Kit and Caboodle: Football's Shirt Stories

by Matt Riley

Kits are cultural touchstones that tell us more about our club, ourselves and the beautiful game's custodians than we often realise. The colours, crests, designs and prices show what makes the game - and us - tick. Kit and Caboodle searches out the stories that our shirts tell us about our support and the society we accept or try to rebel against. The book alternates short, shirt stories with a deeper dive into themes of ethics, philanthropy and dumb decision making. We listen to MP Tracey Crouch as she tells us about her Fan Led Review and how shirts show the progress being made to a more equitable football ecosystem. Shirts also illustrate the rise and mutation of gambling from pools to NFTs and cryptocurrencies, attitudes to the LGBTQ+ community, how clubs like St Pauli are determined to be driven by their values and why Messi's transfer to PSG Qatar can never be financed by shirt sales. Unlike anything else we wear, our club shirts envelop us in the history of our team and give us a hint of the future.

224 pages, Hardcover

Published September 5, 2022

About the author

I worked as a journalist in Thai football for many years, appearing regularly on the Fox Sports Central nightly show beamed across Asia, before returning to England as Lecturer in Business Management at the University of Exeter.

Reviews

[Charlotte Patterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book which details some wonderful, tantalizing, controversial and groundbreaking stories about football shirts and what they mean to people, fans and specific groups. Every shirt tells a story, each shirt has a different meaning to different people and that’s what makes them so special.

The eclectic mix of shirt stories makes the book an engaging and informative read, providing just enough insight, humour and relatability to engage the reader.

Really hope their is 2.0 version in the works