The new England away shirt has been available for quite a while now but this afternoon the side will turn out in all red against Slovenia and the combination’s supposed talismanic qualities (1962 World Cup etc) will be put to the test.  By the time you read this you’ll probably know how they fared – dare I say it, maybe even whether or not England’s World Cup 2010 has been a success.  About time myself and fellow DesignFootball.com reviewer curswine put it through its paces…

Review 1 - Jay

So the new England away shirt.  I’ve already bleated on about how great the current home is, how important a release a red England away is and how impressive Nike and Umbro are in marketing such items, but how good really is this jewel in the British manufacturer’s crown?

First impressions, it’s simple.  We knew it would scream 1966 and it doesn’t disappoint.  It has as many World Cup failure connotations as Bobby Charlton’s head has strands of hair (ie. none) and is as red as the mist that must have surrounded Jimmy Greaves when Moore and co lifted M. Rimet’s trophy.  But - and designer Aitor Throup will remind you of this - it’s actually based on the generic Azteca design from the 60s and 70s.  Accordingly, it has, get this, white cuffs!

When you get a little closer you can see that it is something more than just a throwback (designers surely couldn’t command their salaries if that was the case).  Yes indeed, it’s made of only a few oddly shaped pieces of different fabrics stitched together to optimise flexibility, movement and body temperature when worn.  Apparently these different pieces of fabric are all slightly differently coloured but forgive me for not really detecting a change at each seam in the replica version.  Perhaps this is simply my ultra-modern geosociologically colourblind view of border controls in microcosm.  Perhaps not.  So this bit fits into that bit and then this bit goes across here and then the shirt is comple- Oh, to aid flexibility even more they had to put in two extra little bits just below the shoulder blades.  Hmmm.

As you may be getting from this, the shirt is neither one thing nor the other.  They could have made a modern kit but they chose, like with the home, to add modern touches to a classic instead.  What Umbro forgot was that whilst the 50s shirts they took inspiration from for the white strip were actually pretty cool, the ’66 shirt was solely iconic due to its historical significance and as a design piece didn’t quite have enough.  This shirt has even been created with a push towards players moving away from short sleeved versions with base layers and instead choosing this supposed hybrid in long-sleeved.  Obviously Wayne Rooney and Jermain Defoe didn’t attend that meeting before debuting the kit against Egypt.

But what is it like to wear?  Firstly, if you usually wear a Small, DO NOT get Umbro’s “equivalent” 36” chest (“Tailored” you see?).  It’ll look tight and will betray the eating habits of the dietarily-challenged.  Get a size up.  But does that explain the pointy uppy bits on the upper back reported by many and that I also experienced?  Possibly, but the shoulders not falling flat on such a hi-tech item is worrying.  Aside from this it seems to do everything you’d want from modern-day performance technology; not restrictive, not too hot, not too cold etc.

Don’t get me wrong, the crest is beautiful, the Umbro logo is thankfully understated and the shirt is no doubt wonderfully practical for the modern day footballer without looking like a Terminator costume.  But, frankly, we saw all that with the home.  Umbro, that joke isn’t funny anymore.

PS: The shorts and socks don’t warrant much mention, as basic as they are (something about longer at the front to aid knee flexing.  Whatever), but it’ll be fun to see England sporting Liverpool’s colours later.  The shorts look better in red.  On that profound note...

Review 2 – curswine

He goes on a bit doesn’t he?  The new England away shirt is a masterpiece.  The most important day in the Three Lions’ history was the day they wore the famous red shirt to defeat West Germany at Wembley.  This release is a modern interpretation of a design classic that not only pays its dues but also holds its own against other international team kits.

1966 shouldn’t be forgotten and is rightly respected here.  The red star above the crest may not stand out but does pay tribute to the heroes of 44 years ago in a way that shouldn’t put too much pressure on our current squad.  The ’66 kit IS a classic and Umbro are right to revive it.

As for the different materials used, these add depth to a kit that otherwise would come across as somewhat basic.  Umbro’s design teams have worked very hard to ensure that each carefully tested section carries out its purpose to perfection and link with each other to make a whole shirt that performs brilliantly for the stars that wear it.  The smaller sections on the shoulder blades allow freedom of movement that otherwise wouldn’t be possible in a similarly fitted design.  For the players it will mean they don’t get held back by a poorly fitting shirt and for the fans it’s a really comfy top to watch the games in.

