Tag: Kits

As regular readers will know I am looking to document the England Men’s National Football Team’s Kit History from 1960 to The Modern Day, creating some reference articles and documents for those that like to have quick reference to these things.

So far, I have the following:

• England Kit History: 1960-1969
• England Kit History: 1970-1979
• England Kit History (Reference Page)

England played 116 Games between 1980 and 1989, the most games in decade so far, saw The Three Lions wearing their Primary (Home) Kit 97 times and change Kits again just 19 times, the same number of times overall but only 16% of the total games.

The 80’s was also the decade where we started to see more regular changes in Kit Design.

1980 – 1981

The 1980s started with England in the same kits as they ended the 70s, however this was about to change with the second set of Admiral Kits introduced in May 1980 ready for the European Championships of that summer, the first tournament England qualified for in 10 years!

This Kit is one of England’s most well known and loved by the fans with it’s unique shoulder panels introducing more colour to the England shirt than had ever been seen before and huge leap from the Kit worn just six years before (Primary Kit of 1964-1974).

One thing to call out here was in the European Championship hosted by Italy, England wore a version of the Kit that was unbranded, to comply with UEFA laws of the time.

The team wore three different kit looks in 1980, with a return to all white look in the game against Romania, this was the first time in over 10 years since the team went for an all white combination, that was at The World Cup 1970 in Mexico!

1981 started with another all white look again and then in the next two fixtures both at Wembley (Romania and Brazil) saw the final outings of the first change kit from Admiral in it’s first use since 1979.

1982

1982 was a World Cup year and the first one England have played in for 12 years! It also gave us a new change kit from Admiral, the design mirrored the Primary Kit but used traditional red as the base colour. The first game it was used was the final warm up game before the World Cup in Spain against Finland, however it was its use in the World Cup that raised some eyebrows…

Against France in the opening game the shirt was paired with its default white shorts and white socks (from Primary Kit) for nice looking Kit Mash Up.

The interesting change was in the game against West Germany (2nd Group Phase of the competition) where there was slight change to the look of the shirt, with an extra white band appearing in the design.. also, this shirt carried the Admiral Branding!

Although not all players in the game had this alternative version….!

England meet West Germany in the Autumn of 1982 and went for another kit mash up, wearing change socks (red) with the Primary Kit… a look not seen since 1979, and just look at those wonderful numbers, might just be one of my favourites in England’s kit history.

1983 – 1984

In terms of kit usage 1983 was fairly uneventful, 11 games in total with the change kit used just once in its last outing was at Home to Greece in March, the final ever use of the famous kit design was in November when team played in Luxembourg, change was on its way…!

We are now into 1984, and a return of Umbro as the Kit Supplier for The Three Lions but this time carrying the “Double Diamond” branding for the first time, and they would provide kits for the next 29 years! The new look striped back the colour and design of the Admiral years and went for a more traditional look with a return of navy blue shorts! The kit was first worn against France in February 1984.

England toured South America in the summer of 1984 after failing to qualify for the Euros and this tour gave a first look of the new Umbro Change Kit, with the Secondary shorts and socks being worn at Brazil (remember that John Barnes goal) and Chile!

With the full Secondary kit being worn at Uruguay.

1985 – 1986

1985 gave us a return of the All White look again, mashing up Secondary shorts with Primary shirts / socks, this was worn in the game against United States that summer, not sure the light grey goalkeeper kit would be allowed to used with that kit nowadays!

The left over elements of primary / secondary kit were used in the game against Turkey later that year, with Secondary shirts and socks used with Primary shorts to give a red / navy / red look, one I particularly like England in! This also meant England went four games in a row with four different kit looks, the first time this had happened since 1974 and that included the change from Umbro to Admiral!

1986 was another World Cup year and like the last time tournament was held in Mexico there was an “airtex” version of the kit used for the tournament. By this team England had introduced a Sky Blue 3rd Kit, in the same template as the other two kits and for the actual tournament this kit was registered as the Secondary Kit for The Three Lions.

The only time elements of this kit were seen in action were in the Quarter-Finals against Argentina when they were worn with the Primary shirt to give us a unique white / sky blue / sky blue look, something never seen before or again!

This was the only alternative version of the England kits used that year!

1987 – 1989

1987 started with All white returning in a famous win at Spain, however by May of that year Umbro released their 2nd Primary Kit of their return for one of my favourite kit looks of all time.. first worn against Brazil! This would be the 4th and final official Primary Kit used in the 80s.

The change remained the same through 1987 was worn at West Germany and then for the final time in 1988 at Israel. The new change kit was introduced in Spring of that year and first worn against Colombia at Wembley in the lead up to Euro 88.

This was not the only change kit released, there was a 3rd kit in the same template. Regular readers and followers will know that this is my single favourite kit of all time and only got used in one U21 game, but we did get this wonderful Squad Picture of the Senior Team in this kit….. (so it had to be included)!

I have written a dedicated piece all about England in Sky Blue which you can find here.

These kits remain in place through 1989, were we got to see a couple of different kit mash ups, against Chile, white / white / red was used for the first time in 5 years!

This was followed by All White look against Sweden, however this game will be more remembered for how Terry Butcher’s kit looked at the end of the game…!

Breakdown per year – 116 Games in Total

• 1980 – 13 Games
  • 3 Primary Kit Variations
• 1981 – 9 Games
  • 2 Primary Kit Variations
  • 1 Secondary Kit Variation
• 1982 – 15 Games
  • 2 Primary Kit Variations
  • 3 Secondary Kit Variations
• 1983 – 11 Games
  • 1 Primary Kit Variation
  • 1 Secondary Kit Variation
• 1984 – 11 Games
  • 2 Primary Kit Variations
  • 1 Secondary Kit Variation
• 1985 – 12 Games
  • 2 Primary Kit Variations
  • 2 Secondary Kit Variations
• 1986 – 14 Games
  • 2 Primary Kit Variations
  • 1 Secondary Kit Variation
• 1987 – 8 Games
  • 3 Primary Kit Variations
  • 1 Secondary Kit Variation
• 1988 – 12 Games
  • 1 Primary Kit Variation
  • 2 Secondary Kit Variations
• 1989 – 11 Games
  • 3 Primary Kit Variations
  • 1 Secondary Kit Variations

Well, that is the 1980s completed, 116 games in total, different kit looks and changes, four official primary and secondary kits used and even the introduction of 3rd Kits! I will return with a look back at the 90s soon!

Let me know your thoughts and comments below or over at @Kit_Geek and a reminder that the overall visual page of the England Kit History is now also live on the site here

Resources for this article / project

England Football Online

Historical Football Kits

True Colours – Volume 2 and International Kits