Historical Football Kits

6 May: We welcome Aldershot Town to the Football League and to HFK - it is one of the challenges of running this site to research old kits of newly promoted clubs. A gallery for the new Shots has been added but kits between 1992 and 2003 are missing - contact me if you can fill in some gaps. Come to that there are large gaps in our records for many newly promoted clubs - see Current Research Projects for details.

My sincere thanks to all our contributors who have provided details of Rangers change kits. The change kits project is now almost complete although some gaps remain. See Current Research Projects for details.

East Stirlingshire (1990-91 added - detailing needed): Albion Rovers (1985-87 corrected).

2 May : Speaking of things we're getting on with here's a list of recent updates and corrections submitted by visitors.

Partick Thistle (1987-88 corrected). Motherwell, Falkirk (2008-09 added), Celtic (detailing corrected 1980-82, 1987-89). Ipswich (2007-08 third kit corrected): Bristol City (2007-08 third kit added), Southampton (1976 FA Cup Final kit corrected), Plymouth Argyle, (manufacturer's details added 1982-87), Yeovil Town (1976-77 added), Rochdale (the 1907 shirt is now available from Toffs), Sheffield United (badge details corrected 1981-87 and 1995-96), Barnet (1986-88, 1988-90, 1990-91, 1995-96,1998-99, 2002-03 corrected), Tranmere Rovers (1980-81 corrected), Wimbledon (1988-89 added).

Congratulations to Rangers on their achievement in reaching the UEFA Cup final last night. Their gallery has now been upgraded and today's photograph shows the team as it was 130 years ago in 1877-78.

Current Research Projects.

28 April : We're not short of things to be getting on with at HFK at the moment, what with the various European domestic leagues heading into the final stretch of another season and many clubs already releasing previews of next season's kits. In between all of that however there is the small matter of a major international football tournament taking place in Austria and Switzerland. So in preparation for that we've put together our first international kit gallery for Euro 2008.

24 April : I have upgraded the Celtic gallery with material submitted by Jon Alexander, Alexander Perkin and gleaned from the excellent Kerrydale Street Wiki, which has a superlative collection of photographs that include the first ever Celtic team in their green trimmed white shirts as well as a selection team pictures in the club's early vertically striped shirts (see left). It was not until 1903 that the famous hooped tops appeared.

Until the late 1970s, Celtic rarely changed their kit, preferring to play in their hooped tops even when there was a colour clash. The demands of television broadcasters, UEFA regulations, and the lure of the replica kit market have long since changed the club's attitude. Most of the rare early change kits have now been recorded and will be published later this year. For details of remaining gaps please see Current Research Projects.

19 April: The Tottenham Hotspur gallery has been upgraded.

As usual, whenever I appeal for information, I am overwhelmed by the contributions that immediately flood in. My thanks to everyone who has responded to my request for details of pre-1980 change kits of Arsenal, Aston Villa, Chelsea, Everton, Liverpool, Manchester United, Newcastle, Spurs, Celtic and Rangers. I still have some gaps so, if you think you can help, please check out my Current Research Projects.

18 April : Peter Moor has sent in a couple of photographs of Birmingham taken shortly before the First World War and featuring the bold "V" that adorned their tops until 1927. This suggests that they were adopted rather earlier than I had previously believed.

17 April : Newcastle United gallery upgraded. With Cardiff City reaching their first FA Cup Final since 1927, I thought it would be timely to clear up the matter of their early kits. Photographs from the period 1908-1930 suggest that the shade of blue worn was considerably paler than the familiar royal blue but are not conclusive. I contacted Ceri Stennet, Media Officer for the FA of Wales and collecter of Cardiff City memorabilia, including an original 1927 FA Cup final shirt. Ceri confirms that the Bluebirds did in fact wear royal blue in their early days. I have corrected the Cardiff gallery.

