Hello everyone from Poland

[Wojciech]

Dear All, Hello.

I am writing to you on behalf of the "Retro Liga" Association. We are a non-profit organization that brings together enthusiasts of the history of Polish football. We are works for the memory of the history of football, e.g. we recreate uniforms, football boots, and balls. We manage a retro league that plays according to the rules of the game from before 1939.

We are currently investigating the history of the first appearance of the Polish national team in shirts with numbers on the back. It was a match between Ireland and Poland, played on November 13, 1938, at Dalymount Park in Dublin. The Polish press reported that at the request of the Irish Football Association, Poles were to play in kits with numbers. And so it happened.

Unfortunately, we only have Polish press sources that briefly mention this historic event. In Poland before 1939, people played in costumes without numbers on the back. Other sources in Poland have not been preserved due to war damage. Many questions remain unanswered.

* How were the numbers on the T-shirts sewn on?
* What material were the numbers made of? In the video from the match (source: British Pathe), you can see that they were sewn onto white squares and then sewn onto the shirt.
* Where were the numbers on the Poles' shirts sewn? Whether in Poland or already in Dublin upon arrival. A possible answer may be in the correspondence between the Irish and Polish football associations.
* What colour were the numbers?

So we are looking for sources in the Irish press from this period, as well as trying to reach correspondence between the Polish and Irish football associations. We suppose that valuable information may be in the official match programme.

We are looking for support that could tell us where to look for information on the history of the meeting between Ireland and Poland on November 13, 1938. We will be grateful for any valuable information and help.

Our budget is very limited actually (non-profit enthusiast specific), but we believe that our mission will be of interest to you and will allow you to share a scan containing such valuable information from the point of view of history. We believe that the history of football connects and can allow for future cooperation.

We are open to contact and we look forward to cooperation.

Wojciech Cianciara
_________________
The "Retro Liga" Association

FB: facebook.com/retroliga1919
Twitter: twitter.com/RetroLiga
Instagram: instagram.com/retroliga1919/

[garyspain]

It is a famous game in Irish history too as our President was banned from the GAA (an insular Irish sporting organisation) for attending a football match.

[Flaming Pie]

Hi Wojciech, good luck with your project. There’s a couple of Irish football historians, Gary and Seandel, on the forum who might be able to assist. With regard to shirt numbers here’s a few pictures and information with the use of shirt numbers in English football. It didn’t really take off until the 1930s . The first FA Cup Final that used shirt numbers was Everton v Man City 1933. All the best

[Wojciech]

Thank you for your warm welcome Guys.

I read a lot about this match in the Polish press. However, I did point out that your President was banned. So it turns out that for both Ireland and Poland, it is a match with great history.

Thank you for the information. I'm wondering if I'm having trouble opening the photos. I do not see them. Do you know what could be the cause?

For your convenience, I am open to sharing my e-mail address for the exchange of attachments in a private message.

We have collected a large number of Polish newspapers from the era that covers the clash between Ireland and Poland at Dalymount Park. We are happy to share them as part of a non-profit collaboration.

[Pete’s Picture Palace]

Wojciech wrote:

Thank you for your warm welcome Guys. I read a lot about this match in the Polish press. However, I did point out that your President was banned. So it turns out that for both Ireland and Poland, it is a match with great history. Thank you for the information. I'm wondering if I'm having trouble opening the photos. I do not see them. Do you know what could be the cause? For your convenience, I am open to sharing my e-mail address for the exchange of attachments in a private message. We have collected a large number of Polish newspapers from the era that covers the clash between Ireland and Poland at Dalymount Park. We are happy to share them as part of a non-profit collaboration.

Wojciech, right click on the icon, and then open the image in a new window

[Wojciech]

Many thanks. Much better.

[seandel1]

hey Wojcech

Match details and a newspaper report here
http://www.soccerscene.ie/ss_gen/matchdetails.php?id=28&level=sssenior

You've seen the excellent Pathe newsreall
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnMetXAeOyg

Your detailed questions about how, when and where the numbers were attached will be difficult to answer though!

regards,
Sean

[Wojciech]

seandel1 wrote:

hey Wojcech Match details and a newspaper report here http://www.soccerscene.ie/ss_gen/matchdetails.php?id=28&level=sssenior You've seen the excellent Pathe newsreall https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnMetXAeOyg Your detailed questions about how, when and where the numbers were attached will be difficult to answer though! regards, Sean

Dear Sean,

Thank you very much, I have already familiarized myself with these sources. They are amazing, although they are only the beginning of our search.

Thanks to the great kindness of one of the users of the forum, we were able to determine the probable technology for producing the numbers and placing them on the backs of the shirts. This is, for now, a hypothesis based on a 1950s football shirt design.

I think that photos of preserved football shirts of English and Irish clubs from the 1930s, which already had numbers sewn on, would be very helpful. We assume that the technology of their production was the same as that used to prepare the numbers for the jerseys in Ireland vs Poland match. Do you know about such photos?

In pre-1939 Poland, one football jersey has been preserved. This is a shirt from the Gedania Gdansk football club. Unfortunately, at that time Polish regulations didn't oblige players to wear numbered uniforms.

Quote:

Your detailed questions about how, when and where the numbers were attached will be difficult to answer though!

Impossible is nothing.

[seandel1]

Hi Wojcech

A couple of sources you might follow up....

The English National Football Museum might be some help. They have a vast store of items in Manchester and Preston and it is possible to visit their "Research Centre", which might not be practical for you, but maybe they can help on email?
https://www.nationalfootballmuseum.com/collections/

Ireland Match Shirts- great collection, I don't know if they go back to the 1930s though
https://twitter.com/Ireland_shirts
http://irelandmatchshirts.com/category/collection/

Also http://www.walesmatchshirts.com/

[Wojciech]

Hi! I am returning to the forum after a long break to show off the effect of almost ten months of work on the reconstruction of the Polish national team's shirt from the Ireland-Poland 3:2 (2:1) match on November 13, 1938, played at Dalymount Park in Dublin. The reconstruction was made by the "Retro Liga" Association, which I represent and whose mission I wrote about earlier.

We managed to reconstruct a number of interesting details. The emblem was made in accordance with the pre-war art of sewing cloth onto cloth. The number sewn on the back of the shirt is based on valuable information we obtained on the forum. A jacquard label that distinguishes factories producing sports equipment before World War II.

Special honorable thanks go to @garyspain.

BR, Wojciech.

[hibernian]

That is very impressive, well done