Getting Shirty: some Welsh rare bits
Shirt labels might not sound like the most exciting item in the world, but here football kit fan Jeff Maysh examines some labels that offer a fascinating insight into Umbro’s history.
‘You’ve just got to look at this. An original 1958 Welsh national shirt, ‘styled’ by Scotsman Matt Busby, and made in England. Could these photographs reveal the most interesting and important Umbro relics ever?
Jack Kelsey 'keeper's jersey, Wales v Scotland 1959
ROY PAUL, WALES VS. NORTHERN IRELAND, 1951
Like the Indiana Jones of the football world, this week Umbro were fortunate enough to have our sticky beaks inside one of Britain’s most exciting private football shirt collections, and we uncovered these lovely examples of 1950s and 1960s Wales International shirts.
Notice the ‘Jack Sharp’ label. Sharpy played for Everton between 1900-1909, played twice for his country at football and even scored 22,715 runs with the national cricket team. On retiring, he started a successful sports shop in Whitechapel, Liverpool, which was the official supplier of strips to Liverpool (and Wales) for a time. The shop existed until the 1980s before being taken over by JJB Sports and later closed, leaving these labels on surviving match shirts the only existing memory of the business.
Stuart Williams Home v England 12-10-63
If you’re a football geek like us, and like looking at old Umbro logos, check out how the labels changed between the 50s and 60s [below], by peeping inside the match shirts of Stuart Williams (top, worn vs. Scotland 18th October 1958), Mike England (middle, worn vs. Scotland, 24th November 1965), and Roy Vernon, (bottom, worn vs. N.Ireland on 30th March 1966). Vernon’s label even reads ‘as used by Real Madrid FC’, a motif that was soon replaced with ‘as worn by England, the World Cup Winners’.
Still excited? Here are some more snaps, from the quite astonishing collection of Simon Shakeshaft, curator at walesmatchshirts.com who says, “these labels are fascinating for the football shirt collector, and show a unique relationship between Umbro and the Wales national team over a number of decades.”‘
ROY PAUL, HOME V NORTHERN IRELAND 1951
Stuart Williams Home v Scotland HIC 18-10-58
Mike England Home v England WCQ 15-11-72
Gary Sprake's 'keeper jersey, vs. East Germany World Cup Qualifier 22-10-69
On 26 Jan 2010, at 2:41 pm Tim wrote:
Bit of a boring sod that Shakey, isn’t he?
On 26 Jan 2010, at 5:05 pm Dafydd Jones wrote:
Amazing though most look like old Manchester United shirts I prefered when they changed and looked more different and Welsh
On 20 Jul 2010, at 10:26 am New Kit Information. - Page 6 - RedPassion.co.uk - Wrexham wrote:
[...] Wales kit is out the beginning of August made by Umbro, wonder if that will have the same label! Umbro Blog – Getting Shirty: some Welsh rare bits [...]
On 27 Jul 2010, at 4:07 pm John Devlin wrote:
Fascinating stuff! Tim, you know you love it too!! I’d like to see the official names (eg Real, Tangeru) of all of Umbro’s 60s/70s jerseys