- 6 hours ago
Football shirt numbers have taken a long and winding history to get to where they are now. From one man in an FA office in the 1930s, to the present day where shirt numbers are now personal brands and are iconic across the globe, Adam Clery explores how this all happened.
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00:00Right, hello everybody, welcome to the Adam Cleary Football Channel, brought to you by Trading212,
00:05and welcome also to the nerdiest video we are ever going to do,
00:10the complete history of football shirt numbers, or more accurately,
00:16why football shirt numbers are the way that they are.
00:21I just mentioned it offhand in the 442 video, and loads of you went,
00:25and actually, I would quite like to learn about how all of that happened,
00:29so we put it down in the most recent members' vote for a video, and you picked this,
00:34so it's entirely, entirely your own fault. Enjoy!
00:42Right then, so if I showed you this hypothetical 4231 purely done by shirt number,
00:48you would say, yes, that looks exactly right, doesn't it?
00:52You've got 2 and 3 in the correct full-back areas, you've got 5 and 6,
00:57they're your centre-backs, 4 and 8 in central midfield,
01:00and you already know which one of those two is going to sit,
01:03and which one of those two is going to push on.
01:05Nice, exciting 7 and 11 in the wide attacking areas.
01:09A creative number 10, wearing number 10, and a proper number 9 centre-forward.
01:16But why, if you take even one second to think about it, does this not make a lot more sense?
01:222, 3, 4, 5 across the back, 6, 7...
01:266, 7!
01:27...whoever in central midfield, 8, 9, 10 across the attacking line,
01:31and then 11 at the very top of the pitch, up front.
01:34And I am sure, in this day and age, there will be teams whose numerical ordering
01:40resembles something like this, but it's just...
01:42It's just wrong, isn't it? It looks wrong to look at.
01:46It spits in the face of decades and decades of footballing tradition.
01:51Like, it obviously doesn't matter, does it?
01:53But it also does not look right.
01:56And that's because these arbitrary things, these numbers we assign to players and positions,
02:01have over 100 years of history that goes right back to the very origins of the game itself.
02:09So let us, my friends, have a look at why.
02:13So in the beginning, football did not have numbers.
02:15It didn't have any real sort of structure,
02:17and teams were just differentiated by shirts and caps.
02:22And that's because you didn't really need any more information beyond that.
02:26But as we got into the 1920s, a few really important things started to happen.
02:32Like, first off, there were no red or yellow cards until, unbelievably, the 1970s.
02:38So with the rules becoming more formalised,
02:40wasn't uncommon for referees to give someone a warning
02:43and then sort of forget who they'd given the warning to much later on in the game.
02:49Like, just saying,
02:50you, the tall chap with the moustache, I've got my eye on you,
02:53didn't really feel professional enough.
02:56You also had crowds now rapidly growing,
02:59so fans wanted to know which player was which.
03:03And newspaper coverage of the games was starting to take off as well,
03:06so it was really hard for reporters to tell you who did what
03:09when they had no idea who anyone was.
03:13And then as well, there were radio commentators
03:15who would just simply refer to every single player
03:18by the position they were playing.
03:21So, great goal there from the Norwich inside left half.
03:25And that was smart for two reasons.
03:27One, formations were pretty rigid, so it was probably going to be right.
03:31And two, nobody was going to check if it wasn't.
03:34But then, after a few experiments with it across the world,
03:37in 1928, the FA formally decided to give shirt numbers a go.
03:43And in two simultaneous matches, Arsenal versus the Wednesday
03:47and Chelsea versus Swansea Town,
03:50I've got no idea if we've actually got images of those.
03:53One may be an artist's impression.
03:55Sure, that'll be fine.
03:57Both teams in both games wore numbered kits.
04:00The home team, as you might expect, they wore 1 through 11,
04:03while the away team, and this is absolutely disgusting, right,
04:08wore 22 through to 12.
04:11So, one team's numbers went up, good, correct,
04:14and one team's numbers went down, sick and wrong.
04:18So, despite the problems, this immediately solved in football.
04:23Nobody liked it.
04:24We've always hated change in this country, remember?
04:26So, it did not catch on.
04:29Or rather, it didn't until five years later,
04:32the 1933 FA Cup final between Everton and Man City,
04:36the first televised game of numbered kits.
04:39And with it reaching an audience that big,
04:42people did start to begrudgingly admit
04:44that it might need to be a permanent fixture in football.
04:48And in 1939, great timing, lads,
04:51the FA formalized a requirement for all players' shirts to be numbered.
04:56But not just numbered, numbered in such a particular way
05:00that still, to this day,
05:03we think of it as being correct.
05:06The goalkeeper was obviously number one,
05:08but the right back, who is this chap here,
05:10had to wear number two,
05:11with the left back, who was the player next to him,
05:14having to wear number three.
