On Tuesday 12th September Scotland will host England at Hampden Park in the 150th Anniversary Heritage Match to mark the first meeting between the two sides in 1872. This is part of the year of events from the Scottish FA to celebrate the history of the association.
The original match is recognised by FIFA as football’s first-ever international match, at The West of Scotland Cricket Club in Glasgow, in front of a crowd of 4000 People.
The kits of the first match set the tone of majority of the 115 meetings between the two nations with Scotland in dark blue shirts. (however, not the origin of the blue Scotland shirt) and England wore white shirts. England wore caps, while the Scots wore red cowls.
When you think of England v Scotland in terms of kits the traditional look is often considered as the following…
Scotland – Navy Blue Shirts / White Shorts / Red Socks (occasionly Navy Socks with red turnovers)
England – White Shirts / Navy Blue Shorts / White Socks
However….
As part of the qualification of the 2018 World Cup, Scotland and England were drawn together in Group F and the Kit Designs of that time from Nike (England) and Adidas (Scotland) were the following…
Scotland’s Primary Kit was paired with white sleeves and navy socks, with England’s Primary Kit having “Sky Blue” sleeves and Red socks… and created what was considered to be a sleeve clash between the two kits
So when the two teams met in their group games, secondary kits were used by the Away Country to give a new look for both games of this most historic of International fixtures…
On 11th November 2016, the match at Wembley (3-0 to England) gave us Scotland in their Pink Secondary Kit, with Black Shorts and Socks…
The return fixture at Hampden Park on June 10th 2017 (finishing 2-2), saw England in their secondary kit paired with Red Home socks to give an all red look for The Three Lions.
Both fixtures proved controversial in terms of kits, traditionalists on both sides expressed their disappointment on the choice of kits of the countries, however given the kit guidelines of the time there was no option for the primary kits to be used in this campaign.
An “honourable” mention to when the two countries met in Group D of Euro 2020 at Wembley on 18th June 2021, in the goal-less draw the teams wore just a single colour each, with England in All White and Scotland in All Navy, this due to the default Scotland look being all Navy at this Tournament, but those complaining at what happened in 2016/17 should take comfort in the fact that both nations wear in their Primary Shirt Colours.
For the match on Tuesday 12th September 2023, Scotland will wear their special 150th Anniversary Kit which was first worn in the Euro 2024 qualifying match against Cyprus on 25th March 2023, this will be the second and final appearence of this quite wonderful kit.
England, although wearing their current default Primary Kit from Nike for the actual match, they will be wear a one-off Pre-Match Shirt containing the National Crest worn in 1872…. many fans commenting that should this kit be worn in the actual game… I will let you decide your opionion on that one!
There we have it, England v Scotland, not looking like England v Scotland, let me know your thoughts in the comments below and of course all shares of this post are appreciated.
Matchweek 4 is now complete and we have made past the Transfer Deadline Day and to the first International Break of the season, all 20 teams were in action this weekend and again we have some Kit talking points.
This is the fourth weekly review of the kits in the Premier League, you can find last week’s here
The current Kit Overview for Premier League is below, we now have 58 out of the 60 Kits released so far… just 2 to go…Chelsea and Luton Town 3rd Kits.
Matchweek 4 Fixtures
Total Kits Used
Kits Worn in Total – 42 (+5 from Matchweek 3)
Goalkeeper Kits – 40 (+5 from Matchweek 3)
New Kits this Matchweek
There were another 5 new kit looks on show this weekend…
Aston Villa – Default Away Kit Look
AFC Bournemouth – 3rd Kit
Fulham – 3rd Kit
Manchester United – Away Kit
Newcastle United – Away Kit with Home socks (white)
5 New Goalkeeper Kits:
Burnley (Pink)
Manchester United (Yellow)
Sheffield United (Black)
Tottenham Hotspur (Yellow)
West Ham United (Yellow)
Kit Highlights
Two teams, Aston Villa and Manchester United have worn 4 kits in the opening 4 fixtures of the season…
Aston Villa, in two home kit looks (different socks) and two away kit (different shorts).
