P 40 W 19 D 13 L 8 F 96:A 53 64% successful
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This lightweight v-necked shirt, the first England shirt made by Umbro, made its first appearance against Wales in the second match of the 1954-55 season, after their first game, in Belfast, had seen the final appearance of the short-sleeved collared shirt worn at the 1954 World Cup. The new shirt's virtues were simplicity and economy; it was nothing more than a white tee-shirt with a badge on it, but this 'Continental' style was about to be adopted by most of the Football League clubs. Whilst it was not particularly attractive, the new kit served notice that England had learnt some lessons from their encounters with Hungary during the preceding season. They had also had to endure two World Cups in the sunnier climes of Brazil and Switzerland, in bulky attire more suited to the English winter. England were about to emerge from splendid isolation into the modern footballing world. The dark navy blue shorts became much shorter and tighter-fitting than the baggy variety worn previously. England experimented with shiny rayon shorts for their 1955 tour of the continent. At first, the black socks were the same as with the previous shirts and shorts, with a broad white band at the top. A red version of the white-topped socks continued to be worn whenever England faced a team that wore blue socks, as Northern Ireland and Scotland did at the time. This meant that they had to change in two of their three British Championship fixtures each season. The colour of the socks was also coordinated with the colour of the numbers on the back of the shirt, so when England wore their black socks, the numbers on the back of their shirts were black, and when they wore red socks, they were paired with red numbers. However, when they travelled abroad, on their end-of-season tours, they made no such concessions, only wearing black socks. This was, perhaps, due to a lack of knowledge about what their opponents would be wearing or, possibly, to minimize the amount of luggage that they had to take with them. England decided to promote their red socks to first choice at the beginning of 1956. Then, towards the end of the following year, a new red pair was introduced, incorporating a white band around the calf, together with a second-choice navy blue (or black) equivalent. Unlike nowadays, where change colours have to be aired for the replica-buying public; in the 1950s, teams tried to appear in their first-choice colours in every single game. In fact, England went for three years (1956-59) without wearing any other colour shirt than white. Imagine what a nightmare that would be for the likes of Nike in the 21st century! The 1957 sock design lived on beyond the Umbro shirts and was paired with the Bukta England shirt on many occasions right up until 1963. It could even be found at the odd England training session in 1966. England's shirts continued to be adorned with the Three Lions emblem, embroidered onto the white shirts, together with the opponents' name in a scroll, and the year, or, in the case of the British Championship fixtures, the season, in red underneath the scroll.  At the end of the 1954-55 season, the shirts worn in France, Spain and Portugal all bore the words CONTINENTAL TOUR 1955 within the scrolls and no year or season was displayed beneath. For the game in Paris, they appeared for the second half without any emblems. This happened on one or two occasions during the fifties and sixties, when fresh training shirts were introduced for the remainder of the match to replace sweaty or muddied originals. The scrolls were then scrapped for the 1955-56 season, though it appears that they were still made and presented to the players, without actually being worn on the shirts. However, they were back on display again after a season's absence, though after 1957, they would not appear in every game. The 1958 World Cup was excluded from the practice, as had the previous two tournaments, because of the potential for games to be organised at short notice, with not enough time to get the appropriate emblems to Sweden. England also decided not to wear the scrolls in the British Championship fixtures following the 1956-57 season. After appearing to have been the sole supplier for over four years (1954-58), Umbro went through a period of sharing supply duties with Bukta, before the latter began their own exclusivity. It is believed that the Football Association only made agreements with distributors and not the manufacturers direct, hence the differences from game to game. In 1959, England appear to have worn Umbro in all but three international fixtures, and then, apart from a single game in the red shirt, in 1961, they did not wear Umbro again until 1965. The photographed shirts above were worn by (left to right): Johnny Haynes (v. Scotland in 1955), Sir Stanley Matthews (v. Scotland in 1957), Haynes (from the 1955-56 season) and Peter Broadbent (in the 1958 World Cup). Sir Stanley's shirt is part of Richard Clarke's 'Three Lions - England Match Worn Shirts' Facebook Collection and the others were supplied by Simon Shakeshaft, curator of the Neville Evans National Football Shirt Collection.

