Colour chart of Sutton Utd kits 1898 - 2014?

[maw]

Can anyone refer me to a colour chart of Sutton United kits throughout its history 1898-2014?

Poster?
Book?
Internet?

I understand that the kit has always been amber and chocolate, but, an old home programme (Sutton Utd v Hitchin Town, Athenian League, Saturday 29th October 1955) states on the team page that Sutton Utd were in red and white.

Mark

[sallycat]

That's a very interesting idea! Would be hard to produce an accurate one for obvious reasons concerning black and white photos and print quality over the years. My programme collection is comprehensive enough to do one for the last 50 years, but couldn't shed any light on your red and white mystery.

[davef]

The club did switch to green and white stripes for a season or so (in the 1920s I think) but the form was so poor that amber and chocolate were swiftly restored.

[markf]

We wore red and white as a change kit. Hitchin wore yellow and back then the homeside changed.

[maw]

We wore red and white as a change kit. Hitchin wore yellow and back then the homeside changed.

Thanks - now it makes sense.

For what period did the home team wear a change kit?

[maw]

[amberchoc]

It was certainly the case throughout the 50s and I believe for part of the 60s as well. By coincidence, Hitchin's change strip in the 50s was red shirts as well. By the time the two clubs met in the 1963 Amateur Cup semi-final, however, Sutton had switched to white for their second colours, otherwise there would have been a double clash!

[markf]

From what I can gather, Sutton started wearing choc & amber stripes, once shirts replaced caps as the way to distinguish between teams. That stayed for many years. I think in the 30's the stripes became hoops after the brief green and white experiment.

In the late '30's U's had moved to choc and amber halves and this remained until after WWII. I think briefly they wore quarters but by the late 50's, the shirts were amber with choc numbers and the shorts white not chocolate (or black as they may have been). The socks were white too.

That amber and white kit stayed (save for the socks becoming amber early to mid 60's) until the 74/5 season, when the shorts became chocolate. That kit survived for a few seasons but by the late 70's the kit was all amber with chocolate trim. That remained in place until the Centenary season when the choc and amber quarters and choc shorts took charge. Of course, after that we had the ghastly thick stripes until Dos returned the all amber kit which we have have sported since.

As for change strips, it wasn't until the late 60's early 70's that the away side changed in the event of a colour clash (at amateur level anyway). As stated above, U's wore all white for most of the time. However, there was a light blue and black kit (similar to Coventry's of the time) and then a brown kit also fashioned on a Coventry design. These both appeared in the late 70's. U's reverted to all white in the 80's until the Centenary when the green & white quarters came in followed by the broad green & white strip (a far better combination than the home kit) before we returned to the all white strip.

U's once wore Chelsea's kit in an Amateur Cup tie at Wokingham in 1972, and famously the full England kit in the AIT Final in '79. There have been a few other concoctions put together in emergencies in recent seasons.

Anyway, anyone bored enough to have got this far can add to the above if they have a better recall than me.

[maw]

Thank you for your very detailed reply.

Not as simple as I thought!

[Del]

I like the stripes & especially the quarters.