Manchester United in three Home Kit Looks (Alternative Shorts / Socks used) and 3rd Kit.
Staying with Manchester United and their game with Arsenal once again brought up the issue of “red / green” kit clashes and their impact on colour blind football fans, fellow Co-Host of Football Kit Podcast Denis from Musuem of Jerseys showed the impact of this on those fans (1 in 12 Male and 1 in 200 Female) with this powerful graphic to show the kit clash.
My favourite kit match up of the weekend was the game between Manchester City and Fulham, Fulham in their 3rd kit for the first time and together with Manchester City’s home kit gave a nice balance of colours on show.
Kit Stats
Overall we have seen 13 Home Kits, 5 Away Kits and for the first time this season more than one 3rd kit, with 2 seen in action. There were just two kit variations used, both away kits.
Tottenham Hotspur who used home socks with their away for the 2nd time this season
Newcastle United who also used home socks (white) in their first use of their away kit in Premier League
There are still four teams who have only worn 1 kit this season
Brighton and Hove Albion
Burnley
Chelsea
Liverpool
And just two teams who have used just 1 Goalkeeper kit
Brighton and Hove Albion
Everton
This means that Brighton and Hove Albion are the only team this season to use the same kit look for whole team in the opening four games of the season.
Kit Grid – Up to 28th August
Kit News
There were four kit launches over the past week.
Chelsea Away kit, an interesting black kit with blue pattern.
Everton 3rd Kit, part of the 100 Year Hummel celebrations and many of their teams having verisons of their famous “Mexico” template and return of the simple “Prince Rupert’s Tower” which was also seen on their 3rd Kit from last season.
Fulham 3rd Kit, it had been rumoured all summer that Fulham would use their away kit from last season as their 3rd kit for this year, so the release of a new third kit took a lot people by surprise but have delivered a really nice black kit with pink details and will have alternative pink shorts and socks for plenty of kit options…. interesting it’s a different shade of pink seen in the away kit, I would have thought similar shades would have been used to mix / match away and 3rd kits.
Tottenham Hotspur 3rd kit, an interesting choice of colour Spurs’ 3rd kit this season, described as “natural tone” in colour, it appears to be almost a pale brown which is a colour that has some history with Tottenham kits.
Finally we got confirmation from last week’s teasing information that Adidas will return to produce Newcastle United kits from next season, news that has seemed to delight fans and kit lovers alike.
There we have it, all of Kit thoughts from this weekend.
Let me know your thoughts in the comments below or at @Kit_Geek and Matchweek 4 Review will be published after next round of games after the International Break
The 2023 / 24 Premier League Season has now kicked off and as mentioned here I will be taking a more in depth look into the Kits each Matchweek from my usual update via Social Media.
The current Kit Overview for Premier League is below, we have seen 50 out of the 60 Kits released so far…
Matchweek 1 Fixtures
Total Kits Used
Kits Worn in Total – 20
Goalkeeper Kits – 20
New Kits this Matchweek
Of course all kits this week are being used for the first time this season, more details will appear in this section as we move through the season and new kit looks / variations are used.
Kit Highlights
The New Premier League Namesets got their first full outings and visually worked well I believe, they certainly appeared to be a lot bigger and clearer than their predecessors, so a thumbs up from me on those changes (apart from the bespoke colours, I would still love to see more colour options available to teams).
There were two Kit Mash ups used in the opening weekend of fixtures…
Firstly Crystal Palace who combined their 3rd Kit with their white Away Kit Socks, this look giving two shades of Blue on the kit, with the lighter shade of blue being used with the Away Kit this season.
