Barnsley
Formed 1887
Elected to Division Two 1898
Kit History
Barnsley St Peters
1887
1887-1889 a v w
1889-1891 b u w
Barnsley
1897
1891-1898 h w
1898-1900 w
1901-1903 k
1903-1904 k
1906-1907 t
1907-1908 h
1909-1912 a
1921-1922 b
1926-1928 b t
1928-1929 q
1931-1932 g
1933-1936 b t
1938-1939 b t
1939-1940 s
1945-1947 q t
1947-1948 b
1948-1950 b f t
1951-1952 f
1952-1955 q t
1955-1960 q
1960-1961 q
1961-1962 t
1963-1964 j
1963-1965 t
1965-1966 a
1966-1968 c t
1968-1972 a m
1972-1973 j n
1973-1974 j n
1974-1975 n
1975-1976 n t
1976-1977 n
1977-1978 n
1978-1979 r
1979-1980 n o
1980-1981 n o
1981-1982 n o
1982-1984 n d o
1984-1986 o
1986-1988 f j o w
1988-1989 e o
1989-1990 j
1990-1991 j
1991-1992 o
1992-1993 d j o
1993-1994 d o
1994-1995 d o
1995-1996 d o
1996-1997 d o
1997-1998 d o
1998-1999 d o
1999-2000 d o
2000-2001 d o
2001-2002 d o
2002-2003 d o
2003-2004 d l o
2004-2005 d o
2005-2006 a o
2006-2007 a o
2007-2008 a p
2008-2009 a
2009-2010 a
2010-2011 a
Background
In the late nineteenth century, rugby was by far the most popular game in South Yorkshire. However, association football was gaining a following, not least because the risk of serious injury was considerably lower, an important factor for working men who could ill afford to lose wages because they were injured.
According to an early history of Barnsley FC posted on the BBC website the club was formed "For no good reason, other than he wanted to. The Reverend Tiverton Preedy, cleric at the church of St Peter in Barnsley decided he wanted to “build a soccer team that the Rugbyites will not crush!”. A committee was formed and less than two weeks later, Barnsley St Peters Football Club played their first friendly match against Manor House, a team from Worsborough Bridge. Barnsley won 4-0, and wore navy and maroon striped shirts. However, David Wood, the club's official historian believes that the team photograph shown here was taken in 1887 and clearly shows players in a variety of tops, the majority appearing to be light blue and maroon. We believe the player seated on the front row, left is wearing the striped shirts that would be adopted in 1889. A second point of interest, uncovered by David is that several players have numbers embroidered onto the front of their jerseys, almost certainly the first example of numbered shirts in the history of the game.
St Peter's won support from outside the parish and went on to compete in the Sheffield & District League in 1890 before joining the Midland League in 1895. In 1897 the club dropped its association with the church and as Barnsley FC, applied to join the Football League when the Second Division was enlarged. They were successful and joined Glossop and New Brighton in the expanded division. The visitors for Barnsley's opening game in the football league were Loughborough Town, who arrived with their usual blue and white striped shirts forcing Barnsley to change into a set of red jerseys. The Yorkshire side won 9-0 and have retained red tops ever since.
Remarkably, Barnsley were to remain in the Second Division until 1932, a consistent if unexciting mid-table side. In 1910, however, the club reached the FA Cup Final, losing to Newcastle United in a replay. Two seasons later, "The Tykes" went one better to win the FA Cup, this time beating West Bromwich Albion in a replay.
Relegated twice in the Thirties (1932 and 1938),
Barnsley bounced back quickly on each occasion. In the Fifties the club
spent two seasons in Division Three (North) before returning to the Second
Division. Relegation in 1959 proved a more serious matter and the club
went into long term decline that took them down to the Fourth Division
in 1965. The rest of the decade and all of the 1970s was spent in the
lower divisions but fortunes changed in 1979 when ex-Leeds star Allan
Clarke led the team to promotion from Division Four. Clark rebuilt the
team the following year before returning to Leeds: his role was taken
by another former Leeds star, Norman Hunter who took the club back into
the 
Second Division in 1981.
Barnsley wore a simple "BFC" monogramme on their shirts from 1978 until 1981 when they adopted a curious badge consisting of a wishing well with a pair of oak-leaves, a play on words for Oakwell, their ground. This was used for several seasons until it was replaced by a crest based on the white rose of Yorkshire in 1986.
Throughout the Eighties and Nineties, Barnsley
returned to their perennial role of a mid-table Second Division team.
In 1997, however, they confounded everyone by winning promotion to the
Premier League. A dramatic season followed which ended in relegation but
few fans would ever forget seeing their favourites playing at the highest
level for the first time in their history. There would be no quick
return and in 2002, Barnsley were relegated to (Nationwide) Division Two
(third tier) and went into administration, narrowly avoiding the drop 
into the lowest
division.
The mayor of Barnsley, Peter Doyle, bought the club, saving it from liquidation before handing the club over to Gordon Shepherd and Peter Cryne. The civic connection was marked by the launch of a new crest in 2003, which consists of the coat of arms of the town, which includes a miner and a glass-blower, symbolising the traditional heavy industries of the are, surmounted by the club's name. In fact the Barnsley coat of arms had been the club's official crest for at least 25 years but had not previously appeared on the team's shirts. 
In 2006, The Tykes were promoted to the Championship (second tier) after winning a penalty shoot-out against Swansea City in Cardiff. Then in 2007-08 they reached the FA Cup semi-finals, having knocked out both Liverpool and Chelsea but were beaten by Cardiff City.
For the 2010-11 season, the crest was slightly revised to appear out of a shield, edged in red, and the year of the club's formation was added.
Sources
- (a) Barnsley FC Official Website
- (b) Barnsley FC Museum
- (c) Tranmere Rovers FC - Images of Sport
- (d) empics
- (e) kitclassics
- (f) Football Focus
- (g) Bury FC - Images of Sport (Peter Cullen 1998)
- (h) George W Reeves website - a curious site charting the brief career of George Reeves
- (i) Ralph Pomeroy
- (j) Pete's Picture Palace
- (k) Association of Football Statisticians - provided by Pete Wyatt
- (l) David King
- (m) Football League Review provided by Simon Monks
- (n) Alick Milne
- (o) bsfl - a very useful collection of modern shirts with notes
- (p) Football Shirt Culture
- (q) Simon Monks
- (r) Steve Browne
- (s) Paul Heasman footballnotmuggybonehead
- (t) Keith Ellis (HFK research Associate)
- (u) bbc.co.uk
- (v) bbc.co.uk (2)
- (w) David Wood (Official Historian to Barnsley Football Club)
Photograph courtesy of bbc.co.uk. Crests are the property of Barnsley FC.