English P.E. class 1970's /80's style

I had an interesting chat with my husband last night. We were discussing P.E. classes when we were kids. I remember having a P.E. uniform which consisted of navy blue shorts with a white stripe down the side and a light blue T shirt with navy trimmed sleeves and collar. Our schools crest was on the right side. The boys wore the same uniform as the girls.
Then he told me in Primary and Junior school the boys wore shorts and the girls had to do P.E. in just their underwear?? Is this true?  Why would that be? Then in Senior school the boys at his school weren't allowed to wear underwear when playing football because if one slid in the mud their underwear would get muddy?    He said they don't have athletic supporters (jocks) here! Is this true? He also said the girls had to wear skirts with large bloomers underneath. What is all this? I don't know why I'm so fascinated by this story but I really want to hear from all you British folk your P.E. stories.

Then he told me in Primary and Junior school the boys wore shorts and the girls had to do P.E. in just their underwear?? Is this true?  Why would that be?

Just asked my husband - he said "yeah, knickers and vests".  Eeek!  Also had to do it if you forgot your kit.

Then in Senior school the boys at his school weren't allowed to wear underwear when playing football because if one slid in the mud their underwear would get muddy? 

He said his kit included shorts with that little liner inside.  Then after PE they would file them back into the locker room through the shower room, the teacher would lock the outside door, stand at the locker room door with an umbrella, turn the showers on, tell the boys to strip and then they filed out one by one.  So their clothes were all wet and it wouldn't have done much good to wear underwear anyway.  Again...eeek!

He said they don't have athletic supporters (jocks) here! Is this true?

Said they do have jock straps.

He also said the girls had to wear skirts with large bloomers underneath. What is all this? I don't know why I'm so fascinated by this story but I really want to hear from all you British folk your P.E. stories.

He said they wore skirts with gym knickers underneath, but can't describe exactly what gym knickers were.

I find it so bizarre the girls had to do PE in their underwear! Why couldn't they wear shorts also? What's the big deal? Can you imagine that going on in todays age? As it is I raised a stink at my sons Junior school a few years ago when they had the kids in year 6 all getting dressed for P.E. all together in the classroom!

In my primary school, both boys and girls wore white aertex T-shirts. The boys wore navy shorts while the girls had short navy pleated skirts (the kind with the weird zip and metal clip fastener).

In secondary school, the girls had to wear green gym knickers under short green skirts and when we did gym, we only wore an aertex shirt and the gym knickers, but they were more like boy shorts than knickers and we wore them over our underwear.

you imagine that going on in todays age?

Gym knickers were still being worn in my secondary school until about the year 2000 or so, although since I left primary school 13 years ago, I don't know when they changed their uniform.

Those gym knickers are probably what Lady Goodiva was referring to as bloomers. I was a cheerleader in TN and that's what we called them.

I'll have to ask DB when he gets home about his gym uniform. We just had to wear a t-shirt, shorts, and sneakers.

I've always heard them called 'gymslips'.

Sort of the same thing female tennis players wear under tennis skirts. Still, I can't imagine wearing them NOT under something!! And just with a tank top(vest)? Bizarre.

We wore pants and vests!! And I loved stripping down! 

Of course, I moved when I was 5, so it wasn't such a big deal at that age. I don't know what the older girls wore. But it was a girls' school so modesty was probably not that important.

Ugh, nasty horrible ugly things to have to wear. 

(In the US) up until hight school we had to wear those awful, awful one piece blue things that snapped all the way down.  They had short sleeves and were elasticized at the leg so they puffed out a bit like bloomers.

By the time I got to hight school it was shorts and a tank top or even sweats were allowed which was great cause I hated wearing shorts.

The girls were usually separated from the boys for gym class.  The boys got to do basketball and the girls had to do stupid aerobics to inane music.  If anyone wanted to do basketball they were welcome to go over to the boys' side, but no-one ever did.  I wanted to, but was too shy so I stuck with the girls and did aerobics.

I had to wear the blue-striped shorts.

Can I assume that English girls didn't ever have gym class outside?  We used to run around the track, play softball, etc.

I imagine it would be very cold in just knickers.

I had to wear the blue-striped shorts.

Can I assume that English girls didn't ever have gym class outside?  We used to run around the track, play softball, etc.

I imagine it would be very cold in just knickers.

In our school, we would only wear knickers/gym knickers when we were actually doing 'gym' (i.e. jumping over vault horses, doing handstands/cartwheels etc.). It was skirts for everything else (netball, rounders, hockey, running etc.) and tracksuit bottoms if it was cold outside - we had to play (field) hockey in the snow once!

In Brit-speak,  'gym' refers to indoor gymnastics-type activities, while PE refers to all other sports. Our general PE uniform was a T-shirt and skirt, while our gym outfit was T-shirt and gym knickers.

I certainly remember P.E. classes where the boys were in dark blue shorts and white tops, with the girls just stripped down to their underwear.   As mentioned above, it was pretty common for the boys to be the same if they'd forgotten their kit.  Later on the girls had shorts or a short skirt, depending upon the activity.

at my sons Junior school a few years ago when they had the kids in year 6 all getting dressed for P.E. all together in the classroom

I've lost track of this new numbering system somewhat.  Year 6 would be what, the last but one year of junior school?   In the 1970s/early 1980s we used completely separate numbering for infants, juniors, and high school, so we went from 4th year juniors to 1st year high.

I certainly remember the whole class getting changed together in our classroom before marching down to the hall/gym, right up to last year of junior school (age 10/11).  That was in 1977.   

I certainly remember P.E. classes where the boys were in dark blue shorts and white tops, with the girls just stripped down to their underwear.   As mentioned above, it was pretty common for the boys to be the same if they'd forgotten their kit. 

Seriously?? So, girls had to wear their underwear for PE, while the boys were given shorts and shirts??? This is just horrifying!!! What was the logic behind this? I remember having to wear the school's hideous swim suits for PE and that was bad enough. No one wants to see me playing tennis in my underwear, trust me!

I've lost track of this new numbering system somewhat.  Year 6 would be what, the last but one year of junior school?   In the 1970s/early 1980s we used completely separate numbering for infants, juniors, and high school, so we went from 4th year juniors to 1st year high.

Year 6 would be equivalent to 4th year juniors (age 10/11). The new numbering system was introduced when I was about 6/7, so when I started Primary school, we still had Infants 1, 2 and 3, followed by Juniors 1, 2, 3 and 4, which then changed to Reception Class, followed by Years 1-6.