Burnley Grammar School

I found the worst time for revealing too much in PE was when in the gym, running on the spot, or doing star jumps . The shorts were small but loose fitting. We were told it did not matter as we were all boys.

James, were your classes mixed? Or were you segregated?

Nic, thank you for your reply, our shorts were also white, which of course enhanced their transparency.
They were a compulsory item of our kit and we had to wear them for all our games,gymnastics and cross country.
They were as you quite aptly describe them, as 'micro shorts' which of course left little to the imagination.

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Yes John, I remember the thin nylon shorts. ours were white and ours were almost micro shorts. Certainly if they got wet during outdoor games or cross country, see through. However, I think we just got on with it. I do not know how boys would cope these days.

Yes, they were allowed track suits unlike us boys!

James, from the pictures of Rosecroft School on the East Cleveland Image Archive, it appears that your school was mixed. When you were doing PE bare chested outside on cold days, were there were girls nearby doing PE well wrapped up?

We were bare chested for our gym lessons and just wore our shorts without underwear and bare foot.
I was used to wearing shorts all the time, so I became accustomed to wearing them in cold weather but the games shorts that I wore were thin nylon shorts and when wearing them for games and cross country runs they became slightly translucent when wet.
Certainly, I don't recall anyone complaining to the teachers about wearing these little numbers but as they were very trim and see through I found it very embarrassing.

As I have said, we wore zipper shirts for cross country and games. These revealed a lot of the chest, which I did not like, but at least could be pulled down to partly cover the PE shorts. We had nothing on underneath these of course, and it was embarassing when running with the male parts bouncing around. I thought I was being stared at all the time, so I was glad when we got to more open country, away from streets and parks.

@ Ted

When we played football (not very often) it was part of the PE lesson and normal PE outdoor kit applied, i.e. bare chests.

We had a cricket team but I was never on it, but I seem to remember that they wore shirts.

The first part of the cross country run took us through some streets but I never found this to be problem. Maybe some boys did but if this was so, they never said.

We were as a general rule educated to become men and men don't wear shirts for PE and do not complain. We had a little speech like that at the beginning of our first PE lesson, remember it quite well.

As is said PE and games are done with vest(singlet) indoors and Games shirt outside but outside of school many youths are going around stripped to the waist.

I remember the string type vest and pants which I also wore. As far as I recall at the time they were popular and if you can say it about underwear fashionable. PE of course these days is done in vest(singlet type ) top and shorts with rugby shirt for outdoors

This was in the 1970s before boxers were common. In fact boys soon learnt to remember their kit since underpants were - to be honest - a bit wimpish. Y fronts were usual. I remember one lad wore pants made like a string vest because I had a similar pair. I never did pe in underwear though.
The different rules for pe and games were clear though. If games were washed out we went to the gym in barefeet but could wear games tops.
The pe teacher in charge would have insisted on bare chests if it bhad been a pe class.made a bi

So Peterc what years were you at school. When boys had to do pe in underpants were they the 60's style briefs or modern boxers which I assume would be very revealing

James
Am I right in assuming thst you were not bare chested outside for football/cricket etc? So there were probably days when you were playing football wearing shirts which were warmer than days when you were doing cross country or PE shirtless.

When you did cross country, were you running through fields etc. or were you running through streets where you could be seen by the general public? If so, this must have been embarrasing for some boys, especially if they were likely to be seen by people they knew.

In reply to Stuart, there was a boy in my class who often preferred to do PE barefoot, even though the official kit included white socks and plimsolls/trainers. Shorts also had to be white, any boy who turned up with the wrong colour shorts had to take them off and borrow a pair from lost property (which might or might not fit!). There was also a punishment for not bringing the correct kit, often detention or sometimes just extra push-ups or sit-ups.
Officially we were permitted to wear a PE vest for cross country, in practice most boys turned up barechested and those who did bring a vest were almost always instructed to remove it anyway.

Like at your school we did indoor pe in just wwhite shorts. Boys who forgot their kit were expected to do pe in underpants. For pe outside boys were allowed pumps but most boys didnt bring them since most of the time they werent needed. In the 4th and 5th yyearsthe rules were less strictly applied especially if pe in the morning was followed by games in the afternoon. But bare tops were normal. Communal showers were obligatory for most classes though older boys might get out of them if the teacher didnt supervise closely. Ad for group pe photos - I might have been a bit shy but would I know have had to do as we were told. Were you in a team or class photo in your kit

peterc

Yes, late seventies. Some rules were strictly enforced. We were never ever allowed a top, even it might have been chilly. Always bare chests. Other rules, like the colour of shorts might have been interpreted more leniently by some teachers, not all though. Barefoot outdoors, I cannot recall that happening, at least not to me. What were the rules at your school? And why would you have been bothered by a photo in PE kit?

James
Did you attend in the 1970s? I was at school with similar rules at that time thought I think they may not have been quite as strict. At fifth year (Year 11 now) rules were often more relaxed over bare tops esp. when it was cold. But I remember a very chilly morning going outside barechested and taking off my shoes on the playing field to play soccer in barefeet. Were rules always rigidly enforced for boys at your school? And how unusual was it for boys to do pe barefoot outside? Whatever Im not sure id have been keen to be in a group photo like that for lots of parents to see!

Bob wouldn't opening the zip reveal your chest and 2 nipples for the world to see?

You are right Stuart, correct kit was white shorts and white socks for cross country and athletics. To some degree sanctions depended on the teachers, some made you take the lesson barefoot, others put you down for punishment PE and others again would just ignore it. Ont thing they all agreed on was that boys would not wear shirts for any kind of physical activity.

Although PE was done bare chested, for outdoor sports we wore zipper shirts, white polo shirts with a six inch metal zip at the neck. The rule was that they had to be zipped up when walking round the building, but fully open when playing sports or running. After lining up outside for inspection, the PE teacher would say "open your zips" before we ran off. I hated my zip fully open in the street, but that was the rule.

James

Interesting that although most boys have white shorts, socks etc, a few are wearing blue shorts - were boys ever punished for incorrect kit - we would have been !

One of my classmates always ran in just his shorts, so with bare feet as well as stripped to the waist - the bare feet were his choice - I wonder if anyone else had classmates who skipped items of kit even though they were allowed to wear plimsolls etc ?

Yes, indoor and outdoor PE, cross country and athletics, always shirtless, barefoot too for indoors.
No one ever dared to complain, for fear of being seen as a whimp and the punishment that would have been distributed by the teacher if you did.

We certainly did xc competitions stripped to the waist and barefoot. This was in the 60's.

Hi James! So athletic practices and competitions were compulsory shirtless in your school back then? I guess because none of the boys have any shirt on at the picture.

To Simon.
Was this a private school?

Jack, there wasn't any physical contact involved during swimming but an episode when I was held under water, the teacher blew her whistle and we had to get out of the pool and we both had our buttocks strapped.
I thought it was unfair as I wasn't at fault.

Simon, when you say that the two female instructors were strict, was there any physical or other punishments given out by them during these swimming classes?
Also being instructors was there any physical contact with the boys during instructions?

My secondary school!

http://www.image-archive.org.uk/wp-content/MAX/2011_04/Rosecroft-Athletics-Team-1973s.jpg

We never did swimming naked but the trunks we wore were the briefest of speedos.