Matches in which England wore the 1954 Home White Shirt
1954-55		Please note, in 1954 and 1955, England's first-choice socks were black, with white tops and the second-choice socks were red, with white tops.
292	10 November 1954	3-2 vs. Wales, Empire Stadium, Wembley, London	BC	HW
294	2 April 1955	7-2 vs. Scotland, Empire Stadium, Wembley, London		HW
Notes		England wore the white home shirt and blue shorts, with the red change socks, against Scotland.
295	15 May 1955	0-1 vs. France, Stade Olympique Yves-du-Manoir, Colombes, Paris	Fr	AL
296	18 May 1955	1-1 vs. Spain, El Estadio Santiago Bernabéu, Madrid	Fr	AD
297	22 May 1955	1-3 vs. Portugal, Estádio do Futebol Clube do Porto, Oporto	Fr	AL
1955-56
298	2 October 1955	5-1 vs. Denmark, Idrætsparken, København	Fr	AW
299	22 October 1955	1-2 vs. Wales, Ninian Park, Sloper Road, Cardiff	BC	AL
300	2 November 1955	3-0 vs. Northern Ireland, Empire Stadium, Wembley, London		HW
Notes		England wore the white home shirt and blue shorts, with the red change socks, against Northern Ireland.
301	30 November 1955	4-1 vs. Spain, Empire Stadium, Wembley, London	Fr	HW
		Please note, from this point, England's first-choice socks were red, with white tops and the second-choice socks were black, with white tops (i.e. the previous first choice).
302	14 April 1956	1-1 vs. Scotland, Hampden Park, Mount Florida, Glasgow	BC	AD
303	9 May 1956	4-2 vs. Brazil, Empire Stadium, Wembley, London	Fr	HW
304	16 May 1956	0-0 vs. Sweden, Råsunda Fotbollstadion, Solna kommun, Stockholms län	Fr	AD
305	20 May 1956	5-1 vs. Finland, Olympiastadion, Helsinki	Fr	AW
1956-57
307	6 October 1956	1-1 vs. Northern Ireland, Windsor Park, Belfast	BC	AD
308	14 November 1956	3-1 vs. Wales, Empire Stadium, Wembley, London		HW
Notes		England wore the white home shirt and blue shorts, with the black change socks, against Wales.
309	28 November 1956	3-0 vs. Yugoslavia, Empire Stadium, Wembley, London	Fr	HW
Notes		England wore the white home shirt and blue shorts, with the black change socks, against Yugoslavia.
310	5 December 1956	5-2 vs. Denmark, Molineux Ground, Wolverhampton	WCP	HW
311	6 April 1957	2-1 vs. Scotland, Empire Stadium, Wembley, London	BC	HW
312	8 May 1957	5-1 vs. Republic of Ireland, Empire Stadium, Wembley, London	WCP	HW
313	15 May 1957	4-1 vs. Denmark, Idrætsparken, København		AW
314	19 May 1957	1-1 vs. Republic of Ireland, Dalymount Park, Dublin		AD
1957-58		Please note, between 1957 and 1962, England's first-choice socks were red, with a white band around the calf. Until 1960, the second-choice socks were navy blue with a white band around the calf (though other variations were worn on occasion).
315	19 October 1957	4-0 vs. Wales, Ninian Park, Sloper Road, Cardiff	BC	AW
Notes		England wore the white home shirt, with blue shorts and (blue change) socks, against Wales.
316	6 November 1957	2-3 vs. Northern Ireland, Empire Stadium, Wembley, London	BC	HL
317	27 November 1957	4-0 vs. France, Empire Stadium, Wembley, London	Fr	HW
Notes		England wore the white home shirt and blue shorts, with plain white socks, against France.
318	19 April 1958	4-0 vs. Scotland, Hampden Park, Mount Florida, Glasgow	BC	AW
319	7 May 1958	2-1 vs. Portugal, Empire Stadium, Wembley, London	Fr	HW
320	11 May 1958	0-5 vs. Yugoslavia, Stadion Jugoslovenska Narodna Armija, Beograd	Fr	AL
321	18 May 1958	1-1 vs. USSR, Lenin Stadium, Moskva	Fr	AD
World Cup Finals 1958
322	8 June 1958	2-2 vs. USSR, Nya Ullevi Stadion, Göteborg, Sweden	WCF	ND
323	11 June 1958	0-0 vs. Brazil, Nya Ullevi Stadion, Göteborg, Sweden		ND
324	15 June 1958	2-2 vs. Austria, Ryavallen Stadion, Borås, Sweden		ND
325	17 June 1958	0-1 vs. USSR, Nya Ullevi Stadion, Göteborg, Sweden		ND
1958-59
326	4 October 1958	3-3 vs. Northern Ireland, Windsor Park, Belfast	BC	AD
327	22 October 1958	5-0 vs. USSR, Empire Stadium, Wembley, London	Fr	HW
Notes		England wore the white home shirt, with blue shorts and (blue change) socks, against USSR.
328	26 November 1958	2-2 vs. Wales, Villa Park, Birmingham	BC	HD
Notes		England wore the white home shirt, with blue shorts and (blue change) socks, against Wales.
330	6 May 1959	2-2 vs. Italy, Empire Stadium, Wembley, London	Fr	HD
331	9 May 1959	0-2 vs. Brazil, Estádio Jornalista Mário Filho, Maracanã, Rio de Janeiro	Fr	AL
Notes		England wore the white home shirt and red socks, with the white away change shorts, against Brazil.
333	24 May 1959	1-2 vs. Mexico, Estadio Olímpico Universitario, Ciudad Universitaria, ciudad de México	Fr	AL
Notes		England wore all white; the white home shirt, with the white away change shorts and white socks, with a red and a blue stripe around the calf, against Mexico.
1959-60
335	17 October 1959	1-1 vs. Wales, Ninian Park, Sloper Road, Cardiff	BC	AD
Notes		England wore the white home shirt, with blue shorts and (blue change) socks, against Wales.
337	18 November 1959	2-1 vs. Northern Ireland, Empire Stadium, Wembley, London	BC	HW

 

England's Record wearing the 1954 Home Shirt
Type	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	FTS	CS	FAv	AAv	Pts %	W/L
Home	17	14	2	1	58	21	+37	0	4	3.412	1.235	88.2	+13
Away	19	5	8	6	34	27	+7	4	3	1.789	1.421	47.4	-1
Neutral	4	0	3	1	4	5	-1	2	1	1.00	1.25	37.5	-1
Total	40	19	13	8	96	53	+43	6	8	2.40	1.325	63.8	+11

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GI/CG/PY/JB