It could be said the shirt suffers from the comparisons to the Azteca and 1966 rather than relying on them.  As much as it is retro it also has everything you’d want in a 2010 release and can be judged against any other modern shirt.  That is, if you get the right size.  It’s not Umbro’s fault if we’re not as slim as we used to be and I found none of the “pointy uppy bits” that people have supposedly mentioned.

Regarding the push towards new Umbro shirts combining the outer garment with the popular base layers, Rooney and Defoe may have worn the short-sleeved type with base-layers against Egypt but Peter Crouch and Shaun Wright-Phillips wore long sleeves and both scored.  So maybe long-sleeved shirts are going to become more popular again.

Overall Umbro have created another great kit.  If you look closely at the crest, the finer detailing is lovely and the Lions and roses have never been so beautifully defined.  The whole attention to detail means the shirt looks great on the pitch but also close up and fills you with pride when you pull it on.

Whether wearing white or red, Fabio Capello’s men will be sure their kit performs well and looks good.  This afternoon the classy red shorts with a white stripe will be worn with the red shirt and red socks.  The crest on the shorts is all white rather than fully coloured like on the shirt and this is another subtle touch that adds to how classy the look is. 

Bill Shankly famously sent out Liverpool in all red in the sixties to intimidate the opposition and they never looked back.  Hopefully this great kit will be as effective against Slovenia and England will get the victory they need whilst looking the part.  C’mon England!

It’s not a new phenomenon. World Cup just around the corner, the testing starts and the whispers follow: “There’s a new ball! It’s lighter! It moves more in the air!”

But this year’s disquiet is even louder than usual. We’ve all seen the quotes but the assertions that it is “a disaster” and “an enemy of goalkeepers” sum up the most extreme opinions of the Jabulani (ironically, translating as "to celebrate"). 

The German manufacturers of the offending item, adidas, were quick to divert blame. The testing at altitude was the cause, they said. However, for a tournament that was due to be played, at least partially, well above sea level you would think Adi Dassler’s disciples would have made sure the ball created for this specific event could handle the conditions.

As it turns out, it seems like it can. This World Cup has so far (at time of going to press) been marked with woeful shooting, shoddy goalkeeping and an alarmingly high amount of Nike Superfly II Elite boots on show. The ball shows no obvious signs of not acting like a football should. A coincidence that (caution: I don’t have the stats to back up this next statement) we see more players wearing Nike boots than ever before the same year that adidas comes under the most criticism of a match ball it has ever experienced? Well, on the other side of the coin, some have scoffed that the only teams/players in support of the Jabulani are those with adidas sponsorship deals, most notably France.

As I mentioned, the last World Cup ball was criticised as well. As has every ball of every major international tournament in recent memory. But the last World Cup featured some great long range goals. I don’t remember any perverse movement of the matchball, only the swerve put on the ball by the way it is struck. Joe Cole’s fantastic strike versus Sweden a prime example of a player making the ball move at a pace and trajectory of his own choosing and getting said sphere to finish up exactly where he wanted it to.

I choose now to get these feelings off my chest as later on today we will witness Nike’s writer of the future extraordinaire, Cristiano Ronaldo, in his first action of the tournament. It is likely that by the time you read this, he has already proven me right, wrong or split opinion but I feel that Mr Ronaldo seems to have a lot more fun striking a Nike football in the English or Spanish league than he does with an adidas equivalent. So many of his goals are acclaimed but the movement of the ball after his foot makes contact often seems irregular.

For example, the Portuguese’s love of smashing the valved section of a Nike example for freekicks to produce a shot that looks to be flying yards over the bar and then feasting on the freak fruits of this labour as it suddenly dips to end in the net may not be so simple with a Jabulani. After all, adidas have tried to create the most "perfectly round" ball the world has ever seen. Accordingly, so far this much maligned product has curled right when hit with the right side of a boot, left when hit with the left and the rules of physics have prevailed. Cristiano, your move.

So it’s begun. A month or so of football endeavours with the end result being the crowning of the world champions. Will it be Spain? Brazil? Italy? Dare we say it, England?!

Whatever happens, the dual endeavours of Nike and Umbro will surely triumph over the estranged siblings, Puma and adidas.

Britain’s Umbro has had a resurgence since being augmented by the immence power of the Americans Nike and the once fearsome Germans have crumbled. The World War II analogy was too obvious to ignore but that’s enough of that now.

