Not worn in play

This red shirt which has more in common with the Admiral shirts of the 1970s than its contemporaries, appeared briefly on England Under-23s' end-of-season tour in 1959. It was worn with the navy shorts and white socks which usually accompanied the home kit.

In fact, it was initially thought to be a last-minute change when it appeared in Milan against Italy's under-23s, as their hosts had switched to their away kit of white shirts and shorts (with a thick blue band across the chest) and blue socks. So, it had the hallmarks of being borrowed, especially as the emblem did not have the INTERMEDIATE scroll below it, as was usually the case with under-23 fixtures.

However, it was made by Bukta, who just four weeks earlier, had provided the full international team with their kit for the first time (against Scotland at Wembley). On the next two occasions that England wore an away kit, however, they wore Umbro (in both blue and red). This leads us to believe that Bukta were perhaps 'pushing the boat out' with this innovative design in an effort to convince the Football Association that they could also be trusted with their away kits.

The shirt appeared twice, but never made it to a full international. When Bukta finally did get to produce a red away kit, for the 1962 World Cup, it was a more plain design.

The above shirt was worn by Maurice Setters and appears by kind permission of BUDDS.