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Every FA Cup Final in less than 90 seconds ⏱

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Every FA Cup Final in less than 90 seconds ⏱

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National Football Museum video to accompany Early History of Football talk, featuring the museum's collection.

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The Early History of Football in 11 Objects

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The Development of the Football Strip - from our STRIP! exhibition site

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The Development of the Football Strip - from our STRIP! exhibition site

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1860s - 1880s

In the early days of football, there was little uniformity to a team's kit. Players would often wear a mix of colours and styles, being identified instead by caps or sashes worn over their shirts. Teams with more money - such as those from wealthy public schools and universities - could invest in a set of matching jerseys or shirts, custom tailored to each player.

Later, as the sport gained popularity, kits could be purchased from a local sports outfitters, with a limited choice of colours and styles available. Initially, choices were limited to single colours or horizontal hoops, while shirts in halves (often, confusingly referred to as 'quarters), and vertical stripes followed in the 1880s. Teams would sometimes choose colours that had symbolic links to their town, county, school or workplace. Some teams were offshoots of cricket or other sports clubs, and would simply reuse or replicate their colours in their football kits.

Arnold Kirke Smith's England shirt, 1872. This is the oldest surviving association football shirt known to exist. © National Football Museum

By the late 1880s, the advent of professionalism in football meant it would be the responsibility of the club to purchase the team's kits rather than the individual players. This led to cost-cutting, with club secretaries opting for cheaper, simpler kits in readily available colours and styles.

'Quarters' (so called because the body was made of four panels) were popular in the late 1880s.

Simple, buttoned-neck jerseys were also a common style in the 1880s.

1890s

Colour clashes were commonplace in early games, causing confusion for players and spectators alike. In 1891, all Football League clubs were made to register their shirt colours to avoid teams turning up for a match in the same kit. This meant each of the 12 League teams had to have a unique kit, as no two teams could register the same colours. Clubs were free to wear whatever colours of shorts and socks (or knickers and hose, as the Victorians called them) they pleased.

Collared shirts, as worn by Scotland, c1892

If two clubs wished to wear the same colours, first choice went to whichever had been a member of the league for the longest. Preston North End, West Bromwich Albion and Notts County were amongst the small number of clubs who stuck to their prior colours, while others seemed to panic, and a bizarre selection of kits were registered in tones rarely seen before or after. Everton dropped their salmon pink and switched to ruby and blue, while Burnley dropped all navy for claret and amber. Wolves (whose kit clash with Sunderland had been the catalyst for the new rule) swapped their red and white stripes in favour of black and old gold, taking inspiration from the Wolverhampton town motto: 'Out of darkness cometh light'.

A typical football shirt in the style worn during the 1890s to 1910s. Red and white stripes were a popular choice, and were worn by some of the most successful sides during this period, such as Sunderland and Sheffield United.

A year later, as the Football League added a Second Division, the rules were relaxed, the the Football League instead calling for all teams to keep a set of plain white 'change' shirts to be used in the event of a clash. For simplicity's sake, and to prevent travelling teams from having to carry extra kit to away games, it would be the home side who would change.

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THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE FOOTBALL STRIP - Part 1

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In the early days of football, there was little uniformity to a team's kit. Players would often wear a mix of colours and styles, being identified instead by caps or sashes worn over their shirts. Teams with more money - such as those from wealthy public schools and universities - could invest in a set of matching jerseys or shirts, custom tailored to each player.

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Early History of Football - Teacher Brief

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Early History of Football - Teacher Brief

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Early History of Football - Teacher Brief

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Early History of Football - Session Timeline

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Early History of Football - Session Timeline

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FA timeline of English Women's Football history 

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FA timeline of English Women's Football history 

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The website for the English football association, the Emirates FA Cup and the England football team

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However, Arsenal go on to secure their fifth straight Premier League and complete the double, winning The FA Women's Cup, in front of a record 24,582 crowd at Nottingham Forest FC. England U17s compete in the first FIFA Women's U17s World Cup, held in New Zealand.

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Ashbourne's Royal Shrovetide Football - 2018

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Ashbourne's Royal Shrovetide Football - 2018

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Searth the National Football Museum Online Collection

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Searth the National Football Museum Online Collection

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Search our collections database and create your own personal scrapbook of items. Build a scrapbook dedicated to the club you support or simply bring together all of your favourite items in one place.

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Every winner of English Football's top tier

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Every winner of English Football's top tier

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All Premier League Winners from years 1889 - 2016 Teams: Arsenal Aston Villa Blackburn Rovers Burnley Chelsea Derby County Everton Huddersfield Town Ipswich Town Leeds United Leicester City Liverpool FC Manchester City Manchester United Newcastle United Nottingham Forest Portsmouth Preston North End Sheffield United Sheffield Wednesday Sunderland Tottenham Hotspur West Bromwich Albion Wolverhampton Wanderers

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The lives of Scotland's first professional footballers

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The lives of Scotland's first professional footballers

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Featuring Darwen's Love & Suter, referenced in our Early History of Football talk

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It seems little has changed in the world of football in more than a century: new research has uncovered bankruptcy, high wages and scandalous love affairs in the lives of the two Scots who were the first professional players ever.

