England Football Online
Contact Us Page Last Updated 9 August 2022
Goalkeepers' Uniforms:

1974 Yellow
1976 Blue

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England's Uniforms


 

Many thanks to
Michelle Cocklin, Rob Freeman and Selwyn Rowley

England's Home Uniform
October to March

1965 Home Uniform
1970 Home Uniform
1976 Away Uniform
1980 Home Uniform
 
 

font supplied by Daniel Gellatley

P 44 W 29 D 8 L 7 F 84:A 31
75% successful

Description

 
  • White long or short-sleeved shirt. Deep white v-neck, with a winged collar, edged with a red and royal-blue stripe. Red and royal-blue stripe from neck down to cuffs along each sleeve seam. Red and royal-blue striped cuffs, shortened to two of each colour stripe on short sleeves. Emblem on left breast on a white embroidered patch. Ironed-on yellow or white logo on right breast, overlaid with 'Admiral' in navy-blue (black on white logo) title-case lettering at the bottom, all within a navy-blue border (black border on white logo). Red numbers on back in standard Admiral font.
  • Royal blue shorts, with white drawstring, and a white and red stripe down the seams. Ironed-on yellow or white logo on left thigh, overlaid with 'Admiral' in navy-blue (black on white logo) title-case lettering at the bottom, all within a navy-blue border (black border on white logo).
  • White socks, with red and royal blue-stripe across tops.
Variations

Because each player was given a choice of sleeve length, and later shirt material, for each game - choices that were also changed at half-time by a number of players - it is virtually impossible to define exactly what each player wore in each half of every international. Video and photographic evidence is simply not clear enough for all. It is possible, however, to identify the sleeve lengths worn in every game (see below) and also the games where each variation was introduced. Throughout the first season (1974-75), it appears that players wore identical uniforms at the start of each match, in terms of Admiral logos and shirt material (though sleeve lengths could be different, as of course, numbers were). The entire team probably also wore the lightweight shirts throughout the American Bicentennial Tournament in 1976. For the other games, the following variations were observed:

  • Yellow vinyl Admiral logos were worn on the shirts and shorts for the first two games in which this kit was worn.
  • For the next two games (against West Germany and Cyprus) white vinyl logos were worn on the shirts and yellow vinyl logos on the shorts at the beginning of the games.

  • Against West Germany in 1975, every outfield player, except Alan Ball and Colin Bell, wore yellow vinyl logos on their shirts for the second half (Kevin Keegan changed from long to short sleeves).
  • At the beginning of each of the four games played in May 1975, plus the following match, four months later, against Switzerland, England wore short-sleeved shirts of a new lighter material, similar to Umbro's Airtex shirts. The Admiral shirt logos were yellow, embroidered, with a royal-blue border, and with 'Admiral' overlaid in royal blue, whilst on the shorts, they were in white vinyl.
  • In the match against Wales in 1975, the Admiral logos worn on the shirts did not include the 'Admiral' lettering.
  • In the next match, against Scotland, three days later, there were no Admiral logos worn on the shirts at all.
  • Against Czechoslovakia in Bratislava, in 1975, for both an abandoned game and when it was replayed the following day, over half of the team (including Colin Bell, Mick Channon, Allan Clarke, Gerry Francis, Kevin Keegan and Malcolm Macdonald) wore lightweight shirts with no emblem on the left breast. All of the team wore yellow Admiral logos on the right breast and white Admiral logos on the shorts.

 

Kevin Keegan with the shirt that he wore in Bratislava (picture kindly supplied by Richard Becheley).

  • White vinyl Admiral logos were worn on the shirts against Portugal in 1975, and both white and yellow embroidered and vinyl versions continued to be worn throughout the period, often differing in the same match. When lightweight shirts were worn, the Admiral logos were always yellow and embroidered, as they were on all shirts from 1978.
  • Against Italy in New York, in 1976, Mick Channon, captaining his country for the first time, wore a shirt without an emblem for the second half, and scored twice.
  • From the 1977 British Championship onwards, the seams on England's shorts had a narrower white and red stripe, though the older, wider stripes were also worn until the end of the year, when the white Admiral logos last appeared on the shorts.

