Why so many Claret and Blues in English football?

[DaSpurs]

Don't understand how there can be so many of such an unusual color combination, yet a full 15% of top division sides have it despite this. Is this merely coincidence? Does the color combination hold some significance in English history/football history?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Spurger King]

At a guess I'd imagine a lot of teams copied Burnley or Villa, who were both successful back in the days of Henry VIII.

 

[TheChosenOne]

Alf Garnet wore the scarf that started it all.

 

[TheChosenOne]

Scots influence, they had no fashion sense, then or now.

 

[Lilbaz]

http://www.tamworthherald.co.uk/Wes...-Aston-Villa/story-20027058-detail/story.html

Seems that 4 Villa players lost a race but had no money to pay the bet. So they gave the guy their kit (one of the racers was responsible for the laundry). He then sold it to the Iron Works team who later became West Ham.

 

[Lilbaz]

Crystal Palace's first secretary joined from Villa. Seems he nicked the kit as well.

 

[SlunkSoma]

Just looked it up. Villa wore it first, having previously had a chocolate and light blue shirt (grim). No official reason why it was claret and blue though.

 

[Lilbaz]

Best answer from Yahoo.

Contrary to popular belief, Aston Villa were the first to wear claret and sky blue. According to Tony Matthews the claret and blue theme was a Scottish influence, combining the maroon of Hearts and the blue of Rangers, with the Scottish lion rampant included in the badge. Yet another theory from Wikipedia states that the club's proposed colours was chocolate and blue, and that chocolate colour, over time, was switched to claret.

West Ham United, then called Thames Ironworks, permanently adopted claret and blue for home colours in the summer of 1899. Irons right-half Charlie Dove received the kit from his father William Dove, who was a professional sprinter of national repute, as well as being involved with the coaching at Thames Ironworks. Dove Sr. had been at a fair in Birmingham, close to Villa Park, the home ground of Aston Villa and was challenged to a race against four Villa players, who wagered money that one of them would win.

Will Dove defeated them and, when they were unable to pay the bet, one of the Villa players who was responsible for washing the team's kit offered a complete side's 'uniforms' to Dove in payment. The Aston Villa player subsequently reported to his club that the kit was 'missing'.

Thames Ironworks, and later West Ham United, retained the claret yoke/blue sleeves design, but also continued to use their previously favoured colours for their away kits, and indeed, in recent years the club have committed to a dark blue-white-sky blue rotation for the away colours.

Burnley FC simply adopted the colours from then league champions Aston Villa in 1910.

 

[Lufti]

Best answer from Yahoo.

Contrary to popular belief, Aston Villa were the first to wear claret and sky blue. According to Tony Matthews the claret and blue theme was a Scottish influence, combining the maroon of Hearts and the blue of Rangers, with the Scottish lion rampant included in the badge. Yet another theory from Wikipedia states that the club's proposed colours was chocolate and blue, and that chocolate colour, over time, was switched to claret.

West Ham United, then called Thames Ironworks, permanently adopted claret and blue for home colours in the summer of 1899. Irons right-half Charlie Dove received the kit from his father William Dove, who was a professional sprinter of national repute, as well as being involved with the coaching at Thames Ironworks. Dove Sr. had been at a fair in Birmingham, close to Villa Park, the home ground of Aston Villa and was challenged to a race against four Villa players, who wagered money that one of them would win.

Will Dove defeated them and, when they were unable to pay the bet, one of the Villa players who was responsible for washing the team's kit offered a complete side's 'uniforms' to Dove in payment. The Aston Villa player subsequently reported to his club that the kit was 'missing'.

Thames Ironworks, and later West Ham United, retained the claret yoke/blue sleeves design, but also continued to use their previously favoured colours for their away kits, and indeed, in recent years the club have committed to a dark blue-white-sky blue rotation for the away colours.

Burnley FC simply adopted the colours from then league champions Aston Villa in 1910.

That's all very well, but what about S****horpe?! Wont somebody think of S****horpe?

Edit: Lol, I didn't even think about their name containing that word ^

 

[Kendall]

Yup I thought it'd be smaller teams copying successful teams at the time. Like when we copied Blackburn Rovers and later Preston North End.

 

[Spurger King]

Yup I thought it'd be smaller teams copying successful teams at the time. Like when we copied Blackburn Rovers and later Preston North End.

Didn't Juve copy Notts County?

 

[Kendall]

Didn't Juve copy Notts County?

I believe so, yes, wasn't their original strip pink?

 

[Syn_13]

I believe so, yes, wasn't their original strip pink?

Didn't Juve copy Notts County?

Correct on both counts.

Apparently the shirts were pink because someone ordered the wrong colour, probably meant to be white originally. The pink kept fading in the wash so they changed strip. In 1903, Juve player John Savage asked a friend in Nottingham to send over some of their kits after liking them when they played them. Every now and again Juve still bring out a pink away kit.

 

[HappySpur]

Kind of related but not English. The reason that so many German clubs play in red has to do with post-WWII shortages in many items but an abundance of defunct national flags. This comes from Uli Hesse in his book about German football Tor!

 

[riggi]

Shit colour combo for wankstains.

 

[Lilbaz]

Shit colour combo for wankstains.

What colour usually go with wankstains? They usually stand out on my blue or white shirts. (I usually say it's toothpaste).

 

[riggi]

What colour usually go with wankstains? They usually stand out on my blue or white shirts. (I usually say it's toothpaste).

lillywhite

 

[Gassin's finest]

That's all very well, but what about S****horpe?! Wont somebody think of S****horpe?

Edit: Lol, I didn't even think about their name containing that word ^

Scunny (that's how you avoid the censors!) first wore claret and blue in 1904, after merging with neighbours North Lindsey Utd and adopting the latter teams colours.

 

[Lufti]

Scunny (that's how you avoid the censors!) first wore claret and blue in 1904, after merging with neighbours North Lindsey Utd and adopting the latter teams colours.

So next question, why did North Lindsey United wear claret and blue?

 

[DaSpurs]

Wow, thanks for the responses folks.