Yes, so over the last year or so Nike and their recent acquisition Umbro have made mincemeat out of the competition. The kits have generally been far superior to anything else on the market, the first few days of this World Cup have produced a sea of Superfly II Elite’s on the feet of the players and the marketing has taken the two brands to a new level.

The thing is, Nike and Umbro employ geniuses. Perhaps evil geniuses but geniuses all the same.

If we look at rugby football for a second, adidas are incredibly proud to hold the contract for the All Blacks. So proud of this association and with such faith in the commercial rewards, adidas even allow New Zealand to veto their famous three stripes. What a coup for adidas. So what do Nike do? It’s very simple. They take their modest contract with the New Zealand association football team and dress their most burly player, Ryan Nelson, in a black away kit and call some photographers to take some pictures. In one wonderfully unsubtle chess move, Nike show the Kiwis how their rugby team would look in their own creation. But will Nike ever take over the All Blacks deal? Inevitable understates it.

Nike also have used the power of Umbro to accelerate their pursuit of dominance. When the takeover was complete most expected Nike to poach all of Umbro’s most high profile contracts. But Nike are cuter than that. Instead, they funded the new Tailored By concept and left Umbro with enough new (media) marketing ammunition to deliver in the most comprehensive and impressive way. And once Umbro proved themselves with critical and commercial successes such as the last England home and away strips they went straight to the front of Nike’s World Cup kits launch. With John Terry’s indiscretions seriously hampering his marketing value, the focus shifted away from an Umbro boot and shirt wearing icon. No, instead Wayne Rooney’s Swoosh-footed and double diamond-chested brilliance was the key to marrying the two brands in the public’s consciousness. One minute a photoshoot, the next, Nike and Umbro are writing the future.

So to that ad. If you somehow haven’t seen it, I’ve embedded it below because it deserves it, impartiality notwithstanding. It has Gael Garçia Bernal playing Ronaldo! It has a song about Cannavaro with added cabaret dancers! IT HAS HOMER SIMPSON WITH A BRILLIANT USE OF “D’OH!”

Just to note, the World Cup kits Nike and Umbro have released are generally classy and minimalist. Puma and adidas have released tight shirts which are somewhat hit and miss. It’s not one way traffic by any means as, for example, the Japan away in long-sleeved is nigh on perfection, and, back in club football, the upcoming Spurs and Milan releases look fabulous as well. This coupled with Umbro’s shamefully commercial decision to give Linfield an orange away kit (you know what I think of that kind of opportunism) means it not quite time to concede victory.

And remember, we’re all football fans first and foremost so great kits should go hand in hand with success. The manufacturers’ championship mooted is an interesting idea and we shouldn’t forget that it’s what happens on the field of play that gives a kit an edge. But right now, in the design and marketing stakes at least, Nike and Umbro are trouncing their opponents.

The new Liverpool kit was recently unveiled. Well, it wasn’t all that new as, so adidas tell us, it was heavily influenced by the kit worn by 1990 league championship winning team. To be perfectly honest, its watermark bears a stronger resemblance to that season’s away shirt but we take the point: winning is in its makeup. Incidentally, said “new” kit was unveiled ages ago but I’m a busy man so allow me some artistic licence.

So a kit for winners worn by, well, some of the biggest losers in the history of Liverpool Football Club. Not my opinion per se but rather all that can really be taken from what was witnessed the season just gone. However, things are scripted to change in line with the receipt of this new attire. Certainly Jamie Carragher feels they have to as he welcomed the launch with the words "The kit's lovely. But ultimately you always remember the shirts you win things in, so we'll have to win something in this."

A wise philosophy indeed. Far be it for me to make assumptions about Mr Carragher but comments like that can suggest that a footballer cares more for the job in hand than what type of collar he’ll be wearing whilst carrying out his duties. Nonetheless, it’s worth exploring his informed premise from the point of view of, as we are, devotees of the shirt on their backs.

So does a kit become memorable due to its design or due to the feats of the 11+ men that wear it? Tediously, it’s most likely a mix of the two. When I wrote about my favourite shirts of all time the balance was well in favour of success of the on-pitch variety over the sartorial kind. The Cameroon kit of 1990 wouldn’t have turned the heads of many before Italia 90 commenced and France’s white away from 2006 may well have turned heads away.

