The British & Irish Lions will have their names on the back of their shirts for the first time this summer.
Starting with the Argentina match on Friday in Dublin, the Lions’ match-day 23 will have their surnames printed on their shirts. It is understood that this will continue for the whole tour to Australia.
This follows a recent precedent set by England, who started wearing player names on their shirts in for the autumn of 2022. In the mid-2000s Wales printed names on their shirts for a brief period but then stopped doing so.
In the past couple of years all of the home unions have followed England’s lead, so now all countries in the Six Nations have names on their shirts. The idea is that the players become immediately more recognisable for supporters, particularly young fans.
Teams such as the All Blacks have resisted this innovation, as they believe their jersey does not “belong” to any one player, but it is theirs temporarily to pass down the generations.
The Lions will break their tradition of bearing only numbers on their shirts this year, however. The Times understands that each player name will sit at the top of the jersey, below a sponsor’s logo and above the number which denotes their position.
For recent tours the player’s name has been embroidered on to the bottom corner of the shirt, alongside the details of the match they wore it in and their Lions number.
This will be the most significant change to the Lions kit since 1950
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Adding names to the backs of the shirt will be the most significant change to the Lions kit since 1950, when the team changed their jersey colour from blue to red to fall in line with the desires of the All Blacks when they toured New Zealand.
In February 1950, The Times reported on this alteration, writing: “A notable change has been made in the colours to be worn by the team on the field.
“Instead of dark blue jersey, white shorts and red stockings, as in the South African tour of 1938 and that in New Zealand in 1930, the colours will be in reverse. That is to say the jerseys will be red, the shorts white, and the stockings dark blue.
“This change in the arrangement of the colours will meet the wishes of New Zealand, who, very understandably, had no desire to shed their own famous All Black jersey in Test matches because of the confusion that was bound to arise if their opponents were in dark blue.”
The Lions will also sell named jerseys, so fans will soon be able to buy shirts with “Itoje 4”, “Smith 10” or “Morgan 7” and the like on the back.
Meanwhile the Lions have rejected a bid from Australia for drawn Tests on this tour to be settled by sudden-death extra time.
Warburton has advocated for sudden-death extra time since the 2017 Lions tour, when they drew the series after the last Test ended 15-15
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The 2017 Test series against New Zealand was tied 1-1 after the deciding international in Auckland finished 15-15. Sam Warburton, the Lions captain on that tour, has been an advocate ever since of golden-point extra time being brought in for the Test series, whereby the first team to score in extra time would win the game.
Phil Waugh, Rugby Australia’s chief executive, tabled the idea during discussions with the Lions over tour regulations, because rugby fans down under are familiar with a concept used in Super Rugby Pacific. But the Lions have knocked back the idea.
They have agreed, however, for 20-minute red cards to be used in all matches of the tour. The new World Rugby regulation only officially comes into force on August 1, before the third Test.