May 14, 1931: Soccer's 1st Shirt Swap

The 1931 France football team

May 14, 1931: The national football (soccer) teams of England and France play at the Stade Olympique Yves-du-Manoir, in the Paris suburb of Colombes. This was the main stadium for the 1924 Olympics, and the home field of Racing Club de Paris.

England wore white shirts with blue shorts, and France wore pale blue shirts with white shorts. A crowd of 35,000 were delighted (well, most of them were, not the England fans who traveled) to see what happened.

Just 10 minutes in, Sammy Crooks of Derby County put England 1-0 up. But, within 8 minutes Lucien Laurent of Sochaux-Montbéliard and Robert Mercier of Paris team Club Française put France up, 2-1. Marcel Langiller of Excelsior AC de Roubaix made it 3-1 in the 29th. 

The 2nd half was no better for England. Edmond Delfour of Racing Club scored in the 57 to make it 4-1. Tom Waring gave England hope in the 71st, but Mercier scored again in the 76th, to make the final score France 5-2 England.

It was France's 1st win over the country that had introduced the game to the European continent. The French players were so happy, they asked the English players for their shirts as a prize. England agreed to the 1st-ever shirt swap in soccer history.

This set a precedent, but it didn't exactly start a tradition. And according to FIFA.com, the first jersey swap at a World Cup did not take place until 1954. What really started the tradition was the swap between Brazil's Pelé and England's Bobby Moore at the 1970 World Cup in Mexico. This made the act a global symbol of fair play and friendship.

Footage of some trophy presentations has confused me. When Johan Cruyff received the 1973 European Cup, instead of Ajax Amsterdam's familiar red shirt with white sleeves, he was wearing the black and white stripes of defeated Juventus. When Arsenal won the 1979 FA Cup, some players, including the team's biggest star, Liam Brady, had traded their "away strip" of yellow shirts with blue trim for the red shirts of defeated Manchester United. Confusing things further was the fact that Arsenal, like Ajax, have a "home strip" of red shirts with white sleeves.

Supposedly, Zinedine Zidane's headbutt of Marco Materazzi in the 2006 World Cup Final was the result of an argument that began with Materazzi asking Zidane to swap shirts. That swap did not happen.

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May 14, 1931 was a Thursday. In major league baseball, only the American League was in action, with no National League games being played:

* The New York Yankees beat the St. Louis Browns, 14-2 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. Red Ruffing went the distance for the win. Lou Gehrig went 3-for-3 with 2 home runs and 6 RBIs. Babe Ruth went 2-for-4 with a walk and 2 RBIs.

* The Washington Senators beat the Cleveland Indians, 5-4 at League Park in Cleveland.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Detroit Tigers, 4-3 at Navin Field (later Briggs Stadium and Tiger Stadium) in Detroit. Former Yankee ace Waite Hoyt started for the Tigers, and was the losing pitcher.

* And the Philadelphia Athletics beat the Chicago White Sox, 5-2 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Al Simmons went 1-for-4 with a home run and 2 RBIs. Jimmie Foxx went 1-for-3 with a walk. Mickey Cochrane went 1-for-5.