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06 26th, 2009| 
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Rugby League shirts have evolved a long way from their long-sleeve 100% cotton beginnings. These old shirts became very heavy when wet and due to being quite baggy were easy to grab. This made playing in the rain difficult and uncomfortable. Also with easy to grab, baggy rugby league shirts evading tackles was much more dificult.
In the modern game rugby league shirts make a player more ’slippery’ as it is very difficult to grab the material due to how tight fitting modern kits are. Rugby League shirts also tend to have smaller collars by today so that the material cannot be grabed.
Today shirts are increasingly made of polyester as they are more ‘slippery’ and have very little weight increase when wet compared to a cotton shirt that can weigh up to 4kg when wet!
By comparison to Rugby Union, Rugby League shirts are more extravagant and flashy and arguably more aesthetically pleasing. In a sport about strength and power the shirts are designed to show what powerful bodies the athletes have something that is being followed by rugby union (much to the dismay of your average overweight prop).
Another benefit of a tighter Rugby League shirt is for advertising. With a tight fit the material is stretched out with no creases leaving more areas sponsor logos to be places. The sleeves for example can no clearly be seen without creases from a baggy shirt.
It will be interesting to see what the future holds for Rugby League Shirts. Across the whole of sport efforts are being made to find lighter, less absorbant, thinner but stronger materials to use. With advances in material strength perhaps air vents can be created, in the armpits of Rugby League shirts for example. This would be particularly useful in very hot conditions as Rugby League is a summer sport in the UK and is played in the heat of the southern hemisphere in Australia and Newzealand heavily.