05:15You then had the right half, who is this position here,
05:18he had to wear number four,
05:19with the centre half, remember that number,
05:22having to wear number five,
05:23and the left half wearing number six.
05:25The right winger had to wear number seven,
05:28and the inside right,
05:29which is what this position used to be called,
05:31had to wear number eight.
05:33The centre forward would wear nine,
05:35the inside left, number ten,
05:37and the left winger, eleven.
05:39And that, for a little while,
05:41was absolutely fine,
05:43and pretty much every single team that played football
05:45used this system and the formation,
05:47and gave all the correct players the correct number.
05:50But the problem was that even in 1939,
05:54not every single team was playing a two, three, five.
05:59So as tactics and formation started to develop
06:02through the 1940s and through the 1950s,
06:05this rigid numbering system
06:07was still being enforced on teams
06:10who were not setting up anything like this.
06:15Friends, one moment please,
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07:05Isn't that great?
07:07Yes, back to the video.
07:09And that is why, chums,
07:11it's an absolute nightmare to be stuck next to me
07:14at a wedding
07:15because from the 2-3-5,
07:17the first major tactical shift that happened
07:20was that teams moved
07:21to the now-famed WM formation,
07:25which had three at the back
07:26and two in front.
07:27And it might sound really stupid
07:29and bureaucratic, right?
07:30But you couldn't just number these
07:31two, three, and four
07:33because, sure, that's still the right back,
07:35so two would be correct,
07:36but you can't have three and four here.
07:39That's the left back and the left half.
07:41One of those can't be playing in the middle.
07:43So the solution they came up with
07:45was just to think of it
07:46as taking the centre-half,
07:48the number five,
07:50and putting him deeper
07:51between the two backs.
07:53Which is, and I love this,
07:55incidentally,
07:56why we incorrectly use the term
07:58centre-half in this country
08:00when what we really mean
08:01is centre-back.
08:03Like, these are your backs here,
08:05these are your halves.
08:07It's a different position,
08:08what we would now call
08:09defensive midfield.
08:11But putting the centre-half
08:12in the back line
08:14and still calling him that
08:15is a linguistic quirk
08:18that has stuck in this country
08:20for, like, a hundred years.
08:22And that is mad, isn't it?
08:24And even though, right here,
08:25you are looking at kit numbering
08:27from nearly a hundred years ago,
08:29you can immediately start to see
08:31why we still think of certain positions
08:34as being synonymous
08:35with certain numbers.
08:36Like, number four and number six
08:38being iconic sort of
08:40defensive midfield numbers
08:41depending on which part
08:42of the world you're in.
08:44And then reading all the attackers
08:46numerically across the pitch,
08:48seven and eleven have become
08:50associated with wingers.
08:51Eight and ten are always midfielders
08:53who offer you more goal threat.
08:55And as the four of these
08:56have moved further and further
08:58back the field
08:59as tactics have developed,
09:01it's always been the centre-forward,
09:03the central player in that line of five,
09:05the number nine
09:06who stayed right at the very top.
09:09So if anyone ever says to you,
09:11hang on, how come nine
09:13is like the traditional
09:14centre-forward number?
09:15Do you know why that is?
09:17Then you can tell them.
09:18It's simply because
09:19nine is numerically in the middle
09:21between seven and eleven,
09:24plus also Alan Shearer.
09:26Shearer!
09:27But how then, pals,
09:29do we somehow get
09:31from this here,
09:32right, and I'll get the old
09:33magic wand out again,
09:35to this here?
09:37Even if you go all the way back
09:38to the original two, three, five,
09:40where all these numbers
09:42were first assigned,
09:42why do some of them
09:44go on such a journey,
09:46not just in football,
09:47but culturally as well?
09:49So obviously,
09:50the WM is the first thing
09:51that changes any of these numbers,
09:53right, and it makes five
09:54traditionally now
09:55a central defensive number.
09:58But the next big tactical shift
09:59was to take this
10:01and introduce the idea
10:02of having a back four.
10:05It went from the WM
10:06to the 4-2-4.
10:08And that meant
10:08moving some of these
10:10still mandatory
10:11positional numbers around
10:13into places
10:14that made sense for them.
10:16And what I'm about to tell you
10:17are some of my favourite facts
10:19about football ever.
10:21So first off,
10:22you now need
10:22another defender.
10:24So one of these two
10:25is about to drop
10:26into the defensive line.
10:28And in some countries,
10:29they decided
10:30that should be
10:31the number six.
10:32And in other countries,
10:32they decided
10:33it should be
10:34the number four.
10:35Which is why,
10:36in Europe,
10:36the number six
10:37is seen as a
10:38traditional midfield role,
10:39while some of the
10:40greatest central defenders
10:41of all time
10:42have worn the number four.
