This year, 2003, we celebrate 100 years of Celtic wearing the Hoops of green and white. It has been comemorated with an extra addition to the new strip, which was brought out last month. On the top of the back of the new strip, there is a new badge, similar to the 1988 centenary crest, featuring a Celtic cross with '100 Years of the Hoops' along the bottom.
Many see the Hoops which Celtic wear as sacred. Many Celtic fans do not buy the latest strips due to sponsorships ruining the design, and there was anger amongst a group of fans in 2001, when the Hooped design was broken with a white panel on each side of the strip.
With Celtic formed in 1888, and 2003 being the hundredth anniversary of the Hoops, many wonder what strips Celtic wore before 1903. Designs such as white with a green collar, featuring a green Celtic cross, and white with green trim, with a 3-leafed shamrock were the originals, and were replaced by green and white vertical stripes.
In 1903, the design was changed to horizontal green and white stripes, and Celtic were now known as The Hoops. The new strip featured two buttons at the neck of the strip with no collar.
The design remained the same until 1945, when a collar was introduced.
In the early sixties, the design was changed once again, to a curved neck without a collar - this strip featured in Celtic's greatest footballing period in history, and was worn in Lisbon in 1967.
A large collar was introduced in 1972, and the whole design was changed again in 1979, when a V-neck style was worn. This strip was also the first to feature a Celtic crest, and was also the first sign of sponsorship - an Umbro logo on the right hand side of the strip.
This design was altered slightly between 1982 and 1984, where the style of the Hoops was different, with small lines in between the larger hoops.
From 1984 to 1988, the design was shifted, to a high collar, and featured the CR Smith logo. In 1988, to celebrate Celtic's Centenary year, a new strip was brought out, with a button at the collar and a new badge, the Celtic cross. This strip is still a favourite of many Celtic fans, and is regularly worn at games.
From 1989 to 1992 a collar was brought back and in the 1992/93 season, there was a change of sponsorship. Ford's Peoples logo featured on the strip. There was then a year of no sponsorhip, before CR Smith was brought back in 1994.
The 1994 strip was worn at the Hampden year, and was hardly a fan favourite - the Hoops on this strip were far too big.
In 1995, Celtic's first piece of silverware since 1988 was won against Airdrie in the Scottish Cup. A Pierre van Hooijdonk header won the cup, on the day where a new strip was first worn. The strip had a design of small hoop-large hoop, with a CR Smith sponsor and Celtic crests in the background of the Hoops.
The Wim Jansen year brought a new design, and a return to the smaller hoops. This time, Umbro was also the shirt sponsor as well as maker. This design brings back memories of Harald Brattback scoring against St Johnstone on the final day of the season, to clinch the title, and break Rangers' 10 in a row dreams.
The next strip broke previous records set for sales figures, but every single jersey was returned to manufacturer Umbro, due to a flaw in the material, which made everyone's jersey bobble after a wash. The newer strip was a shinier material, and was the first to feature the new shirt sponsor, NTL.
In 2001, the Hoops were broken but that did not stop thousands of fans buying the new strip, the strip in which Henrik scored his 50th goal in one season.
The newest jersey, which was brought out last month, features another new sponsor, Carling, and has sold over 60,000 in its first month. Hopefully it will see as much success as the previous one!
Whatever happens, the Hoops of green and white will be associated with Celtic. It is also the design of Sporting Lisbon's strip, and the colours are similar to that of Real Betis - who allegedly copied the green and white design from Celtic!
I am sure "Come on the Hoops" will be a chant which we will be singing a long time from now.