13 April : HFK extends warmest congratulations to Queen of the South who yesterday beat SPL side Aberdeen 4-3 at Hampden in a match that the Guardian compares to Cleopatra's entry to Rome for spectacle. To mark the Dumfries' sides' first appearance in the SFA Scottish Cup semi-final for 58 years, Queen of the South produced a special commemorative shirt for the occasion, proudly shown off here by the club's chairman, David Rae. Now added to the 2007-08 Scottish First Division gallery.

Manchester United 1921-22 added.

9 April : The Liverpool gallery has been upgraded and in the process, a considerable number of missing kits from the period 1900-1960 have been added, sourced from the excellent LFC History site, Their superb collection of team photographs includes today's picture, which shows the players in 1892-93, the year of Liverpool's formation, wearing the light blue and white shirts that Everton had left behind when they quit Anfield at the end of the previous season. It was not until 1894 that Liverpool adopted their familiar red and white colours.

The question posed on 4 April about Birmingham's 1931 FA Cup final kit has been definitively answered by Alan Watton, who points out that an original shirt is on display at the Football Museum in Preston, and the indefatigable Simon Monks. Simon quotes the match report from the Daily Express, Monday April 27th 1931, "The crowd looked more like a boat race crowd than a mass of football enthusiasts because both sides wore blue and so all the favours worn were blue and white."

My thanks to everyone who has responded to my request for information about the pre-1980 change kits of certain clubs. Details are on the Current Research Projects page.

4 April: On 14 March we noted that Stockport County played in at least one home game wearing gold andblack in January 1958 and theorised that this was a "lucky" change kit, temporarily adopted for home games. Today we publish a photograph of County playing Luton in the FA Cup a fortnight earlier. As was customary when there was a colour clash in the FA Cup, both teams have changed. Stockport are in the gold and black and unexpectedly won by 3-0. A lucky kit indeed.

Barrow (1969-70 added). Barnsley (1946-47 added).

Derek Shelley has written to suggest that Birmingham wore red shirts in the 1931 FA Cup against West Bromwich Albion (see photo left). Do let me know if you can confirm this.

Luton Town (1932-34, 1934-35, 1946-47, 1947-48 added: 1920-32, 1948-53 corrected) - all from Simon Monks.

28 March: Spare a thought for Simon Monks, a serial contributor to HFK who knows more about Luton Town than is healthy. He writes, rather worryingly, that under "extreme pressure" to tidy his study over Easter he discovered a set of Soccer Bubble Gum Cards from 1956-57. The information has been forwarded to HFK and allows us to confirm new dates for previously published kits for Rotherham, Wolves, Chelsea, Fulham, Spurs, Liverpool, Stoke, Derby, Chesterfield and Hull City. New material includes Grimsby Town (1956-57 added) and Doncaster Rovers (1956-57 corrected). HFK does not condone the use of coercive methods for research.

Which brings us to today's photograph, a scruffy image from Simon's collection of the 1956-57 Doncaster Rovers team that features Charlie Williams. Older visitors will recognise Charlie as a fine stand-up comedian of the old school who sadly left us in September 2006.

In other news, Gerry Wolstenholme, Blackpool FC's historian, has provided information about the club's 1903 kit and clarified various dates. There is still a lot of work to be done on Blackpool's early kits and contributions are welcome.

Clapton Orient (1932-33 added). St Johnstone (text updated).

26 March: Alex Howells has sent me this photograph of Manchester United with the FA Cup in 1948. This shows the team wearing the royal blue and white kit they used for the final and is evidence that the stockings matched the shirts and were not black and white, as I previously believed.

Swansea City (2007-08 third kit added): Tranmere Rovers (2007-08 third kit corrected). Aston Villa (1947-48 added).

HFK has been commissioned to provide graphics for a series of books to be published later this year. As a result we are currently researching away (change) kits for a number of clubs and would appreciate some help from our regular visitors. Details are here in the Current Research Projects article.