  • England introduced a new number font to the red away shirt in April 1978, but it was only worn in the following month's British Championship on the home shirt for squad numbers 18 (Tony Woodcock), 19 (Stuart Pearson) and 20 (Paul Mariner):

  • From the beginning of the 1978-79 season, the new font was worn by every player.
Most Appearances 35 - Dave Watson (1 sub)
33 - Kevin Keegan
23 - Sir Trevor Brooking (3 sub), Mick Channon (1 sub), Mick Mills (2 sub)
  • 39 players won their first cap in the shirt, including Bryan Robson, who went on to make ninety appearances, whilst Kenny Sansom made 86 and Ray Wilkins 84.
  • 33 players won their last cap in the shirt, including Alan Ball (his 72nd appearance), Colin Bell (his 48th) and Channon (his 46th).
  • 17 players won all of their caps in this shirt, including Kevin Beattie, with nine appearances.
Top Scorers 13 - Mick Channon (3 pens.)
11 - Kevin Keegan
6 - Malcolm Macdonald
  • 19 players scored their first international goal in this shirt, including Tony Woodcock, who went on to score 16, Paul Mariner (13) and Trevor Francis (12).
  • 13 players scored their last international goal in this shirt, including Channon's 21st.
  • Eight players scored all of their international goals in this shirt, including Malcolm Macdonald's six in two successive games at Wembley in 1975 (five in one of them versus Cyprus).
Captains 13 - Emlyn Hughes, Kevin Keegan
7 - Gerry Francis
6 - Alan Ball
2 - Mick Channon, Mick Mills
1 - Phil Thompson
  • Of the seven, only Hughes had captained England before.
  • All of Ball's appearances as captain were in this shirt, as were both of Channon's. These were the only two players to captain England for the last time, when wearing this shirt.
 

Manager Don Revie's reign began with a startling new strip from a new manufacturer, Admiral, and a resounding 3-0 victory over Czechoslovakia at Wembley as England opened their European Championship 1976 qualifying campaign. A collar returned to the England shirt for the first time in two decades, and,  for the first time ever, the England shirt bore embellishments other than the three-lions emblem, red and blue striping on both collar and sleeves. Former England forward Jimmy Greaves was perhaps a bit harsh when he said that the striping made the new strip look like pyjamas, although that description did fit the rather garish Admiral warm-up jackets that accompanied the new uniform. The new shirt was worn with blue shorts, in a lighter shade than the traditional navy blue, and bearing white and red striping down the sides, and white socks with red and blue stripes at their top.

Regrettably, the shirt manufacturer's insignia also appeared in a prominent place on the England shirt for the first time (although the Umbro insignia had been visible on the goalkeeper's jersey earlier in the 1970s). As Ted Croker, the FA executive secretary at the time, later explained in his autobiography, the colourful shirt design and the presence of the manufacturer's logo were the result of a new commercial arrangement under which the shirt manufacturers paid royalties to the FA for the first time for the right to promote and sell replica England kits. Croker, who became an entrepreneur after his playing career ended and brought a strong business background to the FA post, wrote:

The FA were criticised in the years following my appointment for allowing a company, Admiral of Leicester, to market and sell the England kit in return for royalty payments. It was said that we were exploiting youngsters and allowing them to be ripped off. I felt the criticisms were unjust at the time and still do. The FA were about to move into commercial areas before I arrived as secretary, but after my appointment a number of companies, believing that I would be more receptive to their proposals than my predecessors, wrote asking if they could bid for the exclusive contract for supplying the England kit. At the time the England team wore a plain white shirt and navy blue shorts which were supplied at normal rates by Umbro, the Cheshire firm. Umbro never advertised the fact that they were official suppliers to the FA so there was no need for them to pay us a royalty.

