England’s new playing shirts look great, and as Fiona Adams discovers, there’s over 100 years of technical thinking behind them
Back in the early 1800s a pupil at Rugby School named William Webb Ellis allegedly invented the game of rugby football when he caught the ball during a football match and ran with it. Webb Ellis went on to become a clergyman, favouring cricket at Oxford, but the game he inadvertently started went from strength to strength.
A century later, in 1904, three men living in Canterbury, New Zealand, began making tough, hard-wearing kit. It was soon in demand by the likes of the Kiwi and Australian armies and it was not long before the national rugby team also came calling. Canterbury has since become a trusted and loved brand by sportsmen and women the world over. The company has worked with them throughout its history to develop and improve its kit, from introducing a looped collar in 1949, to the all-singing, all-dancing clever fabrics used today.
The England team has long favoured the kit adorned with the three kiwis and the new World Cup strip (below), which was unveiled earlier this year, includes a host of new design innovations, from 3D body mapping to heat-management technology. The shirts have been subjected to more than 220 hours of testing, so there’s every hope they will stand up to the rigours of the real thing.
Visit the Canterbury website for further details and to shop shirts