The second Mash Up was with Tottenham Hotspur, who not only launched their beautiful Navy Blue Away Kit this weekend, they then used it at Brentford with Home Socks (White)
There was a potentially a third Kit Mash Up used with Aston Villa using alternative “Claret” Socks to their trip to Newcastle United, however we do not know what their 3rd kit looks like, so not sure if this is a mash up or just use of alternative home socks, my feeling is this will be an alternative sock but time will tell!
Some more investigation is needed on Brighton & Hove Albion’s Goalkeeper Kit, the black kit worn by Jason Steele this weekend which appears to be same black kit used in the 2022/23 Season, its been difficult to get a clear image of the kit to be 100% certain… so watch this space about this one!
Kit Stats
Overall we have seen 15 Home Kits (12 default and 1 variations), 4 Away Kits (3 default and 1 variation) and just the one 3rd kit used in these opening games
Kit Grid – Up to 15th August
Kit News
In the coming week we expect to see the lauch of Arsenal’s 3rd Kit which has been well documented as a return to the green / navy sleeves, which is rumoured to launched on Friday 18th August 2023.
That is this Premier League Matchweek Kit Review, 10 games down… 370 to go!!
Let me know your thoughts in the comments below or at @Kit_Geek and Matchweek 2 Review will be published after next weekend’s games.
I like to look at Football Kits and Kit Stats in many ways, one way that I wanted to revisist for the previous seasons was a Top Trump format.
So for those of a certain age will know all about Top Trumps, so for this set I have looked at the kits of each of the 20 Premier League Teams, Home, Away and Third kits and stats around these kits, the stats I have picked are the following:
League Games Worn – How many league games was the kit (and variations) worn in 22 / 23 Season
Variations of Kit – The number of variations of that kit were worn in 22 / 23 Season
Games Won – Number of games won wearing the kit(s)
Points Won – Numner of points won wearing the kit(s)
Points per game – The average number of points per game (total points / games worn) per kit
I have highlighted the “Top Trump” in each section in “Gold and Black”.
The cards by each team….
There they are, 60 Top Trump cards… any surprises there, Arsenal’s points per game in their 3rd Kit, Manchester United having joint highest points scored in a Kit.
What would you consider as the overall “Top Trump” card, Manchester City Home Kit or something else?
Are there any other stats that you think I should haved used for future Top Trump looks at Football Kits.
Please let me know over at @Kit_Geek on Twitter or in the comments below.
You can find full kit review for the 2022/23 Premier League Season here and last season’s Top Trumps here
The 2022 / 23 Premier League season ended on Sunday 28th May 2023 with Manchester City securing their 3rd Premier League in a row with 3 games still to play. At the foot of the table, Everton survivied with a final day victory which means that Leicester City and Leeds United will be joining already relegated Southampton.
As the season has ended, I will follow my tradition of taking a more in depth look into the kits worn through this season, some stats and information behind these kits.