I advised the international committee that we should accept the most advantageous offer but it would mean redesigning the England strip. They agreed and a five-year contract was signed with Admiral for a starting payment of £15,000 a year or a ten-per-cent royalty, whichever was the greater. I was enthusiastic about the idea because it would give boys the chance to identify with the national side, a chance that had been denied them when the England shirt was no different from an ordinary t-shirt.  It also meant that parents could buy their sons a present which would be used often and not be discarded when the novelty wore off, as happens with so many presents given to children. And, of course, there was the money which in the first year was insignificant, but by 1986 had risen to £120,000 a year, nearly all of which is ploughed back into the game at lower levels.

It was claimed that the Admiral strip was more expensive than comparable strips sold by other manufacturers on behalf of club sides. We conducted a survey into this and found there was no basis for these allegations. If Admiral had been making such vast profits, it was unlikely that the company would be forced into receivership, which eventually happened. A new company took over after we had signed another five-year contract.

There was a further reason why we were happy to work with Admiral; they were an English company and we wanted to ensure that the national team was supplied by a domestic supplier, not by a foreign-based company. The principle objective of the FA, as is stated in the annual accounts every year, is to promote the game of association football and to do that satisfactorily requires a lot of money. - Ted Croker, The First Voice You Will Hear Is ..., pp. 78-79 (1987).

Sadly, this shirt became associated with failure. It was never worn in a major final tournament because England did not qualify for either the European Championship of 1976 or the World Cup of 1978, the two big competitions held during its tenure of almost six years. The only tournaments at which it appeared were the annual British Championship and the American Bicentennial Cup Tournament of 1976, but its end was marked by a measure of success. It was worn during England's successful European Championship 1980 qualifying campaign.

As outlined in the Variations above, Admiral appear to have had considerable difficulty in attaching both their logo and the three-lions emblem to the lightweight shirts introduced in 1975, with each being excluded from the match kit on occasion. When comparing photos of players in their kit, sometimes even in the same game, the emblem appears in different places on different shirts, sometimes level with the Admiral logo, sometimes higher and sometimes lower!

The kit made its last appearance in the victory against Spain, as England prepared for the European Championship final tournament of 1980 in Italy, where they wore the second Admiral home strip.

The shirts pictured at the top of the page were worn by (left to right); Kevin Keegan (regular number-seven shirt - front and back) and Dave Watson (first lightweight shirt v. Cyprus), displayed here with permission from Simon Shakeshaft, curator of the Neville Evans National Football Shirt Collection.

Matches in which England wore the 1974 Home White Uniform
(with predominant sleeve lengths)
Season 1974-75

