Thread by @jpstafford

A brief history of the England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 rugby jersey ahead of the #ENGvFRA game in this weekend's #SixNations.

A thread. 🧵

The white shirt with its famous red rose was first worn back in 1871.

On 27 March, 1871, 20 (yes, 20) men represented England against Scotland at Raeburn Place. The match was played under Scottish laws (laws at this point had regional variations) and played in front of 4,000 spectators.

Played over two 50-minute halves, Scotland won by one goal and one try to England's one try. There were no points awarded in those days, and the home side won thanks to the fact it had more 'goals' (a converted try in this case) than England did.

One England shirt still remains from this first Test match. It belonged to forward John Clayton (Liverpool) and can be viewed at the @wrugbymuseum in Twickenham.

Why did the RFU choose a rose as the symbol of the national side? One theory is it came from the coat of arms of Rugby School, which contains red roses. With a high number of ex-Rugby pupils in the RFU, this is a pretty good theory. This is the school where rugby was 'created'.

The reason why a red rose was chosen is not known for sure (and is a highly complex subject that deserves a thread of its own). The famous Tudor/Union rose of England is made up of 5 white petals from the House of York, and 5 red petals from the House of Lancaster.

The founder of Rugby School was Lawrence Sheriff (a Tudor merchant) and he had the red Lancaster rose on his coat of arms. Which is why the rose on the Rugby School coats are red. Perhaps that is why the RFU took the red rose, not a red/white or white one. No one is exactly sure.

England likely wore a white jersey due to Rugby School wearing white. Of course, white is the main colour of the flag of England too and used by the country's football team too.

This photo is from 1851 at Rugby School.

It was not until 1921 the rose on the England shirt was standardised. In the early years players would supply their own crests to add to the shirt (Northerners sometimes used a white one).

Until the early 1930s, England players wore club sock, much like the Barbarians do today. In the early days of Test rugby, players had to supply their own jerseys too. In other periods, they had to hand them back to the RFU after a game!

The 1922 match with Wales was the first time both teams in this fixture wore numbers. Until then, the wearing of numbers was not consistent in Test rugby.

Today, England redesign their jersey every year or so. In my 'An Illustrated History of English Rugby' book from @Polaris_Books, I've logged every shirt England have worn since 1871 to the present day.

Jersey art by @AnneCakebread.

From 1871 to 1991 the England jersey was the same. Only the style/material of the shirt and the design of the rose changed.

In 1991, Cotton Traders (created by Fran Cotton/Steve Smith, former England players) helped the RFU create a new revenue stream by creating a new design that could be sold as an official jersey. Traditionalists were outraged.

However, a legal dispute during the 1992 Five Nations saw the RFU briefly return England to the traditional kit. (Note Wales here are also wearing a Cotton Traders style kit).

Soon England were back in Cotton Traders kit and wearing a new design. There was also an alternative/change kit for the first time, but it was never worn.

In 1996, to the further horror of traditionalists, England added a sponsor logo for the first time: Cellnet.

Notice that at this time not even Cotton Traders have their logo on the jersey.

In Sydney in the summer of 1999, England wore a non-white shirt for the first time. To mark England's 500th Test and 100 years of Wallaby rugby, the teams wore the colours used by Australia and the British Isles in 1899. Nike is now the kit manufacturer and they add their logo.

England first wear a non-white kit at Twickenham in the 1999 World Cup match against Fiji.

2003 sees the arrival of the new style shirt, designed to be tight fit and hard to grab. Associated with the England side, France also have the same kit as Nike are their shirt manufacturers as well. This is the first England jersey without a collar. Initial versions rip easily.

The 2007 England jersey is one of the least popular ever produced. It's odd 'paint slash' divided fans and, as in 2003, the design was shared with France.

According to my research, England have had 57 jersey designs since the 1991 change (including World Cup variations). Five of these were alternate shirts that were never worn.

The breakdown is:
- Cotton Traders 6 jerseys (1991-96)
- Nike 25 (1997-2011)
- Canterbury 19 (2012-19)
- Umbro 7 (2020-)

England should be commended for twice wearing retro/throwback shirts: once to mark 100 years of Twickenham, and once to mark 150 years of the national side/RFU. Why rugby doesn't do this more I don't know.

The 2022 Autumn Series was the first time England had player names on the jerseys.

What's your favourite England jersey? Or least favourite? My guess is the current one will rank badly among fans now and in the future.

If you like this kind of thread/historical details, please consider buying one of these books. Both of which contain a full colour section detailing the history of Wales and England shirts (drawn by
@AnneCakebread). amazon.co.uk/James-Stafford…

Also, here is the thread on the Welsh jersey, which has almost 250k impressions!

Probably should have added in the thread that while England and Wales both went with 'radical' new designs in the early 1990s with Cotton Traders, only Wales had the Cotton Traders logo on the shirt. Which is interesting in itself? Did the WRU buckle easier? Did CT pay more?