Although we all think of player numbers on their shirts as the norm today, originally football shirts did not display numbers at all. The England football team first wore team numbers on their shirts in 1937, in a match against Scotland in Glasgow. The next major milestone in the uniform’s history didn’t occur until over ten years later in 1948, when the team displayed the crown symbol on their emblem for the last time. A year later the Tudor Roses were introduced to the emblem for the first time. Another thing we take for granted with football shirts today is the short sleeves, at least for the outfield players. However, that was only introduced in 1950, prior to which the entire team wore shirts with long sleeves.

The numbers introduced to the shirts in 1937 were team numbers, but were updated to squad numbers in 1954. The actual design of the shirt underwent another significant change in the same year when England wore shirts with a V-neck for the first time, setting the precedent for the next few decades. The tradition of long white socks on the England team began in 1957. Their old royal blue shirt was worn for the last time in 1959, and the all red shirt donned for the first time a few years later in 1962. The first time a light blue uniform was introduced was in 1970, with a yellow shirt donned in 1973 but quickly gotten rid of later that year.

There have also been several milestones in the development of the goal keeper shirts. In 1958, the England goal keeper of the time was Colin McDonald. He wore a numbered jersey for the very first time. In 1970, the England keeper Gordon Banks wore a red jersey for the first time. He was also the first player to wear the Umbro logo, introduced to his uniform in 1971. Tracksuit bottoms have become a norm for goal keepers as they are permitted to wear them instead of shorts according to the Laws of the Game. England goal keeper Peter Shilton was the first to wear tracksuit bottoms in 1973.

At the end of the day, the main difference is that English football clubs would prefer to see players from their own country. That doesn’t mean if a Spanish player is traded to an English club that they won’t be accepted with open arms but to understand football is to realise that fans absolutely love to back their hometown hero. The World Cup is a classic example of the patriotic fervor a people have toward their team. This is only emboldened even more so when a player from the local community plays for the team of that city and goes on to play at an exceptional level.

English football clubs are in favour of the rule that fosters the home grown player and we think that’s a good rule. People are proud where they come from and in many ways sports personalities that achieve great success are in their own way ambassadors for not only the sport in which they excel but also for their country.

The Premier League has seen English clubs in the finals as of late including Manchester United as the winner in 2008 as well the same club has entered as a finalist in the 2009 season only to be beat by the formidable Barcelona FC club. Football is arguably the most popular sport worldwide and the English Premier League football clubs tend to rank highly among the semi-finalists.

There are teams that sometime scrape by due to knockout games but England is either there in the finals (as of late) or are certainly there to make the competition nervous. Some will argue that English clubs aren’t as fancy-footed or create the most exciting goals but every team in Europe knows that when an English club enters the foray, they will have to earn every goal in order to win the Champions League. At the risk of sounding biased but it’s not uncommon to see an English club at least in the sem-finals if not the finals.

Since English Premier League football attracts some of the richest owners in the world it’s no wonder certain teams can produce the winning records they do. With money behind a club they can pay for the best players in the world and even though there is criticism of player salaries, at the end of the day it’s the passion of each player to help their team to victory that determines the fate of any club, English or otherwise.