Historical Football Kits

 

Southend United

Formed 1906

Founder member of Division Three (South) 1920

Kit History

1906-1915 a

1919-1922 a

1928-1936 b

1936-1954 b

1954-1955 a

1957-1958 b

1959-1960 b

1960-1961 b

1961-1965 b i

1965-1967 a

1967-1968 a

1968-1969 a g

1969-1970 a g

1970-1973 c l

1973-1975 a l

Admiral

1975-1976 l

Admiral

1976-1978 a l

Bukta

1978-1980 a l

1980-1981 m

1981-1982 a

1982-1983 k

1983-1984 a

1984-1985 b

1985-1986 k

1986-1987 f

Spall

1988-1990 b h

Spall

1990-1992 a h

Beaver

1992-1994 d

Beaver

1994-1995 d

Beaver

1995-1996 d

Olympic Sport

1996-1998 d

Olympic Sport

1998-1999 d g

Rossco

1999-2000 b

Pier Sport

2000-2001 b

Hi-Tec

2001-2002 d

Sport House

2002-2003 d

Nike

2003-2004 d

Nike

2004-2006 e

Nike

2006-2007 e

Nike
Southend United 2007-2008 Kit

2007-2008 e j

 

Background

Football had been played in Southend for some time before the modern club was founded. Indeed a team known as Southend United is recorded as early as 1898-97 but they have no connection with the present club. It was not until 1906 that the landlord of the Blue Boar Hotel, Oliver Trigg, met with fellow enthusiasts to form a new professional football club to take the place of Southend Athletic, which had just gone out of business. Southend United were immediately admitted to the Second Division of the Southern League, winning promotion to the First Division in 1908. During the Great War United's ground at Roots Hall Fields was turned into allotments and United moved to a new ground next door to the Kursaal Pleasure Park in 1919. Photographs show the stadium dwarfed by a giant water-chute, one of the principle attractions of the seaside resort at that time.

In 1920, Southend became founder members of Division Three when the old Southern League Division One was incorporated into the Football League. They remained at this level until 1958 when the regional divisions were scrapped and "The Shrimpers", as they were called, were placed in Division Three.

The club left the Kursaal in 1934 to move to a greyhound stadium at Grainger Road before returning to their original Roots Hall home in 1955. The ground was built from scratch over two years with funds raised entirely by the Supporters' Club. Over the years the club became associated with mud - whether because of the state of their pitch or the endless vistas of the Thames estuary at low-tide is unclear.

During the 1960's the club adopted striped shirts for the first time and in 1965 they decided to adopt all-navy shirts. They were instructed to change these by the FA on the grounds that they were too similar to the black shirts worn by referees. The navy and white theme was revived in 2002 when regulations were more liberal and income from the sale of replica strips drove clubs to redesign their kits on a regular basis.

In 1968 United were relegated to the Fourth Division and that's where they stayed until 1972 when the team began a yo-yo career that brought four promotions and as many relegations over the next 18 years. During this period red trim was introduced and then, in 1985, yellow replaced white. In 1990, having been relegated the season before, United were promoted in third place, having led the Fourth Division table for most of the season. The following season, against all expectations, United were promoted again in 1991. For six splendid seasons, the Shrimpers played in Division Two/Endsleigh League Division One, even sampling European football with a tie against Fiorentina in the Anglo-Italian Cup.

In 1997 the bubble burst and Southend were relegated to Nationwide Division Two and then immediately to the Nationwide Third Division, the lowest tier of the Football League. A dramatic revival began with promotion in 2005 followed by the League One title in 2006, taking the Shrimpers back to the second tier, or the Championship as it had become known.

Sources