Here are the shirts I added to my collection in November 2020 during the COVID19 crisis.
November started promisingly, my first addition was this pre-production Brighton goalies shirt by Errea, I'm reliably informed this shirt was on display in the club shop. It has the nameset of Michel Kuipers, the former Dutch marine who signed for the Albion in June 2000.
Then along came a fully squad signed Brighton & Hove Albion home shirt from the 1999-2000 season, also made by Errea, and the first kit with the SKINT sponsorship on the front.
Next through the letterbox came this curiosity, I'm a fan of club shirts from the USA, and this one popped up online for a bargain price, so I had to have it, Erie Admirals, from the city of Erie, on the banks of Lake Erie in Pennsylvania, the sleeve patch is for the NPSL, I think this top is from around 2010.
This month I collected another batch of Brighton & Hove Albion Premier League match shirts, let's start with this little piece of history. This shirt was worn by Aaron Mooy in the first game of Project Restart, against Arsenal at the Amex 20-06-20, Brighton won 2-1. That weekend at every Premier League match all players had their nameset replaced with 'BLACK LIVES MATTER'.
This is Aaron Mooys match shirt worn in the remaining games of the 2019-2020 season.
On 8th February 2020 for the match against Watford all the players shirts carried the Heads Up sleeve patch, this was for the Heads Together charity as part of a season long campaign to encourage people to talk about mental health. This is the shirt that Shane Duffy wore in the 1-1 draw.
This is the shirt issued to 'keeper David Button for the last game of the truncated 2019-2020 season when the Seagulls decided to debut their new kit for 2020-2021. The shirt has the NHS logo commemorating the work done by our amazing health service during the pandemic, as well as the Black Lives Matter patch on the sleeve in place of the EPL badge.
Next is Another American club shirt, this time it’s a home shirt of USL side Oklahoma Energy (OKC), made by Admiral and as used in the 2014-2016 season.
In March 2019 I visited Epernay in France, the home of the Champagne region, and what a wonderful place it is. While there I looked all over for a Racing Club d‘Epernay football shirt, had no luck at all. Since then I’ve been trying everywhere and finally found a guy on Twitter with whom I did a swap for one of my surplus Brighton shirts. I think it’s from the mid 2000s, but still trying to confirm that.
A bit of FA Cup history now, East Sussex side Eastbourne Borough FC made it to the first round of the FA Cup this season and drew Blackpool at home. The game was played on 8th November 2020, my birthday, sadly they were beaten 0-3 by the league club. All the shirts worn had commemorative embroidery as well as the Poppy Day emblem, this is the shirt of unused substitute Charlie Lambert.
That’s it for November, join us again next month to see what December turns up. If you want to look at many more football shirts, why not take a look at my website, www.oldfootballshirt.com.