Great Tracksuits of Our Time: No.16

Queens Park Rangers (circa 1975)

Throughout this long and illustrious series of ours, there's one tracksuit we've somehow forgotten to focus our attention on; a tracksuit that strode the footballing landscape like a giant back in the mid-70s and yet today has all but been ignored.

QPR's blue tracksuit with a big white V was a regular sight back then and stood out like a sore thumb with its bright colouring and distinctive motif. Anyone watching The Big Match four decades or so ago will have seen it often on their TV screens, especially if Brian Moore allowed a brief glimpse of the subs warming up on the pitch before the match started.

As you can see from this image taken from Shoot! magazine, the design was rather fetching when only the top half was worn, but there was also a matching pair of blue tracksuit trousers to go with it to complete the ensemble. The tops had a zip fastener and the cuffs and collar were striped in blue and white.

All in all, a very nice outfit. We're not sure who made it, but we can't help feeling they missed a trick here. Given that big white V on the top, perhaps it would have looked more appropriate if worn in different colours by a team like Port Vale or Aston Villa. The V would have had a bit more meaning if fans felt it was a reference to the latter part of their team name.

Or maybe it would have looked good in claret and blue to match the Burnley home strip of the same era. Here's Peter Noble (left) wearing it. Just imagine unzipping an identical tracksuit top to reveal a shirt beneath with exactly the same design! The very thrill of it! Oh we should have been fashion designers, you know...

Anyway, QPR's classic blue and white 'V' tracksuit is undoubtedly an absolute classic, and if you want to see some more, here are the previous 15 entries in our Great Tracksuits collection.

• No.15: Manchester City and Wolverhampton Wanderers (1974)
• No.14: Ipswich Town and Arsenal (1978)
• No.13: Norway (1986)
• No.12: Wales (1976)
• No.11: Borussia Mönchengladbach (circa 1976)
• No.10: England (1986)
• No.9: Argentina (1978)
• No.8: Derby County (1978)
• No.7: Coventry City (1978)
• No.6: Brighton & Hove Albion (1983)
• No.5: Arsenal (1989)
• No.4: John Bond special
• No.3: Leeds United (1974)
• No.2: Liverpool (1977)
• No.1: Slovan Bratislava (1976)