Brentford
Formed 1889
Founder member of Division Three 1920
Kit History
1889-1897 a
1897-1901 o
1902-1903 o
1903-1904 o
1904-1905 o
1905-1909 o
1909-1910 o
1910-1914 o
1914-1920 o
1920-1925 o
1925-1933 c l o
1933-1934 o
1934-1938 o
1938-1939 i k
1945-1948 i o
1948-1949 d
1949-1956 d e i o
1956-1957 o
1957-1958 o
1958-1959 o
1959-1960 o
1960-1961 o
1961-1962 o
1962-1963 o
1963-1964 j
1964-1965 o
1965-1967 j
1967-1968 o
1968-1969 d
1969-1970 n
1970-1971 o
1971-1973 f i
1973-1974 o
1974-1975 o
1975-1976 n q
1976-1977 n
1977-1980 j n o q
1980-1981 m
1981-1982 o
1982-1983 g
1983-1984 o
1984-1985 o
1985-1986 o
1986-1987 o
1987-1988 o
1988-1989 o s
1989-1990 o s
1990-1992 h i p s
1992-1994 i p
1994-1995 i s
1995-1996 i s
1996-1997 j
1997-1998 i
1998-2000 i
2000-2002 i
2002-2003 i
2003-2004 i
2004-2005 i
2005-2006 a
2006-2007 a
2007-2008 a r
2008-2009 a r
Background
Brentford was formed as an
offshoot of the Brentford Rowing Club at a meeting held in the Oxford
and Cambridge Hotel at Kew Bridge. The question of which code to adopt
was left to a second meeting when, by eight votes to five, association
rules were chosen. At the same meeting, it was agreed to play in the salmon,
claret and light blue shirts of the rowing club. Some time later these
were replaced by claret and blue shirts.
The club's nickname, "The Bees" was coined around 1893 by students from the Borough Road College who started attending matches and whose rallying cry, "Buck up Bs" was taken by spectators as "Buck up Bees." This was taken up by the local press and within a short time, the name had stuck. In 1898 Brentford joined the Southern League but a year later they were fined and suspended for a month by the FA for breaching the amateur rules. As a result they turned professional. In 1903 they adopted the gold and blue racing colours of their patron, Lord Rothschild and a year later they moved into their present home, Griffin Park. According to 100 Years of Brentford (1989), “Just before the (1909-10) season started, a long time supporter of the club donated them a set of jerseys. The colours he had chosen were not the traditional gold/blue stripes though, consisting instead of a gold body with a blue ‘V’ on the front, a blue collar, blue laced front and blue sleeves and they also bore a badge bearing the Middlesex County arms. The kit was based on a design first worn by Manchester Utd in the 1909 Cup Final. Brentford were not in a position to look such a gift horse in the mouth, for new kits were costing them about £70 a season, so they gladly accepted the donation.”
After 12 modest seasons in the Southern League First Division, Brentford were relegated to Division Two in 1912. After the end of World War One, Brentford were elevated to a reconstituted Southern League Division One and, as a result, they became founder members of the Third Division of the Football League in 1920, changing their colours to plain white shirts for the occasion. After surviving re-election in their first season, the Bees settled into mid-table obscurity. The now famous red and white stripes were introduced in 1925 and there followed a series of strong campaigns between 1930 and 1933 that brought them the Third Division (South) championship. In 1935 Brentford shocked everyone by winning the Second Division championship and taking their place in Division One. Far from being out of their depth, the newcomers finished fifth in their first ever season at the top level and in sixth position for the two seasons after that.
After the six year interruption caused by the Second World War, Brentford's fortunes took a turn for the worse. Relegated at the end of the first League season in 1947, they dropped back into the Third Division (South) in 1954. In 1960, in an effort to change their luck, the club revived their old gold and blue colours but to no effect. At the end of the season they were relegated to the Fourth Division. The stripes returned and Brentford were Fourth Division champions the following season but there was to be no dramatic return to the higher levels of the League. For the rest of the decade and throughout the 1970s, Brentford moved between the bottom two divisions but during the 1980s they enjoyed a long, settled spell in the Third Division which came to an end in 1992 when they won the championship and promotion to the Second Division (renamed Division One following the formation of the Premier League). They lasted for only one season before returning to Division Two (the old Third Division). Relegated again in 1998, they bounced straight back again in 1999 but seem destined to remain in the third tier.
Sources
- (a) Brentford FC Official Website
- (b) Club Colours (Bob Bickerton 1998)
- (c) Bristol Rovers FC - Images of Sport (Mike Jay)
- (d) Football Focus
- (e) Hull City FC - Images of Sport (C Elton)
- (f) Football Cards
- (g) Swindon Town FC - Images of Sport (Richard Mattick 2000)
- (h) Crewe Alexandra FC - Images of Sport (Harold Finch 2001)
- (i) empics
- (j) Kit Classics
- (k) One Hundred Years of Goodison Glory (Ken Rogers 1992)
- (l) The Football Encyclopaedia (Associated Sporting Press 1934) - information provided by Arthur Fergus
- (m) Ralph Pomeroy
- (n) Pete's Picture Palace
- (o) Robin Pearson
- (p) Brendan Nevin
- (q) Alick Milne
- (r) Football Shirt Culture
- (s) Paul Briers