Kit Stats
760 Kits worn (380 Games)
Home Kit used 73% of the time (67% Default, 6% Variations)
Away Kit used 15% of the time (12% Default, 3% Variations)
3rd Kit used 12% of the time (9% Default, 3% Variations)
109 different Kit Variations worn by the 20 teams
Home Kits – 43.1% of total Kit Variations used:
25 Home Kits worn (5 teams wearing 23/24 Home Kit this season)
22 Home Kit variations used
Away Kits – 29.4% of total Kit Variations used:
19 Away Kits worn
13 Away Kit variations used
Aston Villa did not use registered Away kit, wearing 2 different variation
3rd Kits – 26.6% of total Kit Variations used:
19 3rd Kits used
10 3rd Kit variations used
Manchester United did not use registered 3rd kit, wearing alternative shorts
Goalkeeper Kits:
68 Goalkeeper used
2 Teams (Liverpool and Manchester City) in 5 different Goalkeeper Kits
4 Teams in 4 Goalkeeper Kits (Arsenal / Leicester City / Liverpool in 23/24 GK Kits)
Overview of Kits Used
Kit Overview
Kit Log, Match 1 to Match 19
Kit Log, Match 20 to Match 38
Kit Variations
Looking in more detail at the Kit Variations worn by the Premier League Teams:
Two Teams in 9 Kit variations
Manchester United – Home Kit x6, Away Kit x2, 3rd Kit
Newcastle United – Home Kit x3, Away Kit x3, 3rd Kit x2, 4th Kit
Two Teams in 8 Kit variations
Leeds United – Home Kits x2, Away Kit x2, 3rd Kit x4
Southampton – Home Kit x4, Away Kit x3, 3rd Kit
West Ham United in 7 Kit variations – Home Kit x3, Away Kit x2, 3rd Kit x2
Arsenal – Home Kit x2 (including 23/24 Kit), Away Kit x2, 3rd Kit
Liverpool – Home Kit x2 (including 23/24 Kit), Away Kit, 3rd Kit x2
Four Teams in 4 Kit variations
Four Teams in 3 Kit variations
Most variations of Home Kit – 6
Manchester United
Most variatons of Away Kit – 3
Newcastle United
Southampton
Most variations of 3rd Kit – 4:
Leeds United
Six Teams did not wear any Kit Variations, just default Home, Away or 3rd Kits
AFC Bournemouth
Brentford
Leicester City (Including 23/24 Home Kit)
Manchester City (Including 23/24 Home Kit)
Nottingham Forest
Wolverhampton Wanderers
Most worn Home Kit – 31, Wolverhampton Wanderers
Most worn Away Kit – 9, Nottingham Forest
Most worn 3rd Kit – 9, Brentford and Manchester City
Most worn 4th Kit – 1, Newcastle United
Liverpool and Manchester City used 5 Goalkeeper Kit variations including 23/24 GK Kits
Most worn GK Kit – 31, Tottenham Hotspur (Yellow GK Kit)
Kit Grid
Below is a graphic of what kits where worn against what teams, its one that I share on a weekly basis on my Twitter Account – @Kit_Geek
Kit Tables
One area I like to look at is a team’s performance in their kit, I have created the below tables (Home, Away and 3rd Kit), all shirt variations are included in each section, e.g. Manchester United’s 6 Home Kit variations are all included in the “Home Kit” Table and based on “Points per Game” used ratio.
Home Kits
No surprises at the top of table, with Manchester City heading the table up with 2.48 points per game in their Home Kit, followed by Arsenal (2.31) and Manchester United (2.21). Both Manchester Clubs scoring 62 Points in Home Kits.
Chelsea can sum up their disappointing season by scoring less 1 point per game (0.93), only managing 28 points in their 30 games in their home kit, one of four teams (Everton, Leicester City and Southampton) in managing less than 1 point per game.
Away Kits
Newcastle United’s Champions League qualifying season was supported by their performance in their Navy Away kit, worn in 3 different variations The Magpies managed 2.67 points per game in their 6 games.
Arsenal scored the most points in an Away Kit, they managed 18 points in their two away kit looks which was used across 10 games in total.
Only 7 teams managed more than 1 point per game, with Everton who only secured their Premier League status on the final game scored 1.4 points per game in their away kit and remained unbeated in their two away kit looks this season.
Fulham, who used their away kit 3 times, did not manage to score any points in these games.
3rd Kits
Rumour has it that Mikel Arteta did not like the Arsenal Pink 3rd kit this season, however in its two appearences they won both games giving the kit a maximum 3 points per game.
Champions Manchester City, who were the joint highest wearers of a 3rd kit this season score 20 points in total, finishing 2.22 points per game.
Fulham were more productive in their 3rd kit, were the 4th highest points per game scorers in 3rd kits, with a total of 9 points won in 5 games wearing 2 variations of their 3rd Kit.
There were 3 teams that did not score any points in their 3rd Kit (Leeds United x5, Southampton, x5 and Nottingham Forest x2).