But the latter shows that a kit can become iconic even when not synonymous with absolute success. The shirt was made famous by Zinedine Zidane through his almost single-handed dismantling of Brazil and then threatening to do the same to Italy (before turning his attentions to Marco Materazzi). So what of that Italy shirt? The shirt of the World Champions? Somehow it still doesn’t hold the kudos that its adidas opposite number oozes. To paraphrase Coco Chanel, look for the man in the shirt. If there is no man, there is no shirt.

Therefore, is the secret ingredient infamy? Not necessarily, as the squeakiest of squeaky-clean combined in victorious glory to create perhaps the most iconic kit of all time in 1966. Similarly, Arsenal’s 2004 strip will be remembered much more for the invincibility it accompanied rather than any disciplinary shortcomings of the team (handily, the side were decked out in their away kit for The Battle of Old Trafford). But these are two more examples of unremarkable templates launched to significance by exploits on the field of play.

So which kits will be next? Pre-South Africa 2010, the releases of Puma, Nike, adidas and Umbro have all divided opinion but will those opinions change as the hundreds of (multi-)balls are kicked in anger? Classic Football Shirts, by way of twitter, will have us believe that even Blackpool shirts are now priceless as the club prepares to figure in the top flight. If Play-Off success can empower those designs then the sky must be the limit for outfits put together by the world’s best designers, for the world’s best players.

So Manchester United are out of Europe. With the help of his friends and family this Liverpool fan will get through this, but it does mean that we will all be denied the bizarre sight of The Red Devils initiating a sea of green and gold at the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu on 22nd May.

Putting the politics to one side for a moment (basically, American owners putting a club into huge debt= bad, olden days=good. I can relate), Old Trafford has had a very Carrow Road look about it for a while now and last night’s game took things to a new level. There were certainly more gold and green scarves than red, black and white and that classic bar style seems to be the default United supporter choice.

Even the celebrity fans carry the colours of proto-Devils Newton Heath. From dF favourite David Beckham to, er, one of the Sons of “Mumford and” fame, a stylishly hanging £5 number is all the rage. Plus, with an irony bypass almost tangible, most of the Salford faithful seem to ape the European tying style of the effortlessly cool Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini. The emphasis heavily on the “ape”.

Whilst all this creates an impressive image on matchdays, the truly passionate for the cause also go for NH over MU in other areas of their game attire. From Match of the Day’s crowd shots I can only assume classicfootballshirts.co.uk have made a killing on the mid-nineties retro change shirts. And Toffs must be doing pretty well on sales of the railway workers’ shirt’s replica model as well.

Not my words. Let me make that very clear. Above are the feelings of a visitor to FootballShirtCulture.com who shall remain nameless. But it does represent, if nothing else, the strong feelings that surround this brand.

Puma. The brand worn by greats such as Pelé, Eusébio, Johan Cruyff, Enzo Francescoli, Diego Maradona, Lothar Matthäus and Kenny Dalglish. But a great brand? Today? The jury is well and truly out.

During my formative years in the world of football (design), Puma was the company that went about their business quietly and assuredly. Puma King boots were the benchmark. When the Craig Johnston-designed adidas Predator was dived upon by every aspirational northern European creative midfielder wanting 30% more curl and 10% more power, much of South America looked on and scoffed. They didn’t need a boot that could make you do things you couldn’t do before, they could do everything. They just needed a boot that looked classy, felt comfortable and allowed their feet to work the magic. That boot was the Puma King.

Puma back then barely registered on the football kit design radar. The odd German or eastern European kit hardly set the world alight, but they progressed. Classy kits followed for the likes of Leeds and then Everton, amongst others, and along the way they sparked controversy with Cameroon sleeveless shirts and all-in-one kits. Overall, seemingly steady and consistent improvement in quality even led to the first pink shirt in Scottish football and a nice retro home kit for Partick Thistle, with a compromised logo.

The new England away kit. Most notably, the change shirt that Capello’s men will carry on their backs along with the hopes of a nation when they land in South Africa to take on the world’s best. How will Umbro’s latest Three Lion-ed offering help the players to strive for that extra 10% that turns a team into winners? Will the mix of modern technology and unashamed nostalgia carry the squad to glory?

I couldn’t give a monkey’s.

