[MT323]

Does anyone know of the origin of the scarf and how it became popular?

[RichardL]

given that it predates the era of marchandising, you can almost certainly say that people wore scarves to keep warm on cold days, and as many would make their own, making a scarf in team colours became popular.

As to when - that's harder to say. It's certainly prior to WWII though, and seems to have started early in the 20th century.

[Owen Gohl]

Perhaps originally insprired by academic or Scout Assocaition scarves (see "Scarves as uniforms" and "Scarves in sport"):

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

The article says the scarf wall originated in Britain.