Aston Villa
Formed 1874
Founder member of The Football League 1888
Kit History
1874 a o r
Dates unknown x
Dates unknown x
1878-1881 b o
1881 a o x
1886-1887 c o
circa 1890-1891 c o
1891-1892 b m o
1892-1893 b o d
1893-1894 b h o
1894-1900 b h i
1901-1905 b h i j
1915-1923 b h i
1923-1935 b
1935-1936 b
1936-1939 b
1947-1948 s
1949-1955 b i
1955-1956 e
1956-1957 b i
1957-1959 b i
1959-1961 b
1961-1963 f l
1963-1965 l
1965-1966 l
1966-1968 l
Sept1968 i l
circa Feb1969
1969-1970 l
1970-1971 q
1971-1973 i l
1973-1975 u
1975-1976 g
1976-1981 g
1981-1982 g i v
1982-1983 g t v
1983-1984 g
1984-1985 g k
1985-1986 g v
1986-1987 v
1985-87 alternate g v
1987-1988 n v
1988-1989 g n v
1989-1990 g
1990-1992 g
1992-1993 g
1993-1995 g
1995-1997 g
1997-1998 k
1998-1999 g
1999-2000 g
2000-2001 h
2001-2002 p w
2002-2003 h
2003-2004 h
2004-2005 h
2005-2006 h
2006-2007 h
2007-2008 h
2008-2010 h
Background
The Aston Villa Miscellany
By Dave Woodhall
Foreword by Gordon Cowans
ISBN: 1905326173
£6.49 £5.99 (with promotional code KITS1)
Buy from Vision Sports Publishing
The
club was formed by four members of the local Wesleyan Methodist cricket
team who met under a gas lamp on Heathfield Road and took their name after
a local mansion called Aston Villa.
Villa's development owed much to its connections with the large Scottish community who were drawn to the city’s burgeoning engineering industry. One Scot in particular, businessman, William McGregor, played an enormously influential role in the club and the professional game. McGregor was a teetotaller, a Methodist and an evangelist, and he wanted to do something to help that part of the city. He had seen his first football match in Scotland at the age of eight and a couple of years after Aston Villa was formed he offered to help. A natural organiser, he was soon a director of the club, becoming Vice-Chairman and then Chairman. McGregor’s ambition for the game extended beyond regular friendly fixtures and it was at his instigation that the Football League was formed in 1888.
The Scottish connection is evident in the clubs early choice of colours, which were initially described as "cardinal red and royal blue stripes" (ie hoops - vertical stripes did not appear until the 1880s). According to Tony Matthews, the dark red represented Hearts and the royal blue, Rangers. In the late 1870s the Scottish lion rampant figured prominently on the shirts. In 1881 the club adopted what were described as maroon jerseys with a gold lion rampant motif. In the mid 1880s, Villa wore various combinations described as either "chocolate and blue" or "claret and blue." It appears that these terms were variously used by members of the press to describe similar shades of dark red. What we do know is that by 1894, Villa had adopted their iconic claret shirts with blue sleeves with a distinctive contrasting neck band, a scheme that would be copied by many English clubs but oddly, did not catch on elsewhere.
By the end of the nineteenth century Aston Villa were established as aristocrats of the English game with five League Championships along with three FA Cup triumphs. In 1896/7 they also achieved the accolade of becoming the second side to do the League and Cup double. During the Edwardian era they continued to be a major force, winning the championship once more in 1910 and taking the FA Cup in 1905, 1913 and 1920. The 1930s were a period of relative decline and the club even suffered the humiliation of a brief stay in the Second Division (1936-1938).
During the Fifties the club settled into mid-table obscurity but did win the FA Cup for the seventh time in 1957. This proved a brief flash in the pan and by 1970 the club found themselves in the Third Division. Before he was sacked before the end of their relegation season, the charismatic Tommy Docherty introduced a radical new design of strip. The innovative collars with v inset became de rigeur throughout the League. With Ron Saunders at the helm, the late Seventies brought a return to Division One (1975) success in the League Cup twice (1975 and 1977) and in 1981, Villa won the League for the first time in 70 years. The following season the club won the European Cup to crown their achievements.
Saunders’ successors have been unable to repeat this level of achievement, although League Cups have been won in 1994 and 1996. While they remain a considerable force, the club can longer be considered a member of the elite. Nevertheless, there are few clubs who have the pedigree and influence of Aston Villa.
In 2008 Villa broke new ground when they wore the logo of Acorns Children's Hospice on their shirts in place of the usual commercial sponsorship.
Sources
Aston Villa Away Kits now Available
- (a) The Complete Encyclopedia of Aston Villa
- (b) The Aston Villa Collection
- (c) Astonbrook Through Aston Manor website dedicated to the history of Aston with some splendid Victorian photographs.
- (d) The Villa Park Encyclopedia: An A-Z of AVFC (Mainstream Publishing 1997)
- (e) Sheffield United FC - Images of Sport
- (f) Ipswich Town FC - Images of Sport
- (g) Sporting Heroes
- (h) Aston Villa Official Website
- (i) Football Focus
- (j) Bury FC - Images of Sport (Peter Cullen 1998)
- (k) True Colours (John Devlin 2005)
- (l) Forever Villa (David Instone 2005)
- (m) Association of Football Statisticians - provided by Pete Wyatt
- (n) David King
- (o) Bernard Gallagher
- (p) Derek Hart
- (q) Steve Morris
- (r) Claret & Blue magazine provided by Martin Kender
- (s) Playfair Football Annual 1948-49 provided by Alexander Howells
- (t) Brian Melmore
- (u) Malcolm Pugh
- (v) Christopher Worrall
- (w) David Heaton
- (x) Wikipedia