x

Don Revie

European Championship Preliminaries
486 30 October 1974 - England 3 Czechoslovakia 0 [0-0]
Wembley Stadium, Wembley, London
 (83,858)
Channon, Bell (2) exc.2 HW
487 20 November 1974 - England 0 Portugal 0 [0-0]
Wembley Stadium, Wembley, London
 (84,461)
  exc.1 HD
Friendly match
488 12 March 1975 - England 2 West Germany 0 [1-0]
Wembley Stadium, Wembley, London
 (98,000)
Bell, Macdonald exc.1 HW
European Championship Preliminaries
489 16 April 1975 - England 5 Cyprus 0 [2-0]
Wembley Stadium, Wembley, London
 (68,245)
Macdonald (5) exc.1 HW
490 11 May 1975 - Cyprus 0 England 1 [0-1]
Tsirion Athletic Centre, Ayia Phyla, Lemesos (15,708)
Keegan AW
British Championship
491 17 May 1975 - Northern Ireland 0 England 0 [0-0]
Windsor Park, Donegall Avenue, Belfast
 (36,000)
  AD
492 21 May 1975 - England 2 Wales 2 [1-0]
Wembley Stadium, Wembley, London
 (53,000)
Johnson (2)
Toshack, Griffiths
HD
493 24 May 1975 - England 5 Scotland 1 [3-1]
Wembley Stadium, Wembley, London
 (98,241)
Francis (2), Beattie, Bell, Johnson
Rioch (pen)
HW
Season 1975-76
Friendly match
494 3 September 1975 - Switzerland 1 England 2 [1-2]
Sankt Jakob Stadium, Sankt Jakob, Basel
 (25,000)
Müller
Keegan, Channon
AW
European Championship Preliminaries
495 30 October 1975 - Czechoslovakia 2 England 1 [1-1]
Tehelné pole, Nové Mesto, Bratislava
 (50,651)
Nehoda, Galis
Channon
AL
496 19 November 1975 - Portugal 1 England 1 [1-1]
Estádio José Alvalade, Quinta do Lambert, Lisboa
 (13,912)
Rodrigues
Channon
exc.3 AD
Football Association of Wales Centenary match
497 24 March 1976 - Wales 1 England 2 [0-0]
Racecourse Ground, Mold Road, Wrexham
 (20,927)
Curtis
Kennedy, Taylor
exc.2* AW
British Championship
498 8 May 1976 - Wales 0 England 1 [0-0]
Ninian Park, Sloper Road, Cardiff
 (24,592)
Taylor AW
499 11 May 1976 - England 4 Northern Ireland 0 [2-0]
Wembley Stadium, Wembley, London
 (48,000)
Francis, Channon (2 (1 pen)), Pearson HW
500 15 May 1976 - Scotland 2 England 1 [1-1]
Hampden Park, Mount Florida, Glasgow (85,165)
Masson, Dalglish
Channon
exc.1 AL
American Bicentennial Cup
501 23 May 1976 - Brazil 1 England 0 [0-0]
LA Memorial Coliseum, Exposition Park, Los Angeles
 (32,495)
Roberto NL
England wore the white home shirt with the 1976 white away shorts and 1976 alternative yellow socks, against Brazil.
502 28 May 1976 - England 3 Italy 2 [0-2]
Yankee Stadium, Bronx, New York City
 (40,650)
Channon (2), Thompson
Graziani (2)
NW
Season 1976-77
Friendly match
504 8 September 1976 - England 1 Republic of Ireland 1 [1-0]
Wembley Stadium, Wembley, London
 (51,000)
Pearson
Daly (pen)
HD
World Cup Preliminary matches
505 13 October 1976 - England 2 Finland 1 [1-0]
Wembley Stadium, Wembley, London
 (87,000)
Tueart, Royle
Nieminen
HW
506 17 November 1976 - Italy 2 England 0 [1-0]
Stadio Olimpico, Municipio XV, Roma
 (70,718)
Antognoni, Bettega AL
Friendly match
507 9 February 1977 - England 0 Netherlands 2 [0-2]
Wembley Stadium, Wembley, London
 (90,260)
Peters (2) exc.5 HL
World Cup Preliminary match
508 30 March 1977 - England 5 Luxembourg 0 [1-0]
Wembley Stadium, Wembley, London
 (81,718)
Keegan, Francis, Kennedy, Channon (2 (1 pen)) HW
British Championship
509 28 May 1977 - Northern Ireland 1 England 2 [1-1]
Windsor Park, Donegall Avenue, Belfast
 (35,000)
McGrath
Channon, Tueart
AW
510 31 May 1977 - England 0 Wales 1 [0-1]
Wembley Stadium, Wembley, London
 (48,000)
James (pen) HL
511 4 June 1977 - England 1 Scotland 2 [0-1]
Wembley Stadium, Wembley, London
 (98,103)
Channon (pen)
McQueen, Dalglish
HL
Season 1977-78