Summary and Highlights
There were plenty of discussion points through the season with the kits used, some of the highlights for me are the following:
Lets start with Manchester United, who wore a staggering 6 variations of their Home Kit, the key to this was the socks… they started the season using alternative black away socks and it was not until teams returned from the World Cup on 27th December where the default Home Socks were finally used… see the difference in the socks below? One of the Kit Mysteries of 2022/23 Season
The other four looks for Manchester United were…
As briefly mentioned above, another Kit Mystery for the season is Arsenal 3rd Kit, initally popular with fans when it was first released, however it only made two appearences this season (both victories) and was used in two of Arsenal’s first three games, so its final use in the Premier League was on 20th August in the game against Bournemouth… rumour was the Mikel Arteta did not like the kit but there is no confirmation of that!
Newcastle United ended the season unbeaten in their change kits, they played a total of 12 games in change kits.
6 games in Away Kit (3 Variations)
5 games in 3rd Kit (2 Variations)
1 game in 4th Kit
Leeds United, ended the season with the most variations of a 3rd Kit, using 4 different looks in just 5 games unfortunatley not scoring a point in any of these looks but as a Kit Geek, I did enjoy they use of this kit!
This season was the first since 2019/20 where a 4th Kit was used. However Newcastle United’s 4th was not a traditonal 4th Kit but a training shirt that was matched prepared and partnered with Home Shorts and Socks, the reason being that their designated kits of this season were all considered to clash when they visited Brighton & Hove Albion in just the second game week of the season and their first away game!
Crystal Palace did not use their 3rd Kit in the Premier League in 2021/22 season and it took until their 23rd game of this season against Brentford in February to wear one this time, a total of 651 days and 64 League games between wearing 3rd Kits (both Black with Red / Blue details).
There were some interesting Kit Mash Ups used this season…
Arsenal, using grey Goalkeeper Socks with their Black Away kit… a look they used three times against Manchester United, Liverpool and Brentford!
When Manchester City visited Crystal Palace, their goalkeeper socks were considered a clash with Crystal Palace’s, so Ederson took to the field in white outfied away socks of Palace!!
Leeds United, followed a similar look to Arsenal when they played Manchester United with their Goalkeeper look using grey socks with their black keeper kit, they wore this look in both games against Manchester United… which were in the space of 4 days!
There we have it, The Premier Leagues’s End of Season Kit report for 2022/23, please let me know your favourite kit highlights from this division on the comments below or over at Twitter – @Kit_Geek
The 2022/23 League Two Season came to a close on Monday 8th May 2023, with Leyton Orient securing the title well before the end of the season on 22nd April, Stevenage were runners up with a remarkable turnaround from their previous season and the final automatic spot being secured by Northampton Twon on the final day of the season. Stockport County, Carlisle United, Bradford City and Salford City will compete in the Playoffs for the final promotion place.
I wanted to take a look at the kits worn during the league stage of the season (not including Play Offs).
