Three Lions on a Shirt: The Official History of the England Football Jersey

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After nine years with Admiral, England and Umbro rekindled their relationship in early 1984. This time the manufacturer's double diamond logo appeared on the front of the lightweight polyester shirts. By the time the World Cup in 1990 came around Umbro had gone for a shirt that was complemented by a simple yet striking pattern of zig-zags and diamonds within the fabric and navy collar.

They ended up on England shirts when the Football Association was looking for an emblem for the kit its players would wear at international games in the late 19th century. They settled on the three lions and presumably gained royal permission (as this was 1879, that must mean that Queen Victoria was somewhat amused at the idea).

There can’t be many football kit afficiandos who are not familiar with Vision Sports’ series of match worn shirt books, driven by kit expert Simon ‘Shakey’ Shakeshaft. In each tome Shakey is joined by fellow collectors and between them, using photos of the actual shirts, they tell the story of a club’s kit history. So far Arsenal and Spurs have been featured in the weighty, coffee table editions alongside a companion publication ‘The Rangers Shirt’.

This time round Shakey turns his attention to the England shirt with this new book (published November 2022), ‘Three Lions on a Shirt’. An official FA publication, collectors Daren Burney and Neville Evans (owner of without doubt THE most incredible football shirt and memorabilia collection) join Shakey once again, as they both did for the Spurs book, and open their archives. Goalkeeper shirt fans (Rob Stokes, I’m looking at YOU) won’t be disappointed either as keepers’ attire is also well documented in the book. There is something here for England fans and kit obsessives alike. Matchday embroidery, shirt numbers, variations, trim – it’s all covered in comprehensive detail and always presented in a very readable way. And while the look of the Three Lions may have changed over the years, they have been ever present on the England kit since the 1870s - apart from a few rogue shirts in the 1970s - but we’ll come to that later. Forgotten the title or the author of a book? Our BookSleuth is specially designed for you. Visit BookSleuth In 1974, out went Sir Alf Ramsey and Umbro and in came Don Revie and Admiral. Revie had a relationship with the Leicester-based sportswear company from his time at Leeds and brought them to the national team. With it came new designs and colours as well as a commercial relationship between kit suppliers and teams.Three Lions on a Shirt is a beautiful, high quality coffee-table book containing an incredible collection of historic match worn England football shirts. Fast forward a few decades and Richard was getting ready to choose an emblem of his own. He was the son of King Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine and his powerhouse of a mother also had a lion on her own family coat of arms. So Richard added a third lion to his personal crest and suddenly, we’re singing.