Non-League Day: Our Top 6 Retro Shirts!

It’s Non League Day today, so we thought we’d round up our favourite retro non-league shirts, courtesy of the good people at Toffs. Their range is pretty good if it’s some serious retro shirt action you’re after, and unlike other manufacturers, they delve into some really obscure teams.

Click on the titles to head to the Toffs store!

Top 6 Retro Non League Shirts:

Chesterfield FC 1978 Home Shirt

Bath City 1960 Home Shirt

Aldershot Town 1970 Home Shirt

York City 1974 Home Shirt

Bradford Park Avenue 1930 Home Shirt

Halifax Town 1973 Home Shirt

Manchester United vs. Arsenal: Top 6

It’s the big(ish) one tonight: Man Utd vs. Arsenal. In days gone by, this was one of the absolute highlights of any given season, but these days its influence has waned somewhat, mainly due to the football juggernauts of Man City and Liverpool dominating the top 2 every year.

That said, it’s still a lot of fun, and if you remember back to the 90s and 00s, these two absolutely hated each other, and each meeting was a battle between Wenger’s fluid French footwork, and United’s equally impressive grit and determination.

There’s a great podcast about it by the guys behind Mundial here, which is well worth a listen:

Anyway, we’ve chosen three of our favourite shirts from each team here:

Arsenal Home 1994

Manchester United Away 1992

Manchester United Away 1990

Arsenal Away 1991

Manchester United Away 2019

Arsenal Away 2005

Top 5: Women’s World Cup Shirts

Admittedly it’s quite late to be doing round-ups of shirts from the Women’s World Cup, but as the next round of international friendlies is taking place at the moment, we thought it’d be a good idea to take a look at 5 of our top shirts from the world of Women’s football.

Norway (Home)

There’s a whole lot to like about the Norway shirt: the gradient from red to blue, mirroring the nation’s crest, the subtle graphics in the gradient itself, the rich colour palette, the no-collar neck, the way the colour scheme carries on into the shorts and socks: it ticks a lot of boxes, and personally I think this is probably the most well thought out and executed kit I’ve ever seen.

Grab a shirt from Kitbag here.

Netherlands (Home)

Another great kit from Nike here, and it’s not a million miles away from the Norway kit above. Nike seem to be absolutely amazing at this subtle gradient thing, and so it proves with the Dutch home jersey. Mixed with the geometric patterns which are very low key in the design, the whole thing gets that added extra something which makes it a lot more interesting than just a plain orange shirt. Oh, and again – the flow from the shirt into the shorts and socks is 10/10.

Buy one from UKsoccershop here.

England (Away)

Yes, this is getting to be a bit of a love-in for Nike shirts, but damn if they don’t absolutely nail it every time. Another graphics-heavy shirt, the specially made Lionesses top came with just a beautiful shade of deep red, some brilliantly subtle flower graphic elements, and a great little bit of shading on the sleeves.

Pick one up from Kitbag here.

Australia (Home)

A lot less subtle than others in the world cup, the ostentatious Australia kit just looks incredible, doesn’t it? The bright colours, the bold graphic stripes, the washes of yellow and white everywhere: it’s a brilliant bit of work.

Get one from Kitbag here.

USA (Away)

I suppose any talk of the Women’s World Cup has to talk about the eventual winners, the USA. Aside from the fairly plain home shirt, the away one is another subtle deep-red affair, quite similar to the Lionesses one, but with flashes of the stars and stripes in there. The crest is also really nice, but as we’re a shirts blog, and not a crest blog, I’ll keep crest talk to a minimum. Anyway, a brilliant design for a brilliant team.

Nab one on Kitbag here.

1982 And All That: Top 10 Aston Villa Shirts

Back when I was a kid, I didn’t actually have a football team. I’d not attached myself to anyone, as I was only really getting into the sport properly as I got a bit older. So I started thinking about who to support. My Dad’s team was Bradford (Park Avenue), and my brother had a fondness for their city rivals Bradford City (and Manchester United, but what 90s kid didn’t?), so I was left with one option left, from my Mum’s side of the family: Aston Villa. My mum (sorry, ‘mom’) is a brummie from Selly Oak, and as it turned out, most of her parents and grandparents had been Villa fans. Driving down to see my grandma, I’d always marvel at Villa Park, just in sight off the motorway as we approached Brum, so I guess it gradually made sense to carry on the family tradition and have at least one Villa fan in it. So I decided to follow the Villa. That was… maybe 1993? The first shirt I remember having was the Müller one, so it must’ve been just before then ’94 season, which brings us nicely onto a very personal top 10: Aston Villa’s finest (and not so finest) shirts.

Home (1994)

The aforementioned classic. However iconic it is to people of a certain age, the Müller top would bobble like crazy, and the material would not exactly be the nicest to wear, but I think I pretty much ran this shirt into the ground – I wore it everywhere, so god knows what it looked like by the time it finally gave up the ghost.

Buy one here.