Kit Stats
1104 Kits worn (552 Games)
93 Different Kit variations used by the 24 teams.
Home Kits – 38% of Kit variations used
26 Home Kits worn, includes 2 23/24 kits
9 Home Kit variations worn
Away Kits – 34% of variations used
24 Away Kits worn
8 Away Kit variations worn
3rd Kits – 27% of variations worn
20 3rd Kits worn
5 3rd Kit variations worn
Special Kit – 1% of variations worn
1 Special Kit worn
Overview of Kits Worn
Kit Overview
Kit Log – Match 1 to Match 15
Kit Log – Match 16 to Match 30
Kit Log – Match 31 to Match 46
Kit Variations
Looking in more detail at the kit variations worn by the League Two Teams
3 Teams wore 6 Kit Variations
Crawley Town – Home x2, Away x3, 3rd
Hartlepool United – Home x3, Away x2, 3rd
Walsall – Home x2, Away x3, 3rd
3 Teams wore 5 Kit Variations
Barrow AFC – Home x2 (Inc 23/24 Home), Away x2, 3rd
Rochdale – Home x3, Away, 3rd
Salford City – Home, Away, 3rd x3
8 Teams wore 4 Kit Variations
8 Teams in just 3 Kit Variations
2 Teams in just 2 Kit Variations
Most Variations of Home Kit – 3 Kits
Hartlepool United: White/Blue – White – White (with hoop) / White/Blue – White – White / White/Blue – White – Red
Rochdale: Blue/Black – White – Black / Blue/Black – Black – Black / Blue/Black – White – White
Most Variations of Away Kit – 3 Kits
Crawley Town: White – Black – White / All White / White – Black – Black
Walsall: All White / White – White – Red / White – Red – White
Most Variations of 3rd Kit – 3 Kits
Salford City: White – Black – Black / White – Black – White / All White
Sutton United in 4 different kits with no variations
7 Teams only used Home, Away kits and 3rd Kits with no variations
2 Teams in just Home and Away Kits
Most worn Home Kit – 39, Mansfield Town, 38 default look and once with away socks
Most worn Away Kit – 16, Stevenage
Most worn 3rd Kit – 10, Swindon Town, 9 default look and once with home shorts
Kit Grid
Below is a graphic of what kits where worn against what teams, its one that I share on a weekly basis on my Twitter Account – @Kit_Geek
Kit Highlights and Summary
In 2022/23 League Two teams wore 93 Kits, this was an increase in the number kits compared to last season where 86 Kits were worn, although there was an increase season on season this was lowest in English Leagues this season. League Two was also the only league which had two teams in just two kits (Home and Away), Colchester United and Stevenage. Stevenage did use a special kit in their FA Cup victory against Aston Villa but this was never used for League games.
Hartlepool United were one of two teams that wore their home kit in 3 different variations, however two of these looks used white socks. They went through a period during the season, from 31st December to 3rd April where their home kit look was with just plain white socks rather than the default home socks with contained red bands and Errea branding within them. Supply Issues, the Kit-Man’s choice, one of the Kit Mysteries of 2022/23 season!
There was just the one “Special” Kit on show this season, and that was Sutton United’s 125th Anniversary Kit which saw The Us turn out in a red kit with white shorts and red socks, their orignal club colours from 125 years ago. This was part of a run that of games that had Sutton in 4 completely different kits in 4 games.
Grimsby Town’s home kit caused some teams in League one some issues with socks this season, Grimsby’s default look uses red socks which meant that 5 teams used alternative socks when playing against The Mariners..
Carlisle United, wore their Away kit with Home socks…
Crawley Town in Home Kit with Away socks…
Crewe Alexander in Home Kit with 3rd shorts and socks…
Doncaster Rovers in their 3rd kit with Away socks…
Walsall in Home kit with Away socks…
Carlisle United only had Home and Away kits this season but used these kits to mix a match two additional looks, as mentioned above using one look to face Grimsby Town and then using Home Shirts, Away shorts and socks against Bradford City
Mansfield Town were one of a number teams across the EFL to use their kit to raise awareness for a charity. The Stags wore the club’s light blue away socks with amber shirts and blue shorts as a display of support to mark Down’s Syndrome Awareness Week, and the Down’s Syndrome Association’s #LotsOfSocks campaign.
On the final day of the season, two teams wore their 2023/24 Home Kits… Barrow AFC wore their new Puma Home Kit and Newport County debuted their kit from VX3 who are replacing Hummel as their manufacturer.
There we have it, League Two’s End of Season Kit report for 2022/23, please let me know your favourite kit highlights from this division on the comments below or over at Twitter – @Kit_Geek
The FA Cup, the oldest football competition in the world, first kicked off over 150 years ago in November 1871 has now completed its full Second Round of the 2022 / 23 season.
