Birmingham football shirts

The Birmingham City Football Team has a long history of contributing to the design of all uniform kits for the sport of football. They also have a legacy of great team kits throughout their long history of over 100 years. And, like their nickname, the Blues, the color blue has long been a part of it.

Birmingham Football Kit – Early Years

The Birmingham Football Team began in 1875 as some employees of the Small Health Alliance formed a club and took up playing football with other local teams. From the beginning, Birmingham football shirts were blue. The first uniforms were white knickers, blue socks and a blue shirt. The shirt had a white sash that crossed the front of the shirt from the left. Originally, team members wore any blue shirt they had; later on a Birmingham football kit was developed. In 1882 the team dropped using the sash until 1885. In this year, the team added gold stripes to the shirt with navy blue stripes and adopted navy blue socks. This Birmingham football kit was not popular; the next season the team returned to the kit with the plain midnight blue shirt and socks. This lasted through 1889. In 1888, Birmingham became the Small Health Football Club. Wanting to flex the ownership change, in1889 the club switched uniforms again to a navy blue shirt with a gold collar. This kit was again not very popular, so in 1890 the team switched back to a solid royal blue shirt, blue socks and white shorts. This uniform lasted until 1893 when the uniform styles changed again. Starting in 1894, the Birmingham football shirts became light blue with a midnight blue collar and trim with a midnight blue front pocket. This uniform was to carry Birmingham into the next century.

Birmingham City FC Shirts – The New Century

In 1905, the club changed its name to Birmingham Football Club. The uniform continued to be the combination light and midnight blue until 1904. During this season, the Birmingham football shirts returned to a plain royal blue shirt with navy blue socks and white shorts. In 1913 the new fashion in kits became shirts with chevrons added to the front. The Birmingham football kit was one of the first to use the chevron, according to David Moor from Historical Football Kits. Their chevron was white and ran about half way down the blue shirt. The uniform also featured white collars and sleeve trims. In 1921 the chevron became wider and deeper on the shirt. In 1922 the club dropped the white trim from the collar. This continued until 1925 when the uniform was changed to a darker blue. This was not popular with the fans or Bluenoses, being perceived as “too blue.” Next year the kit was changed again to the joy of the fans.

Birmingham Shirt – The First Half of the 1900s

Starting in 1926, the Birmingham football kit returned to the royal blue color with a white collar and sleeve trims. This uniform was used unchanged to 1933. The chevrons were out. In 1933, some changes were done to the socks only. This year the socks were Navy blue with white and royal blue stripes on the trim. In 1934, the socks were changed to white and royal blue stripes throughout. Not to popular, in 1935 the socks were switched to royal blue with a solid white trim. In 1935 through 1939 the socks were changed to royal blue with white and blue stripes on the trim. In 1940 the socks returned to alternating blue and white stripes. This kit lasted until 1945. In 1945, the club changed its name to the Birmingham City Football Club. The Birmingham football shirts were changed to include the city seal on the shirt with plain royal blue socks.

Birmingham Football Shirts – The Post World War II Years

With the exception of the 1945 year when the uniform did not bear the city seal, the Birmingham football kit consisted of white shorts and royal blue shirt with a white collar, white sleeve trim and the city seal. During these years, until 1957, the kits remained the same except for the socks. The white shorts also became much shorter, no longer reaching to the knees. In 1956, the uniforms were modernized again. Gone were the white collars and long sleeves. The collar was replaced with white trim at the neck in a V-pattern. The sleeves were cropped about the elbows with white trim. The shorts had a blue stripe on the side. In 1958, the stripe on the shorts was dropped and the socks became white with royal blue trim. In 1962, the Birmingham uniform shirts were changed back to long sleeves with white trim. The collar remained gone, but the neck trim changed into a circle from the former V-design.

1960s Birmingham football shirtsBirmingham City Shirt – The 1960s and 1970s

Starting in 1962, the city seal was no longer featured on the uniform due to league changes. Small kit

1971 Birmingham football shirts

tweaks continued. In 1962, the shirt trim was blue and white stripes. In 1965, the trim was white with one blue stripe. The socks were white with blue trim. In 1967, more changes occurred. The socks became solid white again. The shorts were now solid blue except for a white stripe on the side. The shirt was blue with solid white trim. From 1967 to 1970, the uniform became solid royal blue for both shorts and shirts. In 1971, the letters BCFC were added to the front of the shirt in white. Tired of solid blue, the Blues led a uniform change by returning to white shorts with a large white panel on the front of their shirts, including the color trim. The rest of the Birmingham football shirts were royal blue. This uniform continued until 1975 when Umbro replaced BCFC on the shirt due to a league contract. In 1977, Adidas took over making the uniforms. The uniform was changed to include blue and white stripes in the sides of both the shirt and the shorts, along with the Adidas corporate logo on every uniform piece. This lasted until 1983.

Birmingham City Football Shirts – The 1980s and 1990s Kits

The 1980s brought a new uniform maker, Patrick, who added their own touches. The uniform shirt was blue with white stripes first on the sides, then with thin stripes throughout the uniform. The stripes were set several inches apart. Patrick’s corporate color was orange, so the socks became orange and white. Several blue stripes in a chevron were added to the side of the shorts. Later on, some orange trim was added to both the shirt and shorts. In 1986, Matchwinner took over and dropped the orange. Matchwinner supplied white shorts with a blue stripe on the side, a shirt with stripes in two blue shades and socks in royal blue with white trim. Team sponsors also added their name to the front of the shirt such as Co-op Milk and PJ Evans. From 1988 to 1991, the company put out kits with a square print throughout the shorts and shirt. According to David Moor, these uniforms were some of the most unusual. The pants were white with a light grey squares and the shirts were varying blue squares. In 1992, another company took over, ending the squares. Influence added some gold trim to the uniform plus an assortment of print styles for the shirt. In 1993, the uniform was a print of rectangular shapes on both shirts and pants on a blue background. In 1994, Admiral took over and turned out Birmingham football kits with a light checkered background in blue and white. The Birmingham team symbol was added to the uniform shirt and team sponsors continued on the shirt. At this time, the sponsor was Triton. Pony took over for 1996 and 1997 and returned to a large white stripe on the front of the shirt. Le Coq Sportif took over and changed the uniform each year of their league uniform contract. The colors remained blue and white, with stripes added to the shirt. One year, black was used to trim the sides of the shirt.

Birmingham FC Shirt – The Uniforms of the 22 Century

The Le Coq Sportif uniforms took Birmingham into another new century. Diadora took over in 2004 2011 Birmingham football shirtsadded stripes to the sides of the socks, shorts, and shirt. In 2005 Lonsdale took over keeping the blue and white but adding white trim in different locations on the shorts and shirts. Umbro took over in 2007 and continued with the blue and white color set. They altered the trim and for one year, the shorts were also solid blue. The team supporters Flybe.com and F&C were placed prominently on the shirts. The Club was sold in 2007 to a Hong Kong businessman Carson Yeung. The club’s uniforms began to be made by Xtep who returned to short sleeves and included some unique white and blue patterning on the shorts and shirts. The 2011 uniform returned to solid blue with a small amount of white trim. Thanks to league rules, the away uniform is now a basic black color with blue trim and socks. There is also a third uniform which consists of a shirt with gold and blue stripes, white shorts and white socks with blue trim. Collars are out, and the sleeves are about half way down to the elbow.

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