Any Brits or Germans around? I have a question. (1 Viewer)

[Paul_Sjordal]

Why do the English national team wear white and black at the World Cup if their flag is white and red?

(Yes, I said "white and red" not "red, white and blue." I do know the difference between England and Great Britain and between the Union Jack and St. George's Cross.)



While we're on the subject, why do the Germans use white and black in their World Cup uniforms? That's not exactly representative of their flag either.

 

[david stark]

I take you are talking about the football world cup (soccer to you Americans that is).

England actually play in dark blue shorts with a predominately white shirt. The shirt now has red stripe running down the sleeves and the shorts have a red stripe down the side.

No idea why the blue shorts as opposed to all white except that all white wouldn't look very good.

 

[Ricardo C]

Germans used to wear their flag on their uniform during the 1990s, as seen in this picture of Lothar Matthaeus, taken at the end of the 1990 World Cup. Similar designs were pretty popular throughout the decade, until "retro", simpler uniforms became fashionable. Nowadays, the German teams uses the traditional white/black uniforms, but the three stars representing their three world titles are used as a nod to the flag: One black, one red, and one yellow.

What I've never understood is why their "away" uniform is green.

 

[Paul_Sjordal]

I take you are talking about the football world cup (soccer to you Americans that is).

What other World Cup is there?

That's blue? Wacky. I still don't get it though.

Of course, that's not as strange as the Germans. I admit I've never seen the green uniform, but then I only sorta pay attention during the first round and then really pay attention during the second round.

 

[Richard Travale]

What other World Cup is there?

Ummm, the international hockey tournament.

 

[Yee-Ming]

Evolution? In 1966, England won the World Cup wearing red shirts and white shorts. I suppose white shirts were the alternate strip, which has gained more popularity over the years.

Colours don't always match the flag, e.g. Italians wear blue, and in fact are known as the "Azurri", yet their flag is red/white/green. And the Dutch are famous for having orange shirts, no relation to their flag either (but historically the Dutch have a connection to orange, e.g. William of Orange).

 

[david stark]

What other World Cup is there?

I thought for a moment you may be talking about the rugby world cup which is going on in Australia at the moment, but England play in all white in rugby union hence my assumption.

And England even have a chance of going all the way at that world cup

 

[Lew Crippen]

What other World Cup is there?

Rugby
Rugby League
Cricket

And on and on. But no matter how many World Cups are up for grabs, The World Cup is soccer.

 

[Jay H]

..and cycling.

Jay

 

[Paul_Sjordal]

World Cup is soccer.

Sheesh, it was supposed to be a joke! Sorry for forgetting the smiley. :p) But yeah, you nailed it, and that's what I meant. If someone—even an American— says "World Cup" without any other specification, what else could be meant? Random thoughts:

• Any other Americans planning on dressing up like Elvis during the next World Cup? What I find funny is that if I go out in public during World Cup time, most of my countrymen wouldn't have a clue what the Elvis thing was in reference to.
• Cameroon isn't anywhere near as much fun as they used to be. They were more fun when they were more, erm, hapless.
• Anyone else find it sad that the American team made it to the second round last time and the majority of their own countrymen couldn't care less? Of course, the lack of popularity is part of soccer's appeal for me. It's nice to see a sport in which we're the underdogs. I mean who cares if the Dream Team wins another medal for Olympic basketball? By contrast even the smallest victory by the American World Cup team is reason to celebrate maniacally.

 

[Yee-Ming]

they had a brief try with an away strip of light blue, but that dissapeared pretty quickly

During Euro 96, I believe.

I wasn't sure if the red shirts were home or away during the 1966 World Cup, thanks for the clarification.

Has the shade of red for England ever resembled that of Arsenal/ManU/Liverpool ? My recollection is that England's shirts have always been more orangey-red, as compared to the crimson red of the aforementioned clubs (not that the shades of red of the three are the same, but they seem fairly similar, as compared to England's shirts).