21 March: We've moved the whole HFK site to a brand new host today. It's all gone (suspiciously) smoothly and it means we'll be putting some new features on the site in the coming months.

14 March: Paul Barnes, who is something of an expert of Preston North End, has been in touch with new information about the club's kits between 1975 and 1993. This material, together with some new kits I have come across covering the Fifties and early Sixties, has now been added and the club's gallery upgraded. Todays photograph comes from the collection of the Association of Football Historians, and is particularly intriguing because it dates from 1869-70, which is nine years before the first known game of football played by the club and eleven years before the committee voted to adopt association rules. Furthermore, the players are wearing vertically striped shirts, which were exceedingly unusual at the time. Do contact me if you can shed any light on this curiosity.

Fulham (1966-67 added). York City (1982-83 added).

Two clubs have announced this week that they will enter financial administration. Gretna, who have struggled in the Scottish Premier League this season, face collapse after their chairman and benefactor, Brooks Mileson was forced to step down for health reasons. Meanwhile the consortium planning to take over Halifax Town has announced that they will enter administration rather than face a petition for a winding-up order brought by former chairman Raymond Moreland who is owed £9,450 by the club. HFK offers best wishes to the officials and supporters of both clubs and hopes that these serious steps will ensure their long-term survival.

This interesting snippet is from a Stockport County v Halifax Town programme dated 18 January 1958 for a Division Three (North) fixture. If you click on the thumbnail image and look closely, you will see that Stockport, playing at home, are turning out in gold and black. I rather suspect that this was the club's change kit at the time and may have been adopted temporarily as a "lucky" strip. Crystal Palace did something similar in 1963-64. Let me know if you have any information about this oddity please.

13 March: I have upgraded the Mansfield Town gallery and added some missing detail and a number of kits thanks to Paul Taylor & Martin Shaw's latest book in the Images of Sport series. Wigan Athletic (1972-73 added): Southampton (1989-90 stockings corrected). Derby County's 2007- third kit has been added.

11 March: Aston Villa's third kit has been added to the 2007-08 Premier League gallery. Today's picture features the Leeds City team from 1913-14 in one of their distinctive navy and old gold shirts. City are the only club ever to have been expelled from the Football League. The modern Leeds United were formed on the day that City's assets were sold off in October 1919.

The Kidderminster and Leeds City galleries have been upgraded.

10 March: Came across a great clip on YouTube showing footage from a 1920-21 Scottish Qualifying Cup match between Cowdenbeath and Dunfermline Athletic.

9 March: The Ipswich Town gallery has been upgraded and, thanks to the fine collecton of team photographs on Pride of Anglia, I have been able to reconstruct the club's kit history during their amateur period up to 1936 in some detail. Minor variations from the period 1936-1963 are now also recorded and a hitherto missing kit from 1964-65 added. My thanks to Ralph Morris, Pride of Anglia's webmaster for his assistance and for providing the team picture from 1902 shown here.

The Huddersfield and Hull City galleries have been upgraded: no endangered species were harmed in the course of recreating Hull's infamous tiger-print shirts (1992-1995).

The Blackburn Rovers 1995-96 kit has been added: this differs from the previous season's kit only inasmuch as "Premier League Winners 1994-95" was embroidered below the badge and you will need eagle eyes to spot the difference. nevertheless, no detail is too trivial when it comes to these matters. Peterborough United (2007-08 away kit corrected). Gillingham (2001-02, 2002-03 detailing added). Maidstone United (1984-85 added, 1986-87 stockings corrected).

My thanks to Mark Holland who has sent in details of missing kit suppliers for a number of clubs in the north-west of England.

5 March: The Hereford United gallery has been updated. Richard Webb has written to explain that between 1980 and 1982, the Bulls turned out in navy rather than the more familiar black shorts. He speculates that the club bought up several sets of Tottenham kits cheaply when the Admiral sportswear company went into liquidation. In 1982 Hereford returned to their traditional outfit.

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