Our original colours were red, white and blue. I read somewhere that, when Athletico Madrid were starting out, they couldn't afford new kit so they used to have our old ones. That's why they play in red and white striped shirt and blue shorts. Don't know if this is true but I'm sure we'll have some club historians that will confirm it or blow it out of the water.
Our original colours, as I understand it (despite what historicalkits.co.uk say, though they are usually right), were Oxford blue and Cambridge blue as we were founded as the Sunderland and District Teachers Association Football Club (the academic link). I'm not sure why we changed to red and white but I have heard a story that it was to do with colours of Souter Lighthouse, although this is probably a fallacy. It was Athletic Bilbao who are rumoured to have taken their colours from ours due to sailors arriving at that port from the UK. Although Southampton also claim that it was their sailors who influenced Bilbao. Atletico Madrid were formed as an offshoot of Athletic Bilbao and wore the same colours. Under Franco's dictatorship they became the team of the Spanish air force and were known as Atletico Aviacion. They changed their black shorts to blue then as this was the colour of the air force. Edit: It is possible that our red and white colours come from around 1884 when, during a period of financial difficulty, the club was gifted a set of kits by the now defunct (folded 1999 but a team bearing the same name plays in the Stockton Sunday League apparently) South Bank FC.
Not for me but ok for one season. The top itself is lovely imo. Now we just need to take the steps to be more ethical with our choice of sponsor in future.