Away (2018)

For this one, I’ll let my girlfriend Sophie take over, as she became a Villain by proxy when we started going out: The 18/19 away was my first Villa shirt, gifted to me by Gavin after football started becoming a shared passion, and not something he obsessed over every weekend. The Luke Roper designs were just amazing: the fit felt really modern, but the pin-stripe detail was a great little nod to the early 80s kits.

Goalkeeper (1994)

I fancied myself as a bit of a keeper when I was younger, but god knows why because I was absolutely rubbish. My school’s team could never persuade anyone to go in net, so I volunteered, thinking I was the Yorkshire Gordon Banks, but I was in all honesty, closer to a Yorkshire Peter Enckleman. Anyway, the 94 goalie top is a bit of an eyesore isn’t it? There’s something quite fun about just how weird it is though, looking at it from 2019, but the elbow pads and the shoulder pads made it like walking around wearing a sofa. Thankfully, even the keeper tops these days are stylish and slick.

Home (1997)

This one was the last Villa shirt I owned, if I remember rightly. I had a period where I wasn’t so much into football- I burned out on the whole thing as I was growing up into difficult teenage years. My parents were probably quite relieved that they could stop buying so much Villa merch to be honest, as I’d been no doubt burning holes in their wallets with the sheer amount of Aston Villa stuff I had lying around. I even had a keyring from the 93/94 season that had 3 blades of grass from Villa Park inside – driven myself to distraction trying to find a replacement online, but from the looks of things, it’s lost to history. Either that, or it was a weird knockoff.

Away (2016)

Ah, our first season in the champo. Not exactly something to want to commemorate, but after a spell of not having a shirt for years, I decided to make up for lost time once I’d joined a gym and realised I actually needed some athletic gear instead of sweating through various band t-shirts. I snapped this one up on the cheap a year or so after it was retired, so although that season wasn’t much to write home about, it did make me feel good to be back in a Villa shirt after so many years of pretending I didn’t need one.

Buy one here.

Third (2018)

I hear this one divided fans, but I could never see anything wrong with it: it’s just so nice to look at isn’t it? The collar and the fit are so nice as well – it’s honestly one of my favourite shirts I’ve ever owned, or probably even just looked at. Mind you, I’m a sucker for stripes, and deep reds and purples, so this is right up my street.

Buy one here.

Home (1988)

I was just a bit too young for this one the first time round, but looking at it now it’s got everything: the circle badge, the two-tone stripes, the warm colours, even the font on ‘Mita Copiers’ has that secretly-quite-nice-but-you-probably-wouldn’t-admit-it feel to it. Beautiful.

Buy one here.

Away (2013)

Probably most notable for looking like a battenburg, but we did beat Arsenal 3-1 in it too, so it’ll always have a special place in my heart for just that reason alone. I doubt many would call it a classic, but there’s something I quite like about the chequerboard design: even the collar is split in two colours, which is a nice touch.

Pre-Match (2019)

These new Kappa ones are a bit hit-and-miss aren’t they? If I’m honest, I think I probably like the training gear and this pre-match one a little more than the actual home shirt. Love the stripes and the two-tone thing (as I’ve mentioned previously, I’m a sucker for stripes), and it has a little something extra about it which is just… I dunno, nice? Anyway, I’ll probably end up buying this at some point, although maybe I’ll need an XXXXXXL as opposed to my usual small, just to make sure it fits.

Buy one here.

Away 1982

You can’t not mention this one can you? Champions of Europe, beautiful cold white, circle badge in the middle, pinstripes: just absolutely perfect.

Buy one here.

Top 5: 2019 Pre-Match Shirts

Pre-match shirts are a relatively new phenomenon, but from the designs on offer from Europe’s top clubs, they could soon start to hold their own against the actual matchday strips, especially as they’re cheaper and a little more unique. Here are 5 from this season that are very definitely worth a shout:

AS Roma

The great thing about a lot of these pre-match shirts is the fact the pressure to create something iconic and tasteful for the home, away (and to a lesser extent) third strips is definitely off, and designers can start to stretch their imaginations a little more. Plus the fact that (for most of them, anyway) sponsors are removed too, and it’s a field day for the people at the helm. Anyway, here’s AS Roma’s magnificent gold and red cloud design. Just look at that. My word.

Most definitely buy one here.

Juventus

Staying in Italy, but journeying over to Juve, here’s their amazing ink-splatter-or-is-it-outer-space pre-match top. Love the colours and the bold design, which is a little similar to the new Arsenal one, but we’re not complaining. Almost like wearing a piece of art on your torso, and a nice splash of colour after last season’s black and white affair. Which, in fairness, was still bloody gorgeous.

Buy one here.

Paris St. Germain

Shuttling over to France now, and to PSG. There’s a lot to get into here, and as big fans of jagged lines here at FSR, this one ticked a lot of boxes for us. The added Jordan logo is another cool little touch, and the dark hues and gradients on the lines really give it a unique feel: adventurous, but not too gaudy, which is something I never thought I’d say about PSG.

Buy one here.

