It seems we switched from Blue in '59 but when we played Reading at home we played in White (They played in Red). Bit before my time but do any Old 'Orns have a clue about this one??
Cos we're the Golden Hornets, Hornets, Hornets. And thats the way we like it, like it, like it. woah woah woahhhhhh. Truthfully i have no idea, but have often wondered.
It goes back to the days of Cliff Holton when there was quite a lot of turmoil going on in the club. The board took the decision to "banish the blues" which seemed like a good catch phrase of the day. The new Rookery stand had been built by the supporters club, and although they welcomed it, the board held the fans at arms length. The directors thought that the club had been unfashionable for too long and wanted to change things. Attendances were in the 6,000s, so they had to try something. That is how I remember it, but it was a long time ago.
I will go and find out. I know that the change to the Hornets was a vote in the supporters club after the change of club colours. There may have been some idea to start new as with the blue shirts before the change Watford were applying to stay in the league and were very poor and afterwards they got a lot better.
I may be wrong but the colour of the strip was changed in (after) the 1958-59 season - the first in the old 4th Division after relegation from Division 3 South. There were so many teams in Division 4 playing in blue & white that many away matches resulted in a change strip being worn. So for the 1959-60 season (incidentally the record-breaking Holton/Uphill and promotion season) Watford changed strip - not to Yellow but to "Old Gold" and Black (much the same as Wolves now). This may have coincided with the desire to make the club a little more distinctive and "fashionable" - the attempted adoption of a club song (Up, Up you Hornets etc.) was during 1960-61 (or maybe 1961-61) - this failed and until Bill McGarry's suggestion of Z-cars for the team to run out to in 1963, Watford remained music-less........ Yellow was adopted instead of Old Gold after about 3 seasons I think (1962-63 or thereabouts). The colour of the programme reflected the shirts.
As I recall the change to the Hornets was by no means popular with all the support - it had no historical foundation or affinity with the town - in fact the "Printers" would have been a more logical (if not so colourful) choice. Watford have only had to "apply to stay in the league" twice in 1927 and 1951. Both times we finished second from bottom and were re-elected. (Aberdare Athletic being the unlucky club in 1927 to finish below us and voted out). So the change from Blue and White was well after 1951 and after some seasons of moderate success until we slipped into the newly formed 4th Division in 1958.
I was under the impression that the first strip for Watford was red, yellow and black hoops. We played a game for the Sherriff of London Shield in the late seventies early eighties in this strip to comemorate it. I think we still hold the Shield. After the red, yellow and black we played in white shirts and black shorts then changed to blue and white.
According to Ollie, we played in green,yellow and red hoops until 1909, then into white shirts and black shorts. In 1914-15 season they played in black and white striped shirts and became known as the Magpies briefly.
I remember about that time 1963/64 the team was looking for an original piece of music to come out to (Everton came out to Z-Cars also) , they tried 5,4,3,2,1 by Manfred Mann (which stirred the blood, they used to run out just after the 1) and a couple of other songs were tried. However they eventually settled for Z-Cars as it was the most popular.
I thought the red was added into the kit at GTs request - but if we had it in 1976 as this shows, that can't be the case.
I was bored so I researched changing football colours in Division 4 between 1958-9 and 1959-60. Apart from the four promoted/relegated clubs nothing really changed except both Watford and Southport changed their predominant colours, from blue and white to gold and black in Watfords case (which we knew) and from back and white stripes and black shorts to gold shirts and black shorts in Southport's! Still doesn't explain exactly why Watford changed though. 1958-59 5 Red Crewe Alexandra Exeter City, Walsall, Workington and York City 7 Blue Barrow, Carlisle United, Chester City, Gillingham, Millwall, Shrewsbury and Watford 1 Yellow Torquay United 5 White Bradford PA, Coventry City, Crystal Palace, Darlington and Gateshead 2 Blue / white Hartlepools United and Oldham Athletic 1 Gold / black stripes Port Vale 1 Black / white stripes Southport 1 Red / blue Aldershot 1 Maroon Northampton Town 1959-60 5 Red Crewe Alexandra, Doncaster Rovers, Exeter City, Workington and York City 5 Blue Barrow, Carlisle United, Chester City, Gillingham and Millwall, 1 Yellow Torquay United 2 Gold Southport Watford 5 White Bradford PA, Crystal Palace, Darlington, Gateshead and Stockport County 2 Blue / white Hartlepools United and Oldham Athletic 1 Gold / black stripes 2 Black / white stripes 1 Red / blue Aldershot 1 Maroon Northampton Town
Loved the historical kit website, I think we should give the red, yellow and green hoops a go as our away kit!
I was bored too & thought I'd check that as I didn't think the Southport bit rang true - the last time I was there was in about 1968 when I read a bit about their history (got there 15 hours before kick off & had to do something!)My research tells me that they swapped from black and white to gold and black in 1954. Changing to blue and yellow in the early 70's, after a period of all yellow, was their downfall as they were thrown out a few years later.
I am afraid that you are all wrong. I have done some research myself, looking at more than reliable sauces. This has enabled me to reach the tentative conclusion that yellow was chosen due to the fact that we play like Brazil. The black and red stripes that are used to differing affects on the various home strips through the ages reflect our ability to defend like AC Milan. I thought you people would have known......
