England’s New Kit: What To Make Of Nike’s ‘playful Update’

Few would have criticised the Football Association (FA) in 2016, as the ink dried on its 12-year, reported £400m contract extension with Nike.

Since taking over from Umbro in 2012 to supply England’s men’s and women’s national teams, the US sportswear giant has produced seven different home kits for the Three Lions. 

Some of Nike’s recent England kits have been immensely popular with fans, such as the men’s home shirt for the UEFA Euro 2020 Champions that featured a centred logo in a tribute to the jerseys from Euro 1996. Similarly, the away kit worn at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar posed a modern take on the red jerseys England wore during their maiden World Cup win in 1966.

The latest home shirt however, featuring a ‘playful update’ to St George’s cross on the back of its collar, has caused quite the stir. Instead of the red cross on a white background, Nike’s artistic ‘interpretation’ of the cross comprises red, purple, blue and pink stripes on a navy background.

After launching last week, the new shirt subsequently finds itself in the middle of a sociopolitical tug of war, with many keen to have their say on the matter.

Labour Party leader Sir Kier Starmer, whose comments sparked the ongoing debate, said, “We just need to be proud of [the England flag]. So I think they should just reconsider this and change it back.

He added, “I’m not even sure they can properly explain why they thought they needed to change in the first place.”

Labour MP Emily Thornberry likened the change to removing the dragon from Wales’ flag and replacing it with a “pussy-cat”, while Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said we shouldn’t “mess with” national flags.

Neither Nike nor the FA could have anticipated such fallout over one feature of the new home kit.

But what should we make of all this furore regarding the new England shirt?

Insisting it was never the company’s ‘intention to offend’, Nike promptly issued a statement defending its design that said, ‘Together with the FA, the intention was to celebrate the heroes of 1966 and their achievements.

‘The trim on the cuffs takes its cues from the training gear worn by England’s 1966 heroes, with a gradient of blues and reds topped with purple.

‘The same colours also feature an interpretation of the flag on the back of the collar.’

It is important to note that this is certainly not the first time a country’s flag has been altered on an athletic uniform. Indeed, Adidas’ iconic London 2012 kits featured a sky blue and navy adaption of the Union Flag. 

Adaptions of the St. George’s cross have also featured on England kits in previous years. Such examples include the blue St. George’s crosses on England’s 2011 home shirt, the green goalkeeper jersey that same year featuring a number of crosses, and the inverted white cross on the 2006 away kit.

In attempt to weather the storm and quieten down the clamouring around the controversial design, The FA released its own statement that read, ‘The coloured trim on the cuffs is inspired by the training gear worn by England’s 1966 heroes, and the same colours also feature on the design on the back of the collar.

’It is not the first time that different coloured St George’s cross-inspired designs have been used on England shirts.’

Affirming its support of the flag, the FA continued, ‘We are very proud of the red and white St George’s cross – the England flag.’

It should also be acknowledged that the cross isn’t actually a mainstay on the back of shirts in the first place. The last two England men’s shirts worn in Qatar and at the UEFA Euro 2020 championships did not feature one. In fact, the only England home shirt that included a St George’s cross on the back since Nike became England’s kit supplier 12 years ago was the design worn at the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.

Indeed, kit makers have experimented numerous times recently at the domestic level with club logos and kit designs. For instance, this year’s Manchester United and Arsenal third kits produced by Adidas both feature an alternative team logo, a strategy which seems to have resonated well with both sets of fans.

In both of these cases, the revamped logos were inspired by widely known monikers associated with the club, namely ‘The Gunners’ and ‘The Red Devils’, and are only be worn occasionally by the respective clubs throughout the season.

Naturally, not all tweaks made to football kits have always gone down well. The red collar on Chelsea’s home kit in 2010/11 was not accepted by all Blues fans, while Bayern Munich’s red and blue striped home kit from 2014/15 was so unpopular that it later drove the club to promise its fans that future only shirts would exclusively feature red and white.

In 2018, Leeds United’s now infamous ‘Leeds Salute’ logo was immediately rejected by fans, to the extent that a petition demanding its removal garnered 50,000 signatures within one day.

While these changes all provoked irate responses from fanbases, the key difference where Nike and the FA are concerned is that international football is inherently political.

This summer’s men’s Euro tournament – comprising national anthems, colours and identities – is a stage that invites the opinions of political figures, opening up debates around national pride.

Nike has repeatedly defended its design that was aimed to ‘unite and inspire’; simply an artistic take on St. George’s cross, rather than the divisive political statement it has been painted out to be. And in truth, the cross rarely appears on the shirt in the first place.

It seems a shame then, that by weighing in on what is ostensibly an innocuous design, political figures seem to be using a football shirt as something of a bargaining chip to score votes ahead of the next UK general election.

Regardless of where you stand, this past week has equally demonstrated that kit suppliers should think carefully before making any adjustments to team logos and imagery, especially when it comes to national symbols like St. George’s cross. 

Nonetheless, in the words of England manager Gareth Southgate, the “iconic” symbol that has been tethered to the team since 1972 remains intact. The three lions, which he views as the “most important thing”, remain the one unblemished feature on every England shirt to date.

Looking beyond the new England kit design, and Nike’s ‘playful update’ on the cross, the decisive factor in how kits are remembered can often be the team’s success when wearing them. At this summer’s Euro 2024 championships in Germany, Southgate’s side will have the opportunity to decide that for themselves.

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