England in shock Umbro shirt deal after Six Nations

UMBRO have agreed a shock multi-million-pound deal to take over as England’s official kit manufacturer next season.

The British sportswear company will take over from Canterbury after the Six Nations, having agreed a deal understood to be worth more than £5million per year.

It is a surprise collaboration, given Umbro are a brand associated with football and have not been involved with rugby for more than a decade.

The Mail on Sunday understands that they have outbid adidas, who already have a deal in place to provide trainers for the national team.

New Zealand-founded Canterbury have held the rights since 2012, three years after the firm had gone into administration. But given the stretched financial situation at the RFU — their most recent accounts revealed an annual loss of £30.9m — England have let money talk and gone with the highest bidder.

Umbro, founded in Cheshire in 1924, are a brand with relatively little history in rugby but are synonymous with football.

Bobby Moore lifted the World Cup in 1966 in a shirt made by Umbro, who, at their peak, equipped 85 per cent of the clubs in the Football League. Casualties of the Nike-adidas sportswear race, Umbro now supply kits to only three Premier League clubs — Bournemouth, Everton and West Ham.

Now the new deal will also create a link between England Rugby and Mike Ashley, the controversial owner of Newcastle United.

Ashley’s Sports Direct own 11.5 per cent of US-listed Iconix Brand Group, whose brands include Pony, Lee Cooper and, since 2012, Umbro.

Ironically, Umbro and Canterbury were involved in a dispute last year when the current England shirt providers were accused of plagiarism in their shirt design. Umbro called out their rivals for using an almost identical pattern to the one they had prepared for the 2010 Peter Saville-designed England football shirt.

A Canterbury spokesperson said: ‘We continuously review our commercial partnership arrangements.’