Forget Leeds 1973: readers reveal replica kits date back to the 1950s

Last week The Guardian's Knowledge column answered the question of when fans first started wearing replica kits with Leeds United in 1973 — complete with the caveat that earlier, unofficial examples existed. Dozens of readers have since written in with pre-1973 evidence.

"I had an Umbro Brazil strip in 1970 – I was eight – and a Celtic one before that," wrote Janette and Brian Kidd, noting that early strips had badges and sometimes numbers of great players but were worn only on the pitch.

Others went further back still. "Please find pictures of my Umbro Manchester United child football kit, circa 1967, complete with grass stains," wrote Simon Crompton. "It may not have had any official branding but when I wore it I was, of course, George Best." Andy Wainwright recalled receiving a full Nottingham Forest replica kit for Christmas around 1970, while Keith Foster had a Liverpool kit in 1969 from John Bennett's shop on the Old Kent Road, which stocked "all the top teams' kits, home and away. All probably unofficial."

One reader, Frank Close, stumbled upon a piece of history: "In 1959 as a 14-year-old in Wilmslow, my summer holiday job was packing Manchester United kit into boxes as potential Christmas presents for children. Until today, I hadn't realised I was part of history."

The Brazil 1970 quirk

The official Brazil kit was not sold commercially during the 1970 World Cup, so reader-owned Umbro versions likely differed slightly from players' shirts. Brazil's squad itself wore two nearly identical shirts in that tournament — one by domestic manufacturer Athleta and one by Umbro, differing only in the collar tag and number shape. Pelé, Jairzinho and co wore the Athleta shirt in the first half of matches and Umbro in the second — except in the final, where they wore Umbro from the start.

Pop culture and caution

Replica shirts even surfaced on screen: Alan Hull appeared on The Old Grey Whistle Test in 1971 in a Newcastle shirt, and the 1969 film Kes features Brian Glover in his 'Bobby Charlton kit' while one child wears a Burnley shirt. Readers recalled West Ham away shirts among eight and nine-year-olds in the mid-60s, and Michael Parkinson's anecdote of a 1950s Barnsley supporter who wore the full kit under his outdoor clothes to every match, dreaming of being called from the crowd when the team was a man short.

But wearing shirts to matches? Rarely, readers said. "Firstly, it's usually too cold to watch a game in just a shirt, and in the hooligan days, you'd be putting a target on your back. I used to go to Liverpool games in London with just an easily foldable silk scarf in my pocket. Better to be incognito!"