10:44But here, of course,
10:45in jolly old England,
10:46we went the other way,
10:48which is why
10:48we now see
10:49number four
10:50as a hard-tackling,
10:51industrious central midfielder,
10:53and six
10:54as the definitive
10:56central defensive number.
10:57But then,
10:58on top of that,
10:59it meant that
10:59one of these two
11:00had to go from
11:01being seen
11:02as a forward line number
11:03to a central
11:05midfield number.
11:06And of course,
11:06as we all know,
11:07that wound up being
11:08the number eight.
11:10But unlike the four
11:11and the six,
11:12that was a universal thing
11:14that happened
11:14across football.
11:16So why then
11:17did the eight
11:18become a midfielder
11:19everywhere
11:20and not
11:21the ten?
11:22And it is because
11:23in their infinite wisdom,
11:25right,
11:25when the FA decided
11:26to dish these numbers out
11:28from right
11:28to left,
11:29that the inside
11:30half position,
11:31this guy here,
11:33wound up being
11:34number ten.
11:35And just like
11:36the left winger
11:37and the left back,
11:38that was a position
11:39that was seen
11:39to be way more suitable
11:41for left-footed
11:43players.
11:43And by the same token,
11:45obviously most inside
11:46rights tended to be
11:47right-footed,
11:48but because
11:48being right-footed
11:50is considerably more
11:51common than being
11:52left-footed,
11:53most centre-forwards
11:54were right-footed
11:55as well.
11:56So as all these
11:56managers realised
11:57suddenly they needed
11:59to have two
11:59centre-forwards,
12:01it made a lot more
12:02sense to allow
12:03the left-footed
12:04player to stay
12:05up there.
12:05So now you had
12:06a left-foot-right-foot
12:07balance between
12:08your two forwards
12:09and the inside-right
12:10just got easily
12:11relegated to
12:12playing behind them.
12:13And then just to put
12:14a glossy little cherry
12:15on top of all of this,
12:16because previously
12:17playing number eight
12:18carried a lot more
12:20attacking responsibilities,
12:21it always made sense
12:22to give that to the
12:23midfielder out of the two
12:24who was better
12:25at going forward
12:27with the other one
12:28doing a lot more
12:29dog work.
12:30And then, of course,
12:31over time,
12:31the 4-2-4 morphed,
12:33didn't it,
12:34into the 4-4-2
12:35with the outside
12:35right and left
12:36becoming what we
12:37would call today
12:38a classic winger.
12:40The 7 and 11
12:40dropped back.
12:41It left the 9 and the 10
12:42at the top of the pitch
12:43and that is why
12:44if you're British anyway,
12:46you would look at this
12:47and say
12:47that is the absolute
12:49correct way
12:50to number that system.
12:52And the thing is,
12:53right,
12:53just like that little
12:54difference between
12:55the 4 and the 6
12:56between Continental Europe
12:58and good old Blighty,
12:59there are quirks
13:00to this
13:00all over the world
13:02depending
13:02on how tactics
13:04developed
13:05in different regions.
13:06Like South American
13:07teams shuffled
13:08their defenders along
13:09and move the others
13:10alongside.
13:11So in Brazil,
13:123 was seen
13:13as a central number
13:14and 6 was seen
13:16as the left back.
13:17Hence Roberto Carlos
13:18wearing it all those years
13:20for the national team
13:21when he was number 3
13:22at Madrid.
13:23But then in Argentina,
13:24it went the other way around.
13:26So 2 is seen
13:27as their traditional
13:28centre-back number
13:29rather than a full-back.
13:30But,
13:31despite all of these
13:32little quirks
13:33and traditions
13:34and things like that,
13:34the one universal constant
13:36about squad numbers
13:38in football
13:39is that out of all
13:39of these numbers,
13:40it was the 10
13:42that wound up being
13:43the most iconic
13:45number
13:45in football.
13:47I'd even argue
13:47the most iconic number
13:49in all of sport.
13:50And the reason for that
13:51is basically
13:53just Pele.
13:54And the thing is,
13:55he wasn't
13:56left-footed,
13:57right,
13:57but he was so good with it
13:58he could play on both sides
13:59so it made more sense
14:01to give that to him
14:01than it did the number 9.
14:03And then,
14:04for Brazil,
14:05at 17,
14:06wearing the number 10,
14:07he scored 6 goals
14:08in 4 games
14:10to win the 1958
14:11World Cup,
14:12picking up the ball
14:13deeper,
14:14dribbling,
14:15taking opponents on,
14:16and almost immediately
14:17the number 10
14:19became,
14:20like,
14:21shorthand
14:22for
14:23the most talented
14:24player
14:25on the pitch.
14:26So you take
14:27his emergence
14:28on this global stage
14:30wearing the number 10,
14:31right,
14:32with the fact that
14:32most players
14:33being given that,
14:34that number
14:34were still
14:35left-footed.
