Historical Football Kits

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Mansfield Town

Formed 1897

Elected to Division Three (South) 1932. Relegated to Blue Square National Conference 2008.

Kit History

Background

There are several versions of the origins of Mansfield Town. This account is drawn principally from the history section of the official club web site according to which, the club was originally connected to a local non-conformist chapel and named “Mansfield Wesleyans FC.” Playing in chocolate and blue striped jerseys they played their first match on 4 September 1897, 2-2 draw with Sherwood Foresters FC. In 1902 the club joined the Mansfield & District Amateur League. In 1906 the league dropped “Amateur” from their title, a change that seemed to the chapel elders to signal a move towards professionalism. They forbade the football team to continue to call themselves “Wesleyans” and as a result the club became Mansfield Wesley and all ties with the chapels were severed.

In 1910 the committee members voted to change the club’s name once again, this time to Mansfield Town. The objections of their rivals, Mansfield Mechanics, who were at the time the leading club in the area, were ignored and to go with the new name, a new strip of red and white was adopted. The following season the club became founder members of the Central Alliance League.

In 1913 the club was forced to move to a new ground when their original one was required to build an extension to the Great Central Railway line. With little time available they settled to return to open playing fields on Radcliffe Gate where they had played at the turn of the century. Nicknamed “The Prairie” there were no facilities whatsoever and the pitch frequently turned into a quagmire. In 1916 Mansfield Town closed down for the duration of the Great War.

When peace finally returned, Mansfield Mechanics were unable to afford the cost of taking out a new lease on their Field Mill ground (which had been allowed to lapse during the war). They offered to share with Mansfield Town help meet the cost, an opportunity that Town could hardly refuse given the appalling state of “The Prairie.” In May 1919 they moved in and the reconstituted club adopted the amber and blue colours still worn today. Within two years the Mechanics had disappeared and Mansfield Town became the top club in the area.

After winning the Central Alliance championship, Town applied successfully to join the Midland Counties League in June 1921. Around 1924 the club acquired their nickname, “The Stags,” which is thought to derive from the own’s old coat of arms, which included this animal as a reference to Mansfield’s proximity to Sherwood Forest. In 1926 their application to join the Football League was turned down so they joined the Midland Combination, a league made up of reserve teams from Football League clubs, presumably in order to develop their reputation at this level. Their cause was helped considerably by their 1927-28 FA Cup run, which saw them beat Wolves (then in Division Two) in the Third Round before losing to two late goals at Highbury against Arsenal.

Having applied without success to join Division Three (North) every years since 1923, the club changed tactics in 1931 and applied to join the southern section hoping to attract the support of the northern clubs. It worked and they were finally accepted into the league at the expense of Newport County. At the end of the season, Town were transferred to the northern section. Because of their central location Mansfield are one of those clubs that moved between the two regional divisions when it was necessary to even up numbers.

There was little to cheer about in the ensuing seasons and immediately after the Second World War, they had to apply for re-election to Division Three (South). Throughout most of the Fifties, the team wore white shirts and black shorts, before they returned to their traditional amber and blue. In 1960 The Stags were relegated to the Fourth Division but managed to regain their place in Division Three in 1963. The 1970s started badly with relegation to the Fourth Division but championships in 1975 and 1977 took them all the way up to the Second Division. Unable to compete at this level and with only six wins before Easter, relegation was inevitable after their only season at this level. Worse was to follow and in 1980 the club was back in the Fourth Division.

In 1986 Mansfield were promoted again and stayed in the third Division for five seasons before being relegated, promoted and relegated again in successive seasons 1991 to 1993. In 1992 the club was acquired by Keith Haslam who, with his wife, became the sole shareholder. Relationships between Haslam and supporters have been extremely strained over the years as questions about personal loans to Haslam and his companies have come to light during periods when the club was forced to borrow from the PFA to pay players’ wages.

To mark their centenary season in 1997 Mansfield recreated a special kit based on that of the original Wesleyans in chocolate and light blue.

They managed promotion again in 2002 only to suffer the same fate of immediate relegation. Mansfield have long suffered from their proximity to Nottingham Forest and Derby County. Success for this modest Nottinghamshire club is generally considered to be a matter of doing better than their arch-rivals, Chesterfield.

In 2008, having struggled all season, the Stags lost their Football League place and were relegated to the National Conference.

Sources

• (a) Official Mansfield Town Web site.
• (c) empics
• (d) Football Cards
• (e) Workington AFC - Images of Sport (Paul Eade 2003)
• (f) Football Focus
• (g) Classic Kits
• (h) Premier Shirts
• (i) Picture the Past
• (j) The Football Encyclopaedia (Associated Sporting Press 1934) Information provided by Arthur Fergus
• (k) Pete's Picture Palace
• (l) Ralph Pomeroy
• (m) Mansfield Town; The First 100 Years - The official history (Jack Retter & Paul Taylor 1997) provided by Mark Parker
• (n) David King
• (o) Alick Milne
• (p) Christopher Worrall
• (q) Mansfield Town FC - Images of Sport (Paul Taylor & Martin Shaw 2007)
• (r) Matt Smith