The second round was made up of 40 Teams made up from 29 League One and League Two teams and 11 teams from the Non-League English Football Pyramid, with Alvechurch FC being the lowest rank team in the round who play in the 7th Tier (Southern League Premier Division Central).
Second Round Kit Log
The 40 Teams were provided by 19 Kit Manufactures, giving us a wide range of kit makers to look at.
Overall Macron produced the most kits in this round with seven teams, Puma second with five teams and third were Hummel with four teams (all EFL Clubs). There were ten manufactures that only provided the one team in this round, ths included Adidas (Accrington Stanley) and Canterbury (Buxton).
Taking a look at this per round, shows there were two manufactures lost from the First Round games.
Second Round Replay – Kit Log
There were only two replays in this round and of these only Gillingham’s match against Dagenham & Redbridge gave us a different kit match up from the original game.
Kit Highlights
I want to call out a few Kit Highlights from the total 22 Second Round games.
Gillingham – In their first game with Dagenham & Redbridge then went for a Kit Mash Up combining their Home Shirt with Away shorts and socks, to give a look which is a more a “traditional” Gills look of Blue / White / White that was used by the club until the mid 90s.
MK Dons – Another team that have combined kits to create a Mash Up, this with their home shirt and 3rd shorts / socks for white and black look, one that they have now used a few times this season but one that is not often seen by the League One Club.
Chippingham Town – One of the Non League sides who played in the Second Round, also one of the only teams that were the only representaton for their kit manufacturer. Uhlsport, a classic name in football are often seen in the England from an outfield Kit point of view but their home kit for Chippingham Town is a stylish one, with a nice use of the “yolk” in the shirt to give us something different in terms of kit aesthetics.
Let me know your favourite kits from this season’s FA Cup Second Round at either the comments section below or over at Twitter – @Kit_Geek
The FA Cup, the oldest football competition in the world, first kicked off over 150 years ago in November 1871 has now completed its full First Round of the 2022 / 23 season.
The first round was made up of 80 Teams made up from the 48 League One and League Two teams and then 32 teams from the Non-League English Football Pyramid, with Alvechurch FC being the lowest rank team in the round who play in the 7th Tier (Southern League Premier Division Central).
First Round Kit Log
The 80 Teams were provided by 21 Kit Manufactures, with 4 manufacturers only supplying a non league team and not a league team, this give us kit lovers plenty of different kits to admire.
Manufacturers
Puma supplied the most kits in this round with 13 kits, 7 from League teams and 6 from Non League teams, Macron supplying 11 kits with 9 League Teams and 2 Non League Teams
There were 8 Manufacturers that provided just 1 kit in the First Round, 6 suppling League Teams and 2 supplying Non League Teams.
Kit Nerd will notice the likes of Kappa, Canterbury and Uhlsport supplying kits in the competition, all for Non League Teams.
First Round Replay – Kit Log
There 7 Replays in the First Round, only AFC Fylde v Gillingham gave us a repeat in kit match ups from their first ties.
Kit Highlights
I want to call out a few Kit Highlights from the total 47 First Round games.
Oxford United – The game against Woking was originally postponed due to a Waterlogged Pitch but they played each other on 16th November saw Oxford United in a Kit Mash up not seen in the League One this season, with white away shorts paired with 3rd yellow socks to give Home, Away, 3rd Kit Mash up.
Kings Lynn Town – Pink and Yellow is a combination not often seen on the pitch, so when Kings Lynn Town defeated Doncaster Rovers in their away kit, its worthing calling out… a nice combination of colours.
York City – One of the most popular kits of the 2022 / 23 season in the Kit Community, so lets celebrate seeing it in action in the FA Cup
Buxton – In their all Non League tie with Merthyr Town, we saw Buxton in their home kit manufactured by Canterbury, someone who we have not seen in the football world for a few years now and one we will see again as Buxton moved through to Round 2.