Aston Villa

Whilst not exactly the most glamourous of clubs in the list, the Premier League newcomers’ pre-match shirt is definitely up there with the best. The two-tone lines and subtle colours actually make this one nicer than the 19/20 home and away shirts, and also evoke those amazing 80s Villa strips. Kappa came in for a lot of stick amongst Villa fans, as the new designs were definitely a downgrade on last season’s superb Luke Roper kits, and sizing issues have also taken a lot of getting used to. It’s a shame, as the training tops and this pre-match one are so good, but the actual matchday kits are a little disappointing.

Buy one here.

Chelsea

Reinvigorated with a new manager, and a fresh line-up of mainly youth-squad players, there is a lot to be excited about if you’re a Chelsea fan this season. Add to that list, the brilliant pre-match top from Nike. If you can, try and get your hands on the sponsor-less version, as it’s so much nicer than the one with a Carabao logo plastered on the front of it.

Buy one here.

Top 5: Shirts From The Soviets

When the old Soviet bloc was crumbling in the late 80s and early 90s, it paved the way for a bright new future in Eastern Europe, as countries in the area regained independence. Football from the region has a long and illustrious past, so we thought we’d look at some shirts from behind the old iron curtain.

Slovenia (Away) 2018

Nestled in what was once Yugoslavia, Slovenia has been on the up for years now, and Nike’s 2018 away shirt gives the national side a slick, beautifully designed shirt with a brilliant line-drawn graphic of the crest on the front.

Buy one here.

Poland (Home) 1982

A classic white-and-red pinstriped look for the early 80s Polish side, with the nation’s crest proudly emblazoned on the front.

Buy one here.

Soviet Union (Home) 1960

A classic, with bold Russian lettering on the front and stark white and red colouring.

Buy one here.

Czech Republic (Home) 2018

As we’ve mentioned before, we’re big fans of graphics on shirts (this Ivory Coast one being another great example), so we absolutely love this Czech Republic one from Puma, with the lion face on the front.

Buy one here.

DDR (East Germany) 1983

The old East German side used to play in this classic 80s blue and white pin-stripe number with the big, bold lettering just above the crest.

Buy one here.

Top 5: US Football Shirts/ Soccer Jerseys

Americans and football (or soccer, if you prefer) have always had a bit of an on/ off relationship over the past century or so, but during the 1960s, 70s, and 80s, and before the mega money MLS came into town, there was the NASL. Probably most famous for Pele’s appearance as part of the New York Cosmos, the league structure went through some ups and downs before the relatively stable and well-funded MLS took over in the mid to late 1990s. Back then though, they didn’t half knock out some amazing kits. Here’s five definitely worth your time and money:

New York Cosmos (1970)

Pele’s old team looked so good in this classic white and green shirt. Even better with his number on the front too.

Buy one here.

Tampa Bay Rowdies (1988)

A little on the ostentatious side, the Rowdies from Tampa Bay certainly stood out in this almost-baseball jersey from the late 1980s.

Buy one here.

Washington Diplomats (1974)

The team from the capital, the Diplomats (or ‘Dips’) had style and cool with this sash design from the mid 1970s.

Buy one here.

LA Aztecs (1978)

Straight outta Hollywood, the LA Aztecs had this beautiful and sleek white, orange and black number when playing games.

Buy one here.

California Surf (1970)

Another understated classic, the Surf had this simple yet effective design for games in the 70s.

Buy one here.

What is a Concept Football Shirt?

A concept football shirt is basically an unofficial shirt, made by fans who happen to be good at graphic design. Designers can work with certain manufacturers to bring their creations to life, although many simply remain as pictures as part of larger collections.

Websites such as DesignFootball.com run competitions for designs, and also act as a hive for designers to show off their work, although a search on Twitter using certain hashtags will bring back some very lovely (if unused) designs, such as this one:

Bradford City AFC “Lister Mills Concept Kit”#bcafc #bradford #listermills #football #kit #footballkit #footballkitdesigns #footballkitdesign #conceptkit #claret #amber #valleyparade #efl #eflleagueone #bantams #westyorkshire #soccer #soccerkitdesign

❤️?❤️? pic.twitter.com/1eguPLUL7L

— Jon Maher (@jonmaher) December 9, 2018

Where Can I Buy A Concept Football Shirt?

There are a few shops that sell them, but the biggest is probably UK Soccer Shop. Here are a few that we really like:

Norway (Buy)

Iceland (Buy)

Mexico (Buy)

Where Can I See More?

There are plenty of great designers out there, so the best advice is to start following these guys:

View this post on Instagram

Nike x Supreme x Thrasher Inspired Football Kit Concept for Barcelona by @SETTPACE & @MarlonSETTPACE _ What jersey shall I do next?

A post shared by SETTPACE (@settpace) on Jun 11, 2017 at 12:46pm PDT

View this post on Instagram

@mancity x @Nike x @supremenewyork x @thenorthface 2017/18 Away kit concept – inspired by TNF x Supreme Mountain Baltoro Jacket. Let me know who to do next in the comments ??

A post shared by Andy (@xztals) on Jan 5, 2018 at 12:18pm PST

Félicitations @USWNT ???⚽️
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️#USWNT #OneNationOneTeam #usa #FIFAWWC pic.twitter.com/zN5QBHU2FV

— Graphic UNTD (@GraphicUNTD) July 7, 2019