Whilst our and Burnley's kits have always been listed as claret and blue, I remember a time when West Ham's was referred to as maroon and blue.I'm not sure what the background is behind this, maybe Sendo or somebody on KUMB knows the story but it was certainly listed in the 70's as maroon.
Quote from: "Mark Kelly"Whilst our and Burnley's kits have always been listed as claret and blue, I remember a time when West Ham's was referred to as maroon and blue.I'm not sure what the background is behind this, maybe Sendo or somebody on KUMB knows the story but it was certainly listed in the 70's as maroon.Pretty sure I remember an episode of Till Death Do Us Part where Garnett referred to West Ham as 'claret and blue' that would be pre-70s.
Whilst our and Burnley's kits have always been listed as claret and blue.
The team's first colours were described as "scarlet and royal blue stripes" (ie hoops - vertical stripes did not appear until the 1880s). The following season they wore black and white tops and in 1878 they purchased a set of black shirts emblazoned with the Scottish lion rampant. William McGregor actually went to Scotland to purchase the lion motifs and they were subsequently sewn on by the sister of the club secretary (ref: The Aston Villa Chronicles). The following season jerseys replaced the original shirts and it appears that the lion motif was removed after problems with the laundry. For their game against Heart of Midlothian on New Years' Day 1881, Villa wore navy and white hooped jerseys and there is evidence that these colours were worn at least until April 1883.A contemporary press report submitted by Lee Gauntlett, states that Villa changed in November 1886 to blue and chocolate vertical stripes from the old piebald strip. John Lerwill's research suggests that vertically striped in black and white were worn from at least May 1886 (and probably considerably earlier) while Bernard Gallagher has uncovered evidence that the piebald shirts were white with red spots and perhaps worn before the striped tops appeared. Given the scarcity of original references it is hard to be certain so the graphics presented above are to a degree, provisional.
Older clubs than us (league only)...Notts County (1862, as Nottingham)Stoke City (1863, or possibly 1868, as Stoke Ramblers)Nottingham Forest (1865)Sheffield Wednesday (1867, as The Wednesday)Chesterfield (1867)Rotherham United (1870, as Thornhill)Reading (1871)Bolton Wanderers (1874, as Christ Church - possibly before us)Macclesfield Town (1874, as Macclesfield - possibly before us)Was most surprised to find Reading were older than us when we played them as I had assumed the Southern clubs all came about much later.