Once upon a time, commemorative shirts for a single game were rare to the point of non-existence in England.
Many clubs celebrated their centenaries in the 1980s and most noted the occasion with additional text on their crests. Derby County did push the boat out further than most but their centenary shirt, featuring amber, blue and brown to reference past kits, was still just the regular first-choice rather than a special edition.
By the 2002-03 season, clubs were more commercially aware and so it was that Bolton Wanderers donned a one-off kit for a 125th anniversary. It should be noted that the club was originally founded in 1874 as Christ Church Football Club, changing name in 1877, and so it was a century and a quarter under the Bolton Wanderers name that was being marked.
Quite why the 1885-86 style was replicated is not reported; Christ Church wore red shirts and Bolton’s first kit was fine navy and white hoops. The choice of a red-heavy shirt is also odd given that the then-current Bolton home kit had dispensed with the usual red trim and had silver as the tertiary colour instead.
The game chosen to pay tribute to the anniversary was the home clash against Fulham on January 11, 2003. Had Christ Church’s name change happened a year earlier, it would have been awkward to wear the special shirt against the West London opponents, whose 2001-02 away strip was red and black stripes, with no third kit.
In the event, Fulham wore their black change kit, featuring alternative shorts (rather than the red-trimmed home set).
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Back in 1885, Bolton didn’t have to worry about shirt numbers but, with no special panel on the back, they lacked suitable options. White was the less-than-ideal choice but obviously black or red would have been troublesome too and yellow – the only other option – would have jarred.
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The kit was completed with the home change shorts and default socks.
The game finished in a scoreless draw, an important point for Bolton as they went on to narrowly avoid relegation. More recently, the club also wore a special kit in the FA Cup last year, marking the centenary of their 1923 victory.
That 1885/86 kit had navy socks, wasn’t even 100% accurate re-creation of that kit. Not a bad kit all but yeah quite strange why navy/white hoops weren’t re-created instead. And talking about number visibility on that anniversary kit, a team that regularly wear navy and red stripes with white aren’t bothered about that either (Willem II).