Watford
Formed 1881
Founder member of Division Three 1920
Kit History
Watford Rovers
1881
1888-1889 h r
1889-1890 h r
West Herts
1890
Formed by merger of Watford Rovers and West Hertfordshire Rangers
1890-1893 s
1893-1897 h q r s
Watford
1898
Formed by merger of West Herts and Watford St Mary's
1898 q r s
1903-1909 h q s
1909-1910 s
1910-1914 h s
1914-1919 h
1919-1920 s
1922-1923 s
1927-1928 h
1928-1934 g p s
1938-1949 b
1950 t
1950-1954 b p
1955-1957 p
1957-1959 p
1959-1960 c
1960-1961 p v
1961-1962 e p v
1962-1963 v
1962-1963 v
1963-1964 v
1964-1965 a v
August 1965 v
Sept 1965-1968 v
1968-Oct 1971 b d j v
Nov 1971-1972 o
1972-1973 j o
1973-1974 v
1974-1976 e j n u v
1976-1978* e j n v
1978-1979 v
1979-1982 c e j
1982-1983 c k l
1983-1985 c e k l v
1985-1988 c e k l
1988-1989 k m
1989-1991 c i k m
1991-1993 c k l
1993-1995 c k l
1995-1996 c k l
1996-1997 c k l
1997-1998
1998-1999 c k
1999-2001 c k l
2001-2002 c
2002-2003 c
2003-2005 c k
2005-2006 f k
2006-2007 f k
2007-2008 f v
2008-2009 f
2009-2010 f
Background
The club takes the year of its formation as 1881 when Watford
Rovers was formed. This club amalgamated in 1890 with West Hertfordshire
Rangers, believed to have been formed in 1865 and became known as West Herts. In 1896, the club joined
the Southern League Second Division, turning professional the following
year. For a period the town boasted two professional clubs but it quickly
became clear that this was not sustainable and in 1898, West Herts
and Watford St Mary’s FC merged to form Watford FC. The first mention
of the club's colours dates from 1888, when they wore blue shirts. Over
the next few seasons, press reports researched by Trefor Jones, describe
their shirts as "olive and scarlet" and later "orange and
yellow" or "amber and scarlet." These were combined in attractive yellow, red and green vertical stripes when the team kicked off as Watford FC in 1898 (see illustration). Around the turn of the century, the stripes changed to hoops.
In 1900 Watford won the Southern League Second Division title and in 1915 they won the Southern League championship itself. The hoops had been dropped in 1909 in favour of far more prosaic white shirts and black knickers and in 1914 black and white striped shirts were adopted.
Along with the rest of the Southern league First Division, Watford became founder members of the new Third Division of the Football League in 1920. They made little impression and in 1927, facing serious financial difficulties, a new start was attempted: the club announced that the unpopular "semi-mourning" black and white strip was dropped in favour of blue and white. Their old nickname of "The Brewers," which had never really caught on, was dropped and the team became "The Blues." In the early 1930s Watford's colours were registered as turquoise and white, a unique combination. It may be that this was a somewhat fanciful description by the club secretary but as all records of the period have been destroyed, we may never know.
In the seasons preceding the Second World War Warford's performances improved markedly and they finished in fourth place for four consecutive seasons. After the war, Watford continued to struggle and had to apply for re-election in 1951. In 1959 they adopted gold and black and the effect was more or less immediate. In 1960 they won promotion to the Third Division where they stayed for nine seasons before winning promotion to Division Two for the first time in 1969. A year later they reached the FA Cup semi-final where they were defeated by Chelsea.
Relegations in 1972 and 1975 took Watford back to Division Four when Watford made yet another change in their colours, this time to yellow, red and black but it was not until the arrival of pop star Elton John as chairman in 1977 that the club began their remarkable climb to the top. Graham Taylor was appointed manager and in 1978, “The Hornets” stormed to the Fourth Division title. The following season they reached the semi-finals of the League Cup and won promotion to Division Two.
In 1982 Watford’s dream was realised with promotion to Division One. Against all expectation, they finished in second place behind Liverpool the following season to secure a place in the UEFA Cup. In 1984 they reached the FA Cup final where they lost 0-2 to Everton.
In 1987 Taylor resigned and was replaced by Dave Bassett. Watford were relegated in 1988 and, having narrowly missed promotion in their first season, the club struggled. In 1996, Graham Taylor returned as general manager but he could not prevent relegation to what was now Nationwide Division Two (formerly the Third Division).
In 1998 they won the championship and a year later, they beat Bolton Wanderers in the play-off final to earn a place in the Premiership. This time they could not hold on to their status and were relegated the following season, seven points adrift at the foot of the table.
Watford made semi final appearances in the FA Cup (2003) and League Cup
(2005) while in the second flight before they unexpectedly beat
Leeds United in the play-off final to make their return to the Premiership.
To mark the occasion, which coincided with their 125th anniversary, the
club adopted a kit featuring red shorts not unlike the one worn in the
First Division during the 1980s.
Sources
* Yellow V neck shirts occasionally worn in 1977-78.
- (a) Club Colours (Bob Bickerton 1998)
- (b) Swindon Town FC - Images of Sport (Richard Mattick 2000)
- (c) empics
- (d) Football Focus
- (e) Classic Kits
- (f) Watford Official Website
- (g) The Football Encyclopaedia (Associated Sporting Press 1934)- information provided by Arthur Fergus
- (h) Trefor Jones - the club's official historian
- (i) Greg Hattingh
- (j) Pete's Picture Palace
- (k) True Colours 2 (John Devlin 2006)
- (l) David King
- (m) Pat Heywood
- (n) Steve Atkinson
- (o) Alick Milne
- (p) Hornet History - independent site run by Wayne Godfrey that concentrates on the post-war era.
- (q) Watford Junction
- (r) Wayne Godfrey
- (s) Sarah Priestley, Heritage Officer, Watford Museum
- (t) Simon Monks
- (u) Christopher Worrall
- (v) Geoff Allen