x

Ron Greenwood

Friendly match
515 7 September 1977 - England 0 Switzerland 0 [0-0]
Wembley Stadium, Wembley, London
 (42,000)
  HD
World Cup Preliminary matches
516 12 October 1977 - Luxembourg 0 England 2 [0-1]
Stade Municipal, 
Rollengergronn-Belair-Nord, Stad Lëtzebuerg (10,621)
Mariner, Kennedy AW
517 16 November 1977 - England 2 Italy 0 [1-0]
Wembley Stadium, Wembley, London
 (92,000)
Keegan, Brooking HW
British Championship
520 13 May 1978 - Wales 1 England 3 [0-1]
Ninian Park, Sloper Road, Cardiff
 (17,698)
Dwyer
Latchford, Currie, Barnes
AW
521 16 May 1978 - England 1 Northern Ireland 0 [1-0]
Wembley Stadium, Wembley, London
 (55,000)
Neal HW
522 20 May 1978 - Scotland 0 England 1 [0-0]
Hampden Park, Mount Florida, Glasgow (88,319)
Coppell AW
Friendly match
523 24 May 1978 - England 4 Hungary 1 [3-0]
Wembley Stadium, Wembley, London
 (74,000)
Barnes, Neal (pen), Francis, Currie
Nagy
HW
Season 1978-79
European Championship Preliminaries
524 20 September 1978 - Denmark 3 England 4 [2-2]
Idrætsparken, Indre Østerbro, København
(47,600)
Simonsen (pen), Arnesen, Røntved
Keegan (2), Latchford, Neal
AW
525 25 October 1978 - Republic of Ireland 1 England 1 [1-1]
Lansdowne Road, Ballsbridge, Dublin (48,613)
Daly
Latchford
AD
Friendly match
526 29 November 1978 - England 1 Czechoslovakia 0 [0-0]
Wembley Stadium, Wembley, London
 (92,000)
Coppell HW
European Championship Preliminary match
527 7 February 1979 - England 4 Northern Ireland 0 [1-0]
Wembley Stadium, Wembley, London
 (91,224)
Keegan, Latchford (2), Watson exc.1 HW
British Championship
528 19 May 1979 - Northern Ireland 0 England 2 [0-2]
Windsor Park, Donegall Avenue, Belfast
 (35,000)
Watson, Coppell AW
529 23 May 1979 - England 0 Wales 0 [0-0]
Wembley Stadium, Wembley, London
 (70,220)
  HD
530 26 May 1979 - England 3 Scotland 1 [1-1]
Wembley Stadium, Wembley, London
 (100,000)
Barnes, Coppell, Keegan
Wark
HW
Season 1979-80
European Championship Preliminaries
534 12 September 1979 - England 1 Denmark 0 [1-0]
Wembley Stadium, Wembley, London
 (82,000)
Keegan HW
535 17 October 1979 - Northern Ireland 1 England 5 [0-2]
Windsor Park, Donegall Avenue, Belfast
 (17,755)
Moreland (pen)
Francis (2), Woodcock  (2), Nicholl OG
AW
536 22 November 1979 - England 2 Bulgaria 0 [1-0]
Wembley Stadium, Wembley, London
 (71,491)
Watson, Hoddle HW
England wore the white home shirt with the blue home shorts and 1976 red away socks, against Bulgaria.
537 6 February 1980 - England 2 Republic of Ireland 0 [1-0]
Wembley Stadium, Wembley, London
 (90,299)
Keegan (2) HW
Friendly match
538 26 March 1980 - Spain 0 England 2 [0-1]
Nou Estadi del FC Barcelona, La Maternitat i Sant Ramon, Barcelona
 (50,000)
Woodcock, Francis AW

* at least.

Other match in which England wore the 1974 Home White Socks
Season 1978-79

x

Ron Greenwood

European Championship Preliminary match
531 6 June 1979 - Bulgaria 0 England 3 [0-1]
Stadion Vasil Levski, Sredets, Sofija (31,322)
Keegan, Watson, Barnes AW
England wore the 1976 red away shirts with the white away shorts, but wore the white home socks, against Bulgaria.

