[nikolaos1981]

Recently a local journalist mentioned the reasons that led some popular teams to deside what their colours should be.For example he mentioned that ITALY's national team wears blue,because it was the official colour of Savoia's royal dynasty.The DUTCH wear orange for the same reason(official colour of their royal family).The GERMANS wear black and white to remind their Prussian history,and used to wear green(as an alternative)in order to thank the Irish,who were the first to play a friendly match with them after the second world war in a time when most nations avoided them.I also know that LAZIO wears sky blue and white(greek flag's colours) to honour the greeks for establishing the olympic games and their general contribution to the western civilisation.BOCA JUNIORS fans have desided to choose as team colours the colours of the flag on the first ship that would entered Buenos Aires's harbour after BOCA's establishment.That ship had a swedish flag,so BOCA JUNIORS wear yellow and blue.I think RIVER PLATE's original jersey was white(the famous red diagonal stripe was added later,by the fans).Most fans know that BARCELONA wears ''blaugrana'' because the club was co-founded by a swiss,who's homeland's colours were those two(I don't think is accidental the fact that F.C.BASEL,which was established 6 years earlier in Switzerland,wears the same colours).
So,if you had the patience to read all the above(frankly I don't think anybody will),please enlighten me about your favorite team's colours history.I'm really interested.

[dor02]

Juventus used to have an all-red jersey until 1903. After watching a Notts County match in England, one man brought a Notts County kit back to Torino and it had the black and white stripes.

Melbourne Victory wears navy blue and white on their jersey because they're the same colours on the Eureka Stockade flag.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eureka_stockade

[unclesox]

Originally Posted by nikolaos1981

The GERMANS wear black and white to remind their Prussian history,and used to wear green (as an alternative) in order to thank the Irish, who were the first to play a friendly match with them after the second world war in a time when most nations avoided them.

Hate to give you the bad news, but Ireland was NOT Germany's first opponent after WWII.

It was Switzerland.

There was very good conversation about this over a year ago on the Germany forum. The source of the green shirt was never resolved, but the thread makes for some interesting reading. (only lasts 6 pages)

http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=211168

[dor02]

Originally Posted by unclesox

Hate to give you the bad news, but Ireland was NOT Germany's first opponent after WWII.

It was Switzerland.

I've seen some footage of that match. West Germany won 1-0 in Stuttgart thanks to a penalty.

[Tricky Tree]

I know Barca had a Swiss founder but their colours are red and white...??
Arsenal were given a set of Nottingham Forest shirts so copied their colours. Do the South American teams who copied English club names - Corinthians, Wanderers, Arsenal etc use the same colours?

[nikolaos1981]

[QUOTE=Tricky Tree]I know Barca had a Swiss founder but their colours are red and white...??

You are right,my mistake.By writing ''homeland''I meant Basel not Switzerland(I should have written''hometown''!).Anyway,after a little research I found out that although Basel wasn't his hometown after all,he played for the club and he was actually club captain.A few years later he visited some relatives in Barcelona,he fell in love with the city and decided to stay.In 1899 he founded Barca and chose those colours,after FC Basel.

[Craigebhoy]

Maybe someone can confirm if this is correct or not, but some time ago I believe I read that Sporting Lisbon wear the green & white hoops because Celtic gave them a set of strips when they toured Portugal many years ago (early 20th century)?

On an Australian T.V. documentary recently, it was claimed that Boca Juniors colours were inspired from the Swedish national colours, with Swedish merchant ships often being seen in Argentina years ago.

[Excape Goat]

Originally Posted by Craigebhoy

On an Australian T.V. documentary recently, it was claimed that Boca Juniors colours were inspired from the Swedish national colours, with Swedish merchant ships often being seen in Argentina years ago.

True story, but slightly different. The founders of the club could not decide on the colors. They waited outside the harbor for the first ship and the first one to arrive was a Swedish one.

[comme]

[QUOTE=nikolaos1981]

Originally Posted by Tricky Tree

I know Barca had a Swiss founder but their colours are red and white...??

You are right,my mistake.By writing ''homeland''I meant Basel not Switzerland(I should have written''hometown''!).Anyway,after a little research I found out that although Basel wasn't his hometown after all,he played for the club and he was actually club captain.A few years later he visited some relatives in Barcelona,he fell in love with the city and decided to stay.In 1899 he founded Barca and chose those colours,after FC Basel.

The alternative to this story is that the colours were chosen because maroon and blue were the colours of Merchant Taylor school.

Athur Witty the club's first captain went to Merchant Taylor and so chose those colours.

[Cris 09]

It was actually pink!!!

Originally Posted by dor02

Juventus used to have an all-red jersey until 1903. After watching a Notts County match in England, one man brought a Notts County kit back to Torino and it had the black and white stripes.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eureka_stockade