You see, as someone who looks upon himself as a Frenchman (or, to be correct, a Marseillais) trapped inside an Englishman’s body, I don’t actually feel the tug of the heartstrings when, say, a stadium erupts in the sound of imploration to the heavens that an unelected head of state should be kept out of harm’s way. Nor do I feel the need to proudly cheer as the stadium announcer reels off the players’ names: “Ashley Cole!...John Terry!...and England’s captain, RIO FERDINAND!” For me, Euro 2008 was made all the more exciting by the fact that the general stigma of a doomed England campaign was absent. Whilst I may not cheer on the opposition against The FA’s finest, I certainly won’t be weeping any of the tears of despair or joy which will accompany their final act. As a child I prioritised the national teams fortunes over that of any club side. No longer.

However, this is not to say I don’t recognise Umbro’s release of the new away kit as a significant event. It ticks all the football shirt culture (snigger) boxes. England shirt? Check. Referencing bygone days of glory? Check. Pleasing me by playing a part in the enraging of several thousand Parisiens at a Kasabian gig? Check.

Now, I used to be slim. I had a good-ish body, even if my chest was somewhat underdeveloped and my backside, well, slightly overdeveloped by pies and sitting around. But I could carry it off because I'm reasonably tall. I could wear a Small from most shops and football shirts in that size were no problem.

I'm not slim anymore. My old football shirts can just about be shoehorned over my chest breasts but there's a whole load of highly unattractive bulging and stretching that appears around my midriff. The backside that was large is now even larger and forms a shapeless trinity with my inflated hips and legs. Where once I could squeeze into size S shorts that left little to the imagination, now I'm clinging on to M with dear life.

I'm overweight. By a stone and a half at the last check. I'm approaching thirty. These things happen. But why oh why did adidas choose now to start producing their shirts in Techfit?!

You see, a long, long time ago there was a sportswear company called Kappa. They came up with the Kombat range. Tight shirts that hugged the body and accentuated all those lovely contours. They wouldn't have looked great on me but I ran the London Marathon two years ago so back then I could have carried them off.

Nike have a got a cheek.  Love them or loath them (it's the former for me since they brought back the Bumblebee) they do exactly as they please.

A couple of seasons ago, to great uproar, they released a white Arsenal shirt.  Not the first white Arsenal shirt by any means but a shirt that, if you squinted and, er, looked at it from 200 metres away, would be entirely indistinguishable from a shirt of The Gunners' North London rivals Tottenham Hotspur.  Reaction was huge, publicity was even more huge, sales, well, let's have a think...

Next season, Arsenal will wear white away from home (or "3^rd") again.  But this time the full kit won't be a white and redcurrant pseudo-reversal of their home colours.  No, this time the shirt has only hints of colouring and the shorts will be slate grey (I won't indulge whatever Nike have called it).  Slate grey... time to get squinting again.  Surely that'll look a little bit too much like a dark blue?  Like Tottenham Hotspur wear.  Y'know, like Arsenal are wearing their biggest rivals' whole kit in away matches.

For the record, the shirt's classy, it does have redcurrant pinstripes, it has a good cut and a proper collar.  The team has actually worn the full kit too and it doesn't necessarily make you think of Spurs right away.  But isn't there a principle here?

The fact is, teams and manufacturers alike need to rotate kit designs and that involves using new colours each season for the change strips.  They make kits to sell and if the white has returned then it means that last time it sold well.  Did it and does it please the diehard guys in the flatcaps whose visible affiliation comes in the form of a 25-year-old bar scarf and a pin badge?  No, but their controlled-price season ticket (if they still renew it) is not a prime example of how Arsenal pay back banks or pay Arshavin's wages.

 

Sting like a bee.  A nice summing up of a style of marketing and particularly appropriate today as we see the worst kept secret in football design finally made official:  Celtic's "bumblebee" away kit has returned.

The strip was originally an Umbro design from 1996-98 and split opinion.  Some said it was ugly (they were right) and some said it was inspired (they were right too).  As gaudy 90s kits go, it was up there with the best of them.  Luminous and cluttered, the beauty was in the basic idea of having a hooped away shirt that hinted at green and had an acceptable alternative to white.  The finished product bore a passing resemblance to a common flying insect and the Parkhead faithful had something to wear that was a departure from the usual uniformity.

Ever since, and building momentum, the Celtic fans have hoped for and requested some kind of a return to the Bumblebee.  There has even been a petition!  As Umbro had designed the kit, once Nike took over hope seemed to be fading but soon Umbro were to become a wing of the American giant and doors reopened.  The mock-ups have been doing the rounds for a few months but the finished article has arrived and few are disappointed.