Football and Fashion |

Burton menswear has announced the launch of its Score Draw competition. The Score Draw collection is a retro collection of football shirts to celebrate the great years of footballing champions and cool shirts.

There are 20 shirts available in the collection, covering 10 English clubs: Manchester United, Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur, Everton, West Ham United, Leeds United, Newcastle United, Aston Villa, Sunderland and Manchester City, plus 4 Scotland shirts soon to be available.

The Score Draw brand is the leading supplier of official retro football shirts in the World.  Score Draw football shirts are officially licensed and endorsed by more than 40 football clubs and national associations accommodating over 600 styles from over five decades. Every Score Draw football shirt is meticulously researched and designed to represent the original garment worn by momentous old teams and players – football shirts fit for heroes – that are widely accepted by football clubs, players and supporters as the definitive reproduction.

To celebrate this collection Burton is giving the chance to win a T-shirt – a Brazil 1970 World Cup Final shirt signed by the world’s greatest ever player, Pele.

This authentic reproduction Score Draw shirt represents the all-time football shirt design classic. Worn by the famous Brazil team of the 1970 Mexico World Cup Final in the 4-1 victory over Italy, the top epitomises the classic encounter of the irresistible force meeting the immovable object as the Brazilian force prevailed and secured a record third World Cup triumph (1958, 1962, 1970).

This Score Draw shirt has been autographed by Edison Arantes do Nascimento, better known as Pele, who played in 92 internationals (scoring 77 goals) for Brazil – including two World Cup Finals.

For a chance to win this signed collectible retro Brazil shirt signed by Pele, entrants just need to fill out a competition entry form on the Burton site. The closing date for this competition is 12 February.

For more information – click here.

Considered to be the most popular sport in the UK and pretty much across the world, football has a legion of follows who claim support of their local or favourite team by wearing their football shirts. In the early days of football there were no uniform kits instead players would wear what they had and distinguished themselves by wearing coloured caps, scarves or sashes.

The first uniform kits began to appear around 1870 just before the creation of the FA, back then most teams came from public schools or officers serving in the army so the team colours were distinguished by their colours.  It wasn’t until the late 1870’s that working people in Scotland formed their own teams that the sport became more widespread, once more working class people wanted to form teams it caused a departure from footballs upper class roots. With the formation of more teams came the first manufacturer of sportswear in the UK by a company called Bukta which was established in 1879.

The player’s tops known as ‘jersey’ became popular and featured many designs, a lot of the early era of organised English football began to disappear and football kits became more distinguished for each team. Many of the kits worn today still feature the clubs trademarks from the early 1900s in particular Manchester United’s most recent strip which features a bold V design, which was a new design first worn by them in the 1909 FA Cup.

Many fans now like to emulate their favourite player by wearing the kit which features their name on or creating their own replica t-shirt from a prominent time in the clubs history which can be custom to any design. Numbers and names are often applied to the back of Replica kits via a method of t-shirt printing.

The Fashion of Football, by Paolo Hewitt and mark Baxter, is a groundbreaking work that examines for the first time the link between football and fashion. Voted one of the 50 best football books by Four Four Two magainzine, it features a selection of rare photographs which enliven the text, the book divides itself into a work of two halves – the first depicting how fashion has influenced the players and the second showing how it has been represented in the stands. We begin in 1962, when restrictions limiting earnings from professional football were lifted and footballers started to splash out on looking good. First we visit George Best’s boutique in Manchester, try on the Terry Venables wig and reveal how the 1970s Chelsea team used flamboyant King’s Road boutiques to gain the upper hand in psychological battles with fierce rivals Leeds. We then move on to the ’80s to consider the influence British black footballers brought to bear on fashion, leaving room to mention the hairdressers and the mullet. Into the ’90s and, well, we’re confronted with Liverpool FC in white suits and David Beckham in a skirt…Back in the stands for the second half, The Fashion of Football describes how football fashion has been influenced by the world around it – from the ’60s working-class Mod look to ski.

Paolo Hewitt is also author of The Sharper Word: A Mod Anthology, The Soul Stylists, Alan McGee and the Story of Creation Records and The Looked After Kid. Mark Baxter is a former shop and club owner with a love of ’60s clothing and Millwall Football Club.

‘Hewitt and Baxter go in for a mix-and-match style…to create a colourful, colloquial history of British football fashions’ The Independent on Sunday

In an age when football fans regularly debate the merits of goal line technology, video referees, players wages, and European super leagues, modern football often seems a million miles away from the era in which ITV’s The Big Match screened live football to millions in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s. Now set for release on DVD, The Big Match: The Best From the Studio, compiles the highlights from the long running football magazine show fronted by Brian Moore.

Packed with big hair, big ‘tashes, but not so big shorts, The Big Match: The Best From the Studio, is a nostalgic trip down memory lane, revisiting an era in which families across the land would huddle around the TV every weekend to watch live football and banter beamed into their living rooms.

Pick a spot in front of the telly for an afternoon of entertainment delivered with the charm, wit and style oozed by Brian Moore and Jimmy Hill as they are joined by Jim Rosenthal and the straight talking Brian Clough. Fans will enjoy a nostalgic trip down memory lane, revisiting the best studio action and reliving the top goals from the era.

In a release packed with previously unreleased content, particular highlights include a beard sporting, pipe smoking Jimmy Hill airing his forthright views on the laws of the game, as well as a chance to see him on linesman duty when the first choice official was injured. Fans who grew up watching The Big Match will remember features such as Viewers Letters, Where are They Now, Jim Rosenthal’s News Desk, and with guest appearances from Eric Morecambe, Mohammed Ali and more, the DVD is a real treat for football fans in need of a break from the fast pace of the modern game.

The DVD is currently available at Amazon UK – click here or below for more details.