Historical Football Kits

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Everton

Formed 1878

Founder member of the Football League 1888

Everton Change Kits Available Here

Kit History

Background

In most cities with two major football clubs, loyalties tend to run in the family. Not so in Liverpool where it is common for some members of the same family to support the reds while others get behind the blues. The two clubs are in fact intimately connected. Everton was formed in 1878 by a group of lads attending St Domingo's Church School who played at Stanley Park. Having rapidly established a name for themselves in the city, St Domingo's FC became Everton in November 1879. At the time it was customary for players who joined to play in the shirts of their previous clubs (players had to provide their own kit in those amateur days). Rather than have such motley arrangements, the secretary had all shirts dyed black and a two inch scarlet sash was sewn in. This led to the club being nicknamed "the Black Watch" after the famous army regiment. It was not until 1901 that the now famous royal blue jerseys were adopted. The early kits shown here have been verified from club ledgers in the collection of David France and submitted by Steve Flanagan.

In 1880 Everton were attracting crowds of over 2,000 and in 1884 moved into an enclosed ground at Priory Road. The landowner soon objected to the numbers of rowdy supporters on his land and the club moved again to a new ground off Anfield Road. In 1887 Everton entered the English (now the FA) Cup for the first time and became embroiled in controversy over paying their players after a series of acrimonious games against Bolton Wanderers. Not only were Everton suspended for a month, the Liverpool Cup that they had recently won was confiscated!

In 1888, Everton were invited to join the new Football League and in 1891 they won their first League Championship. This success prompted their landlord to double the annual rent on the club's Anfield home. Rather than meet this demand, the club leased a piece of waste land north of Stanley Park known as Mere Green Field. Within months the first purpose-built football stadium in England was built on the site which was opened by Lord Kinnaird and named Goodison Park. In the meantime, a new club, Liverpool FC, was formed to play in the now vacant Anfield.

In 1893 and 1897 Everton reached the FA Cup Final but they did not win the trophy until 1906 and the following year they were beaten finalists once more. In 1914-15, the last season before the League was suspended for the duration of the First World War, Everton won the League title for the second time.

In 1925 Everton signed the young Dixie Dean from Tranmere Rovers. Dean had scored 27 goals in as many games for Rovers and in his first season for Everton, he netted 32 times in 38 games. In 1927-28, Dean created history when he scored 60 goals in 39 matches, a record that is unlikely to be beaten. The astonishing thing is that George Camsell had set the record the previous season with 59 goals and with three games of the season left, Dean was still eight goals behind Camsell! The Dean era is regarded as the club's golden age, although they suffered the humiliation of a season in Division Two in 1930-31. The "Toffees" (named for a striped mint flavoured boiled sweet produced in the area) won the League title in 1928 and 1932, the FA Cup in 1933 and a fifth League championship in 1939. Dean retired in 1937 but his mantle was taken over by Tommy Lawton. Once again war interrupted the club's career and when football resumed Lawton was playing for Chelsea.

Everton were one of the first clubs to introduce a stripe to their shorts in 1930, something that became a signature of their otherwise conservative outfits until it was dropped in 1966.

The immediate post-war period proved a trial and in 1951 Everton were relegated to Division Two. Although they returned to the top flight in 1954, the rest of the decade was a barren period. The arrival of Harry Catterick as manager in 1961 signalled a revival in the club's fortunes. After finishing in fourth position in 1962, the club were champions in 1963 and in 1966 they won the FA Cup. In 1968 the "Toffees" were beaten in the FA Cup Final but in 1970 Catterick's last great side, featuring Joe Royle, Howard Kendall and Alan Ball, won the League championship once again.

In contrast, the club enjoyed no success in the 1970s at all while their arch-rivals Liverpool enjoyed unparralleled success in domestic and European competition. In May 1981, however, former player Howard Kendall was appointed manager and under his leadership, Everton won the FA Cup in 1984. In 1985 Everton won the League and European Cup Winners Cup and were defeated FA Cup finalists. FA Cup finalists again in 1986, the Blues then won the League again in 1987. Having been eclipsed by Liverpool for such a long time, supporters now had high expectations but it was not until 1995 that Everton won another trophy, the FA Cup with Joe Royle now managing the team.

While the club has failed to win any major trophy since then, they have remained a consistent mid-table side in the top flight, coming closest in 2009 when they were FA Cup finalists.

Sources

Everton Change Kits Now Available

• (a) Official Everton Website
• (b) Club Colours (Bob Bickerton)
• (c) Sporting Heroes
• (d) Football Focus
• (e) One Hundred Years of Goodison Glory (Ken Rogers 1992)
• (f) Association of Football Statisticians - provided by Pete Wyatt
• (g) Steve Flanagan
• (h) Phil Parker
• (i) David King
• (j) John Flood
• (k) Pete's Picture Palace
• (l) bluekipper.com - an excellent fan site with a superlative collection of team photographs going back to 1881. Highly recommended.
• (m) Playfair Football Annual 1948-49 provided by Alexander Howells
• (n) Simon Monks
• (o) efchistory.co.uk is another historical site with another excellent collection of team pictures provided by David France.
• (p) Dr Everton's Magnificent Obsession (David France & David Prentice 2008) ISBN 978 1905 266 791.
• (q) British Film Institute archive (Youtube)
• (r) Keith Ellis
• (s) Christopher Worrall
• (t) David France

Photograph courtesy of Blue Kipper.com (c) David France Collection

See also The David France Collection, now preserved for posterity and online.