Huddersfield Town

In 1906, at a meeting in the Imperial Hotel, members of the Huddersfield & District FA and other interested parties discussed the possibilities of starting up a professional soccer club in the town. After further public meetings local football enthusiasts eventually managed to acquire land for a ground in Leeds Road and following another meeting in the Albert Hotel in June 1908 local woollen manufacturer and main benefactor Mr J Hilton Crowther was instrumental in forming the new Huddersfield Town AFC, which joined the North-Eastern League with a capital of £2,000. In the same year they rented the Leeds Road ground from the Huddersfield Association Ground Company, who had bought the old showground in order to stage important local matches. An old tramcar was the dressing room and ticket office at Leeds Road. If that was not available the teams used a pub or a tent

Huddersfield Town now play at the originally called McAlpine Stadium, officially opened in 1994, as a result of a joint venture between the football club, the Rugby League Club and Kirklees Metropolitain Council. The famous old ground has been built over by a car park and multi-stores. The stadium has seats in both blue for the football team and claret for the rugby team.

Town’s first set of shirts for the 1908/09 season were red and this earned them the nickname ‘The Scarlet Runners’. There’s also a mention, albeit of doubtful origin of an early salmon pink uniform. Sometimes sartorial sagas are mystifying. The following year they wore all blue and after that the team changed to white shirts with a light blue yolk and cuffs. The all blue was kept as a change strip. This style survived until 1913 when the club went over to the blue and white stripes now well-known. Lace collars were necessary because the fabric of the shirts wouldn’t stretch. The socks were dark blue with light blue and white bands at the top. These colours were soon to be feared around the land.

In the 40’s and 50’s the shirts were of better material but still basically the same design and colour. However the socks had changed to blue and white hoops. By 1963 the stripes were darker blue and narrower. The shirt top had no collar and was rounded and was of a tighter fit because of the newer shirt materials. The socks were now white with a blue top. In seasons 1967/68 and 1968/69 Town got rid of the stripes and went for an all blue shirt with white trimmings.

The all blue shirts were tried again in the mid 1970’s but most supporters didn’t like them and wanted the traditional blue and white stripes back. Incidentally, in the seasons 1991/92 and 1992/93 Town had a hit with the red and black electric hooped away shirts. They became nationwide bestsellers with their amazing design. In the mid 1990’s Town added a red pinstripe to the darker blue stripes and changed the shorts and socks to dark blue. The red pinstripes have now gone and the shorts have reverted back to white.

As said, the early red shirts had earned them the nickname ‘Scarlet Runners’. Town have also been known as the ‘Colnesiders’ since their pitch was located next to the river Colne. The second decade of the twentieth century saw the introduction of ‘The Babes’, after entering the Football League in 1910. The very apt nickname ‘The Terriers’ was introduced in the 1969/70 season by promotions manager Bill Brooke, acknowledging the terrier-like qualities of fitness and tenacity of Ian Greaves’ young side.

The first Yorkshire Terrier to be registered with the Kennel Club in the 1880’s was named ‘Huddersfield Ben’. Whatever tag has been attached over the years, the most enduring nickname and the one most commonly used yesteryear and in the present day is ‘The Town’.

The club’s first badge, adopted in 1920, is basically the shield of the coat of arms of the old Huddersfield County Borough Council. The arms are based on the heraldic shield of the Ramsden family from which the borough bought its own land in 1918. Three rams and three turrets represent the family, who have held the Manor of Huddersfield since Elizabeth’s I’s reign.

The black chevron represents the river Colne. The full arms, including the crest with a ram’s head holding the white rose of Yorkshire in it’s mouth, and the motto ‘Juvat impigros Deo’, meaning ‘God aids the diligent’, has been worn in each of Town’s last four Cup Finals.

In 1969, the aforementioned commercial director Bill Brooke decided the existing logo needed to be changed because the team needed a nickname. As said, he came up with ‘The Terriers’. The three rams in the club shield went, as did two of the turrets, replaced by two white roses representing Yorkshire pride. The surviving turret represents the ‘Jubilee Tower’ on Castle Hill, built to commemmorate Queen Victoria’s diamond jubilee in 1897. A terrrier, perched on a football and a helmet, was added as a crest.

In 2001 the whole affair was reduced to a shield, our terrier now depicted in it, replacing the turret, and three stars were added, representing the three consecutive titles from yesteryear. It was ditched in 2002 in favour of the previous badge as a result of fans wishes. Rightfully so.