Football Shirts: England Away

After much waiting and over-blown hype the new England away kits have been revealed. Last year's home shirt set new levels for design and quality and there was hope that the away shirt would follow suit. It was an open secret that it would be red, and due to the simplistic and nostalgic influences of the 'Tailored by Umbro' range that it would bear a striking resemblance to the mythical shirt worn when Bobby Moore lifted the World Cup trophy in 1966. However, the devil is in the detail and so there was a fair degree of baited breath until the kits were seen in the flesh for the first time.

And now we have them, both the red outfield shirt and the goalkeepers jersey. Both are wonderful. There is no question that they take an unapologetic influence from the '66 shirts, but rather than being a totally plain red shirt it is pleasing to see the designers have taken pains to make it more than a total homage and so hopefully play down the '66 references and make it something of it's own. The sleeves are capped with a white cuff and the sleeves are rendered in a slightly darker shade of material to the main body that gives the shirt a sense of strength.

I am also over the moon with the goalkeepers kit. Again, like the outfield players shirt it takes it's cues from the 1966 iteration but the styling and the colour are perfectly done.

I reached 25 without ever owning an England shirt. Having already acquired the home goalie shirt for my recent birthday (thank you special person!) I now find myself clamouring for both these new shirts and the white home shirt. They are just too beautiful to resist, and I know that is likely that there will probably not be another set of England shirts to rival them. I am compelled to have the set.