The Under-23, Under-21 and Youth (Under-18) teams wore the same design, except that each wore an embroidered scroll below the emblem on a rectangular patch, within which was displayed, in navy blue, either INTERMEDIATE (for the Under-23s and Under-21s) or YOUTH (for the Under-18s). The Youth team wore a UEFA logo, instead of the Three Lions emblem in the 1979 UEFA Youth Tournament in Austria and possibly in other years, as well. Both England's B team and the Semi-Professional team wore an identical kit to the full international team, without the scrolls.

Worn by 61 Players (with their appearances in each sleeve length)
   
Viv Anderson 1 1 Kevin Keegan 32 2
Alan Ball 4 2 Ray Kennedy 10 1
Peter Barnes 10 1 Bob Latchford 8 1
Kevin Beattie 8 1 Brian Little 1  
Colin Bell 5 4 Malcolm Macdonald 4 3
Stan Bowles 1 1 Paul Madeley 2 5
Phil Boyer   1 Paul Mariner 5  
Sir Trevor Brooking 18 5 Terry McDermott 7  
Ian Callaghan 2   Roy McFarland 4  
Mick Channon 16 7 Mick Mills 22 1
Trevor Cherry 13 2 Phil Neal 16 1
Allan Clarke 1 2 Stuart Pearson 10  
Dave Clement 4 1 Kevin Reeves 1  
Terry Cooper   1 Bryan Robson 1  
Steve Coppell 15 1 Joe Royle 4  
Laurie Cunningham 3   Kenny Sansom 3  
Tony Currie 8 1 Brian Talbot 2  
Martin Dobson   1 Peter Taylor 3 1
Mike Doyle 5 Dave Thomas 4 4
Gerry Francis 8 3 Phil Thompson 14 2
Trevor Francis 10 1 Colin Todd 12 4
Charlie George 1 Tony Towers 3  
John Gidman 1 Dennis Tueart 6  
Ian Gillard 2 1 Colin Viljoen 2  
Brian Greenhoff 13 Dave Watson 30 5
Gordon Hill 6   Steve Whitworth 5 2
Glenn Hoddle 1 Trevor Whymark 1  
Alan Hudson   2 Ray Wilkins 20 1
Emlyn Hughes 19 1 Tony Woodcock 6 1
Norman Hunter   1 Frank Worthington   2
David Johnson 3  

Players wearing both sleeve lengths in the same match are counted once in each column. Playing substitutes and those substituted each count as one. Players wearing different shirts with the same sleeve length in the same match only count as one.
England's Record wearing the 1974 Home Shirt
Type P W D L F A GD FTS CS FAv AAv Pts % W/L
Home 24 16 5 3 50 12 +38 5 15 2.083 0.50 77.1 +13
Away 18 12 3 3 31 16 +15 2 7 1.722 0.889 75.0 +9
Neutral 2 1 0 1 3 3 =0 1 0 1.50 1.50 50.0 =0
Total 44 29 8 7 84 31 +53 8 22 1.909 0.705 75.0 +22

Two great examples of variations in the Admiral logo. On the left is the polyester and cotton shirt worn by Paul Madeley against Portugal in 1975. The logo is a shiny plastic white one, as opposed to the usual yellow, but the white one was worn in, at least, two other internationals (West Germany and Cyprus at Wembley in 1975). This shirt is part of Richard Clarke's 'Three Lions - England Match Worn Shirts' Facebook Collection.

The shirt on the right is extremely rare. It's the lightweight shirt worn by David Johnson against Wales in 1975, when scoring twice on his international debut. For some reason, his logo does not include the Admiral lettering. This is the only example of this variation that we've seen and we are grateful to Michael Hughes for sharing this image with us.

Below is the emblem. plus a commemorative patch on another shirt from Richard's collection, worn in Sir Bobby Robson's testimonial, when his Ipswich Town team took on an England team, then managed by Ron Greenwood.

____________________

CG/GI/PY