Team Colours

The history of the Old Wimbledonians Football Club traces back to 1969, when a group of enthusiastic young men formed a team named Prospect FC. Over the years, this team grew and eventually became the “Old Wimbledonians Football Club” as it is known today. Throughout its development, the club has sported various distinctive football kits, each reflecting different eras and moments in its history. This section provides an overview of some of the notable kits worn by the club over the decades.

The Early Years: Prospect FC and Kit Beginnings

Although Prospect FC was established in 1969, it did not attain official club status until the 1970/71 season, when it affiliated with the Surrey FA and played its inaugural league matches. The earliest recorded kit, from the 1971/72 season, consisted of grass green shirts, white shorts, and white socks. The green colour chosen because no other team played in green. In those formative years and throughout the 1970s, only shirts were supplied by the club, requiring players to bring their own shorts and socks.

1970s: Introduction of New Colours

By the 1972/73 season, the team’s kit changed to yellow shirts, blue shorts, and blue socks, which became the club’s official colours until 1979. However, during the 1975/76 season, another set of shirts were acquired giving us white shirts, black shorts, and black socks. This white kit remained as a reserve option to be used in the event of a kit clash well into the 1980s. There was some sort of badge on the left breast of the round-collared shirt, adding a sense of identity to the kit.

Late 1970s to Early 1980s: Expansion and Further Kit Changes

The 1979/80 season marked the introduction of a reserve team and a new club colour. Both teams adopted red shirts with black collars, black shorts, and black socks, while the white kit continued to serve as a spare set.

In the 1983/84 season, the first team once again changed its kit, this time opting for sky blue shirts with a black V-neck collar and cuffs, complemented by black shorts and black socks. The second team continued to wear the red shirts. This sky-blue kit would later be worn during the club’s first cup final victory in 1984, although red socks were used for that occasion.

Late 1980s to Mid-1990s: Variety and Growth

During the 1988/89 season, records indicate the first team played in maroon shirts, although there is no information available regarding the colour of the shorts and socks. By the 1991/92 season, the club introduced gold shirts paired with black shorts and black socks for the first team.

The 1993/94 season saw the introduction of a third team, which donned a kit inspired by Inter Milan: blue and black striped shirts with a sponsor’s logo, black shorts featuring blue trim, and black socks with three blue hoops. This was no doubt inspired by their Italian management duo of Alfie Frassoni and Tony Silvestro.

1996/97: Establishing Club Identity

A significant milestone came in the 1996/97 season, with the adoption of a formal club constitution and a new club kit that reflected the traditional colours of yellow, maroon, and green, inherent to the history of Wimbledon College and the Old Wimbledonians. All three teams adopted this kit, which comprised yellow and green half shirts with maroon accents.

There was considerable optimism that the introduction of the new, colourful kit would eliminate any potential for kit clashes; however, this was surprisingly not so and the club subsequently acquired maroon away shirts to resolve these challenges.

To support the financial transition to this club kit, generous sponsorship was provided by “Bayee” Chinese restaurant in Wimbledon Village, led by Marco Yu. Marco became a much loved and longstanding player for the Strollers.

2000/10: A Decade of Stability

With the launch of the vets team—the Strollers—in 2000, the club introduced updated kits. Two distinct shirts were selected to differentiate between the vets and open age teams: one maroon and one green, both paired with maroon shorts and green socks featuring maroon and yellow accents. This style remained with the club for a decade, undergoing only minor modifications.

2011/18: The Hooped Kit

In 2011, the club adopted the popular hooped kit, complemented by coordinated goalkeeper attire. The maroon and bottle green hooped shirts were matched with bottle green shorts and hooped socks bearing the letters OWFC. This design was standard across all teams, including the Saturday side, who had a centrally placed club emblem.

An away kit was introduced in 2016 featuring a yellow shirt accented with maroon and bottle hoops on the sides, yellow shorts, and predominantly yellow socks with maroon and bottle hoop details.

2018/23: Different Kits

The kit was due to go a major change in 2018 when the club chairman decided that each team could have a different shirt colour whilst staying in the club parameters of club colours.

All kits were basically the same with the colours being swapped round. The Sat teams took navy and yellow, the Sunday teams took maroon, yellow and green whilst the vets took white and navy.

2023/26: Back to Hoops

In 2023, the club returned to a unified kit for all teams, implementing a new hooped design with bottle green shorts and bottle socks highlighted by maroon and yellow stripes.