Copyright © The Everton Collection Information published here was believed to be correct at the time it was prepared.
Everton F.C. shirt, worn by Sandy Brown, 1969-1970
Everton F.C. shirt worn by Peter Beardsley, 1991-1993
Can you spot the difference between these two football shirts?
Before the 1930s football shirts did not have numbers on the back. In 1933 Everton played Manchester City in the F.A. Cup Final. During this match the players wore numbers on their shirts for the first time. This helped the fans watching the match to identify the players. Everton's players had the numbers 1 to 11 and Manchester City players wore numbers 12 to 22.
In 1937 a football match was shown on the television for the first time. Two years later in 1939 the football authorities made all football teams wear numbers on their shirts. As a class discuss how these two events might be connected.