14:37And like,
14:37the reality is,
14:39if you're growing up
14:39learning to play football
14:41and you're left-footed,
14:42you're almost certainly
14:43going to wind up being
14:44more technical
14:46than most other players.
14:47Like,
14:47even back then,
14:48if you're a kid
14:49and you're naturally
14:50left-footed,
14:51you just get stuck out
14:52on the left wing
14:53because nobody else
14:54wants to play there
14:56and you have to learn
14:56to be more technical,
14:57to operate in tighter spaces,
14:59to take players on.
15:00So even if you do
15:01wind up being
15:02a centre-forward,
15:03you're almost certainly
15:04going to be much better
15:05on the ball
15:06than the lad
15:07who's wearing
15:07the number 9.
15:08And at pretty much
15:09the exact same time,
15:10teams all over the world
15:12found that this guy here
15:14was better at dropping,
15:15receiving the ball,
15:16playing in the pockets,
15:17taking players on,
15:18making football happen.
15:21Maradona got the 10
15:22because he was left-footed.
15:23Puskas got the 10
15:25because he was left-footed.
15:26And all the game's
15:27first real global superstars
15:29wound up wearing it
15:31and making it
15:31just this iconic
15:33piece of fabric.
15:34Like, even in this day and age
15:36where numbers have become
15:37totally meaningless,
15:39it still carries
15:41so much meaning.
15:43Like, Zidane, Ronaldinho,
15:45Messi, Totti,
15:47Del Piero, Rooney,
15:49Neymar,
15:49if you can do amazing things
15:52with a football
15:53in this part of the pitch
15:55where it matters the most,
15:56you are not just
15:57the number 10,
15:59you are a number 10.
16:02It was the first position
16:03in football
16:04that got its name
16:05from the number of the player
16:07who played it.
16:08And that is why,
16:09my dear, dear friends,
16:11every single number
16:13in this formation
16:14just feels
16:17right, doesn't it?
16:18From a fairly arbitrary
16:20FA ruling
16:20designed to make it easier
16:22for journalists and fans
16:23put through the blender
16:24of a century
16:25of football tactics
16:26and then drizzled
16:28with the greats
16:29of the game
16:29making the numbers
16:31actually mean something.
16:32And now,
16:33obviously,
16:33it's a multi-million dollar
16:35industry of
16:35replica kits
16:37and personal branding
16:38and yay capitalism,
16:40et cetera,
16:41but it is still
16:42mad to me
16:43that in the 1920s
16:45some random bod
16:46in an FA office
16:47wrote down
16:49these numbers
16:50and over a hundred
16:51years later
16:52you throw a bag
16:53of kits
16:54into a junior football
16:55changing room
16:56and you will still
16:57see them fighting
16:58over who gets
16:59to wear the number seven
17:01regardless of where
17:02they actually play.
17:04So there you go,
17:05the complete
17:05history,
17:07albeit massively
17:08condensed
17:09and just
17:09offensively
17:10oversimplified,
17:11history
17:12of why
17:13football kit
17:14numbers
17:14are
17:15football
17:16kit
17:17numbers.
17:18So the next time
17:18I say
17:19don't dare me
17:20to do something
17:21like that
17:21because I actually
17:22will,
17:25yeah.
17:25If you would like
17:26to tell me
17:26that I need
17:27to get out more
17:27you can do so
17:28across all the
17:29social medias
17:29at Adam Cleary
17:30C-L-E-L-Y
17:32and you can
17:32subscribe to us
17:33here at the
17:33Adam Cleary
17:34Football Channel
17:35where I'll
17:36do it again
17:37and do you not
17:38think,
17:39this is just
17:39top of my head,
17:40that if instead
17:40of a comment section
17:42full of words
17:42and opinions
17:43and sentences
17:44we all just
17:45wrote the
17:46number we
17:46would have
17:47if we
17:48were footballers.
17:50Like,
17:51I'd just have
17:51number one
17:52obviously,
17:52world's greatest
17:53goalkeeper
17:54in the
17:55over 35
17:56under 5 foot
17:5710
17:57category
17:58so I'd probably
17:59just have
17:59number one
18:00although I do
18:01like 24
18:01for reasons
18:02I can't really
18:03put my finger on
18:04but you tell me
18:04yours.
18:05You tell me
18:06yours and we'll
18:06build the
18:07ACFC
18:09squad
18:09I guess.
18:10Try not to
18:11pick anything
18:12everyone else
18:13has got.
18:14This is a fun
18:15experiment we can
18:16do.
18:16I'd like to
18:17see that.
18:18Anyway,
18:18suggestions for
18:19future videos
18:19along this
18:20sort of line
18:21because I do
18:21really like
18:21doing them
18:22and I will
18:23see you
18:23next time.
18:25Goodbye!
18:28I enjoyed
18:29that.
18:29I really
18:29enjoyed that.
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