Let me know your favourite kits from this season’s FA Cup First Round at either the comments section below or over at Twitter – @Kit_Geek
Fans designing their kits is something that we have seen several times over the past few seasons but Bromley FC’s new 3rd has caught my eye with something a little different.
During the Summer The National League side asked supporters to design their new third kit for the 2022 / 23 season, a shortlist of six was presented to supporters to vote for.
Their choice was from Bromley FC supporter Marc Eade’s whose design pays tribute to music legend, David Bowie who is originally from the area
David Bowie shirs are always popular in Fantasy Kit / Shirt Designs, so being able to see one in action for real is something I am looking forward too.
The kit will be worn for the first time on Saturday 12th November 2022 in the National League Game against Halifax Town at Hayes Lane, Bromley FC will also be dedicating the day to the launch of the shirt with a several Bowie related activities during the day!
Third kit and other items including a fridge magnet, jumper, mug and range of posters will be available
Bowie Bolt, normally displayed at Contingent Works in Bromley, will be at the ground for the day
Bowie dedicated match-day magazine
The Bowie Experience performing live from 6pm
The design not only gives us a bespoke kit, the choice of green give the team a perfect alternative to their home kit (all white) and away (all red). a great balance across all three kits.
Congratulation to Marc Eade on his winning design and all the details about the kit and events around the launch can be found at Bromley FC’s site here
Some of the Fantasy Kits and shirs we have seen over the years that pay homage to David Bowie:
Let me know your thoughs over a @Kit_Geek on Twitter or in the comments below.
After months of speculation, rumour and DH Gate Knock offs, we have now seen the release of the Nike Kits for England for 2022/23, in effect the World Cup 2022 Kits.
I have thoughts…. I will always save final judgement of a kit when it is seen in action for the first time, however I did want to take some time and have look at the Kits as they have been presented to us so far!
Home
The home kit at first glance takes a lot of influence from the Umbro Home Kit worn between 1995-96, famously known as the kit worn at Euro 96, this is mainly due to the introduction of a light (almost turquoise) blue as one of the key detail of the kit.
The biggest element of change and controversy to the shirt, is with the shoulders and the introduction of blue in this part of the shirt, here is where for me the shirt takes more influence from 1980-83 Admiral shirt, worn at the 1982 World Cup… interesting one of the most loved shirts in England kit history but this one has initially not gone down as well! It’s an interesting design choice and something different in an England kit, these are always positive elements in my eyes, so I am falling on the side “Love It” of what is going to a “Marmite” shirt for many people.
The shorts are a lighter shade of blue that we have seen with previous kits, although still on the darker shade of the blue spectrum there is a significant change. Matched with the light blue trim, again giving us those Euro 96 vibes.
Away
Immediately, thoughts go to 1990 and the away kit of the time… in fact that was the registered away shirt between 1990 and 1993, however was not used at Italia 90 and was not worn in 1993… but back to the present…
The shirt is clearly an adaptation of that Umbro shirt, with changes in the colour elements and for me this is what makes the kit a lot more interesting, the way that the light blue element seen in the home kit is also used in the away, the National Crest being blue really works for me the trim in the navy blue collar and the Nike “Tick” all taking this blue and creating something new in England’s Kit History.
Red shorts, returning with the red shirt means a return to all red as the default away look, which will be the first time this is the case since 1994-95 Away kit, yes we have seen all red many times of the years but this has always been alternative shorts used.
My final thoughts, these are interesting kits whether you like them or not one new in design with more subtle nods to the past, the other is a more traditional looking shirt and possible playing to “crowd” as an almost direct copy of kit it is paying tribute too, in my opinion treating these kits as a set Nike have given us a balance to their offering for their latest offering to England National Team and I look forward to seeing them in action.
One last thing… if you do not like them, their lifecycle will be fairly short… there will new kits in 18 months’ time!
Let me know your thoughts over at @Kit_Geek or in the comments below.
Football Kit Geek - @Kit_Geek 