Football Shirt Culture.com

Polonia Warszawa unveiled their new 09/10 kits made by Hummel. Hummel will be Polonia's kit manufacturer for the next three seasons.

Marek Kunda, Hummel Poland representative, said that in terms of new kits Hummel wanted to emphasize Polonia's tradition and history, but also include Hummel's well-known features.

Polonia Warszawa was formed in the autumn of 1911 as a union of two school teams. Initially the players played in black-and-white striped shirts, but in the spring of 1912, they switched to their now traditional design of all black shirts.

The legendary patriotic explanation for this colour scheme was that it was a sign of mourning for the occupied and divided motherland. However the true story was that a man who was responsible for buying the strips (Janusz Muck) could only get them in black.

Only during the Stalinist regime did the team play in different outfits. This lasting devotion to tradition resulted in the club's popular name: The Black Shirts.

Thanks to Piotr