Why do West Ham wear their iconic claret and blue colours?
West Ham are famous for wearing claret and blue.
The Hammers are a historic outfit in English football, having won a number of major honours over the years, with West Ham’s UEFA Conference League win under David Moyes being the latest.
It was frustrating to many watching in Prague that the Irons were wearing their white and orange away strip as opposed to their iconic home colours.
At the moment, under Graham Potter, struggles are on show at the London Stadium, but the strip the Irons wear has remained a constant for well over 100 years.
Now, West Ham Zone has delved into why the East London club wear claret and blue and how their colours have developed over the years.
West Ham originally wore blue
It is a known fact that West Ham were originally known as Thames Ironworks when founded in 1895, before changing their name five years later.
With that being said, the Hammers maintained the colours of their initial name from their inception until 1903 before ultimately picking up on claret and blue.
Before that, the original club colours were dark blue as chairman, Arnold Hills, opted to use Oxford blue kits, representing the colour of his university.
This all changed when former West Ham man and English sprinter William Belton visited Birmingham, and a group of Aston Villa asked him to race them.
West Ham picked up claret and blue from Aston Villa
The Villa players believed they would win easily, but ultimately lost the race, having backed themselves with bets that they were unable to afford.
One of the defeated runners happened to be in charge of washing the team’s kits and offered to give an Aston Villa kit to Belton as his prize.
He ultimately returned to the capital with a complete set of the Villans’ claret and blue shirts, which he gave to West Ham to wear.
Ever since then, the Hammers have been famed for wearing the iconic colour combination, but ultimately have Aston Villa to thank.
The Irons aren’t the only side to do exactly that, with Turkish side Trabzonspor also taking up the colours in honour of Villa, after becoming established in 1967.
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