In the autumn of 1878, James Love and Fergus Suter left their club of Partick - long disbanded and no relation to Partick Thistle - to play for Darwen in Lancashire, becoming the first paid players in the game.

Their skills in passing and combination play helped take Darwen to the FA quarter-cup final, the first northern team to reach that stage.

But the story of who the Scots were has only now been revealed in a paper presented at the annual conference of the British Society of Sports History at the University of Edinburgh last week.

Author Andy Mitchell, who runs a sports history website and is a researcher for the FIFA World Football Museum, said James - or Jimmy - Love was recognised as an important figure in sporting history, but little was known about who he was.

His research has revealed he was a street-cleaning contractor in Partick who got into financial difficulties and lost his two horses and equipment. He was summoned to a bankruptcy court but failed to show up, and a warrant was issued for his arrest. But it was never served, as Love had run away to Darwen.

Mitchell said: "He had a very strong motive for getting out of Partick. As he was a footballer he was able to transfer those skills so he could make a new start and get reward for his sporting skills.

"Football then, as now, is the great escape from mundane day to day life."

Love was soon scoring goals, appearing in cup ties and gaining the attention of an admiring public. He had an income from the club, but a year later mysteriously dropped out of the team.

"I have searched and searched to find out what went wrong and have come up with a complete blank," Mitchell said. "Whether it was personal reasons or he just didn't fit in any more, it is hard to say.

"There is nothing in the papers at the time which shed any light - he just suddenly stopped appearing in the team line, made a couple of guest appearances for other teams and then joined the Army."

Love signed up with the Royal Marines and was called in action in Egypt, where he later died of a fever aged 24.

The research has also revealed how the players were paid high wages at Darwen - even though it was at a time when football was supposed to be a strictly amateur affair. Professionalism was not legalised by the Football Association in England until 1885.

In an interview given in 1902, Suter revealed there was no "settled" wage at Darwen, but they would be given £10 every few weeks "without difficulty" - compared to the typical working wage of less than two pounds a week.

Suter settled successfully at Darwen and later became a respectable businessman, running various hotels and pubs.

But a sudden move to local rivals Blackburn Rovers in 1880 may have been triggered by more than just a financial inducement.

Mitchell said he had uncovered a family legend which suggested Suter had fathered an illegitimate child by a servant girl - and his move to Blackburn coincided with that time.

"It can't be proved, as it was an unmarried relationship with a servant girl - but there is that family legend," he said. "It puts a different perspective on his move - maybe it wasn't just money, he may well have left in a hurry rather than face up to his responsibilities."

The annual conference of the British Society of Sports History also heard how research on sport has failed to examine the experience of female fans - even though they have attended football and rugby matches since the late 19th century.

Dr Stacey Pope, senior lecturer at Durham University said: "A lot of the existing research tends to focus on the experiences of men, is often focused on hooliganism and issues of fan rivalry and a result of that women's experiences are largely neglected."

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Sex, money and scandal ... the lives of Scotland's first pro footballers revealed

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It seems little has changed in the world of football in more than a century: new research has uncovered bankruptcy, high wages and scandalous love affairs in the lives of the two Scots who were the first professional players ever.

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Dr Gary James on Manchester's football beginnings

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Dr Gary James on Manchester's football beginnings

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Contemporary Manchester is recognized internationally as a footballing city, with both Manchester United and Manchester City acknowledged as prominent clubs. However, the city has not always been a force in the game, nor has the game always been important across Manchester's social spectrum. This paper examines how Manchester first became established as a footballing city, identifying that success in the FA Cup in 1904 stimulated interest in the game and considers how the legacy of that victory enabled the game to develop in terms of participation and spectating. It also considers the social mix of attendees at professional games in the city, and closes by concluding that footballing success generated increased interest and was the catalyst for improvement in the infrastructure for both participation and attendance, enabling Manchester's footballing identity to become established.

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FA Cup success, football infrastructure and the establishment of Manchester's footballing identity

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Contemporary Manchester is recognized internationally as a footballing city, with both Manchester United and Manchester City acknowledged as prominent clubs. However, the city has not always been a force in the game, nor has the game always been important across Manchester's social spectrum.

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Football League plaque in Manchester City Centre

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Football League plaque in Manchester City Centre

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Infographic of early FA Cup Final Attendances

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Infographic of early FA Cup Final Attendances

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The 'North' team from an exhibition game in 1895

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Image from the first ever International Football Match in 1872

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Image from the first ever International Football Match in 1872

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England v Scotland, referenced in the session

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British Pathe newsreel footage, 1952