We talk a lot about football shirts here on the Umbro blog, but what do they mean to the wider community? Here, John Devlin of True Colours Football Kits examines the role that a shirt can play away from the football pitch.

‘After recently reading about the Charlton vs Millwall match where both teams wore special shirts commemorating the tragic death of local lads Rob Knox and Jimmy Mizen it got me thinking about how a football shirt’s remit has grown from simply ensuring that one team can be distinguished from another on the field of play.

Thanks to its increasingly iconic status the humble football shirt helps clubs to forge deep bonds with its supporters and community. But now we are also seeing football tops taking on the mantle of social responsibility. The replica jersey is of course one of the primary ways that clubs have become intertwined with supporters. By wearing an identical uniform to the players a supporter proudly displays his tribal colours. Replica shirts also inject the club’s presence into parks and pubs within the local vicinity (and beyond, in the case of the ‘big four’).

When sponsorship first took hold in the British game it was, in the main, local companies (or multi-nationals with a UK office in the area) that stepped up to pay for the privilege of having their logo on a team shirt. Via this mutually beneficial relationship clubs and the local business community became interlinked. As well as being a billboard for business, recent years have seen shirts featuring more socially responsible messages.

One of the first major occasions where this occurred was the 2005 friendly between England the Netherlands with both teams displaying the ‘say no to racism’ slogan on their shirts (England shirt pictured, top). The Netherlands actually went as far as ditching their famous orange jerseys for the match and instead donned a symbolic black and white halved kit.

Football shirts are also becoming more frequently used in promoting charitable causes. In a 2007 initiative pioneered by Everton and Umbro, a pink version of the Everton home kit (pictured) was produced to promote the Breast Cancer charity. Although they were never worn by the first team in a competitive match they were nevertheless so popular that versions were soon produced for general sale with an updated version for the following season. Since then several other clubs have also produced charity fundraising pink versions of their regular home shirt including Oldham Athletic, Huddersfield Town and Bristol Rovers (although theirs was actually down to an April Fools joke about a new pink third shirt that backfired!) Southend United have also recently announced that they will wear a special purple version of their home kit for one match in 09-10 in aid of the ‘End Polio Now’ campaign.

In 2009 the Welsh national side came out in solidarity for one of their own when it was announced that ex-player John Hartson was battling testicular cancer. In the friendly match against Montenegro the side sported special John Hartson Foundation sleeve patches in a campaign spearheaded by men’s cancer charity ‘Check ‘em Lads’. Charity support has also now stretched as far as regular shirt sponsorship with some clubs forsaking lucrative sponsorship fees and allowing a charity to appear on their jerseys instead; Aston Villa have promoted children’s charity Acorns on their kits since 2008 and Leicester City are supporting local hospice LOROS on their 09-10 away kit.

Football shirts have also become very visible icons during some of the most tragic stories that have occurred in the news – both those connected directly to football as well as those outside of the game. When Motherwell hero Phil O’Donnell passed away on the pitch in 2007 the ‘Well side later paid tribute to their captain by wearing special shirts embroidered with ‘Uncle Phil’s’ signature. Ex-Manchester City star Marc Vivien Foe’s premature death led his old club to retire his number 23 shirt in his honour.

The significance of the tribal nature of the football shirt has also been reframed in a positive way. Back in the early 90s when Italian football was marred by violent crowd trouble that led to deaths among supporters, the following match saw every Serie A side take to the pitch wearing their opponent’s shirts before swapping prior to kick off. It was an immensely powerful statement of solidarity amidst the tragedy.

Away from football, shirts have also become links between club and community during some of the sad stories that have hit the headlines in the past decade. When the hunt was on for missing Soham schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman in 2002 one of the frequently distributed photos of the pair showed them in their Manchester United replica shirts. The club responded and in a moving gesture of unity David Beckham led the United team in a pitchside appeal for information.

Similarly in Liverpool, the shooting of Rhys Jones who was subsequently often pictured in the press wearing his Everton shirt, led to a tremendous response from the club and supporters in supporting his family and becoming united in their grief. Rhys’ death inspired the foundation of a charity, Liverpool Unites, to raise awareness of the problem of violence in Merseyside. Last year Everton launched a special purple kit to raise money for the cause. The jersey has ended up being the club’s fastest selling pre-ordered shirt.

These examples show club and community coming together as a team, doing good either by promoting awareness of important social messages, raising money for charity or bringing strength and hope by supporting families in times of tragedy. And all of this helped by the catalyst of the club shirt; a piece of coloured fabric emblazoned with logos and motifs, extending its remit and transforming itself into something much, much greater than the sum of its parts.’