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This curious photograph of one George Richards is all that we have to convince us that England wore an alternative emblem on their 1909 tour of Austria and Hungary.

Richards made only one full international appearance, against Austria. In keeping with tradition, new international players were photographed (we believe at the expense of the Football Association) in their England shirts and caps. As the cap in this photo is labelled as 1909, we can only presume that this is also the shirt that Richards wore on his one and only appearance.

The emblem appears to have been re-designed, presumably for the tour. This was England's second successive end-of-season tour. The previous year's trip to the same countries, plus Bohemia, was obviously deemed to be such a success that the Football Association wanted to make the 1909 tour another special occasion, hence a newly-commissioned design for the emblem.

What remains a mystery, however, is what happened to the emblem, for it was never seen again. England reverted to their traditional emblem after the tour, an emblem that they would wear in every game between 1872 and 1948, apart from on this one tour.

The shield in the photo has taken on a more ornamental shape, compared to the almost-square original, the crown on the top of the shield appears to have been given a three-dimensional rendering and the lions have been lengthened, whilst still maintaining the same posture.

If you can shed any more light on this unusual emblem, or on any past England kits, please get in touch.

UPDATE: These types of emblems appear to have been common with English teams formed specifically for touring during this period. Examples of them are Middlesex Wanderers and English Wanderers. These emblems are similarly shaped, with three lions, but without the crown on top. As later FA tours to dominions such as South Africa, Australia and Canada often warranted their own crest to wear on blazers, rather than shirts, it can probably now be assumed that it was made specifically for the 1909 tour. At the time, it would have been considered to have been of lesser status than the home internationals, but caps were obviously awarded and the matches were classed as full internationals.