australia / New Zealand
The pattern of going darker and darker with the shades of blue used by the English Team was broken in the 2015 Tournament in Australia and New Zealand, with a return to Royal Blue shirts, not seen since 1999. Again partnered with Adidas, the shirt also included a pattern of one the “Three Lions” of the National Crest, similar to what we have seen with 1992 England Football 3rd Shirt.
However, there was a change to overall look with the shirt paired with navy trousers and caps, to provide an overall two-tone blue ODI Kit, something not seen before in World Cups for team, another win for me of the England x Adidas years, in their final collaboration for World Cup ODI Kits.
England CWC Performance:
Group Stage
5th in Pool A
Total Games – 6 (2 Wins, 4 Lost)
ODI Kit Rating – ⭐⭐⭐
2019: England / Wales
A return to Sky Blue for England, who hosted the tournament for the 5th Time and manufacturers New Balance pulled off a wonderful homage to the kit worn in 1992 with a shoulder design reminciant to that kit but using various shades of blue with red trim to deliver one of the most iconic England kits in any sport (yes the result also might have something to do with that!!)
The Sky Blue look was only ever used for the World Cup, the shirt was paired with Navy Trousers after this tournament.
A first of this tournement was the introduction of “Alternative” Shirts / Kits for colour clashes, something not normally asscioated (or needed) with cricket, it did provide a new talking point for Kit Lovers like ourselves! India, one of the teams that changed when they played England.
England CWC Performance:
WINNERS
3rd in League Phase (10 Countries)
Total Games – 11 (8 Wins, 3 Lost)
ODI Kit Rating – ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
2023: India
For this World Cup the English Team will be doned in a Castore Kit, the 5th Kit Manufacturer since 1999 and their 3rd different one in the last 3 World Cups. It is a return to Royal Blue and back to some red detailing within the shirt and to give us an overall look that was reminiscent to what was seen in 2015.
It will be interesting to see if we see “Away” kits used in this tournament, and if England do use one would they use the current Red T20 Shirt which is paired with Navy Trousers as well.
As no performance stats can be shared yet, I will just provide my rating of the Kit.
ODI Kit Rating – ⭐⭐⭐
Cricket World Cup Kit Firsts…
1992 – Coloured Clothing and Player Names
1999 – Squad Numbers, 1 to 15
2003 – Countries own Kit Manufacturers
2003 – Player numbers could be anything between 1-99
2003 – Country Names on Front of shirts
2019 – Away Kits for Colour Clashes
2023 – ???
So there we have it, my deep dive into England Cricket ODI Kits of the World Cups, did my ratings line up with your views of these looks, let me know your thoughts and comments below or at @Kit_Geek
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