Footie through kits story

FANCY showing your team pride? It’s Footy Colours Day. For the annual event in Australia, fans wear their best kit to raise cash for charity the Fight Cancer Foundation. But how much do you know about footie strips through the ages? Here MEG JORSH ★ kicks off the celebrations with some fascinating facts...

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STARTER KIT: The earliest record of footie-specific clothing comes from an inventory of King Henry VIII's wardrobe. It showed that he ordered a pair of “football boots” in 1526, when he was 35, which cost four shillings (about £100) and were made from heavy leather.

SEWING KIT: Victorian players were decked out in white shirts, long flannel trousers and ankle boots, sometimes with coloured caps to differentiate the teams. Fans and officials still complained they had trouble telling them apart.