{"id":43209,"date":"2023-11-03T16:18:21","date_gmt":"2023-11-03T16:18:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thearsenalcollection.org.uk\/?p=43209"},"modified":"2026-03-31T22:11:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T21:11:08","slug":"the-origin-of-arsenals-red-shirts-a-new-twist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thearsenalcollection.org.uk\/?p=43209","title":{"rendered":"The Origin of Arsenal’s Red Shirts – A New Twist!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Who gave who a set of shirts?<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

One of the many mis-told stories in Arsenal’s history is that of the origin of their red shirts. The urban myth is that former Nottingham Forest player Fred Beardsley, who was one of Arsenal’s founders, wrote to his former club and asked them if they could help out his new fledgling club and they sent down a full set of shirts.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

This story has subsequently been mythbusted with the help of easily accessible archives such as the British Newspaper Archive. The true story is that Beardsley suggested to his new team mates that they should adopt red shirts, probably because he already had one! This newspaper clipping from his obituary in the Kentish Independent on 16 June 1936 states this.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

It was also confirmed by David Danskin who came up with the idea of forming what is now Arsenal FC. In an interview with the Coventry Evening Telegraph published in 25 April 1931, Danskin stated<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

So, there we have it from the man himself: the players bought their own red shirts, they weren’t given to them by Nottingham Forest.<\/p>\n

But, we’ve recently discovered a new twist to this story.<\/p>\n

In 1965 Nottingham Forest celebrated their centenary and arranged a game with Valencia on 28 September to commemorate this occasion. They wore a new kit specially made for the game which, according to the Leicester Daily Mercury was donated to them by…Arsenal!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

This is confirmed in the minutes of a board meeting held by the Arsenal directors on 26 July 1965.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

How about that. Not only did Nottingham Forest not give Arsenal a set of red shirts, but it was actually the other way round!<\/p>\n

We would like to thank Arsenal FC for allowing us to use this extract from their minute books.<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2013<\/p>\n

Copies of our books\u00a0Royal Arsenal \u2013 Champions of the South<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Arsenal: The Complete Record 1886-2018<\/a>\u00a0are still available from the publishers.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Who gave who a set of shirts? One of the many mis-told stories in Arsenal’s history is that of the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p87inb-beV","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1720,"url":"https:\/\/thearsenalcollection.org.uk\/?p=1720","url_meta":{"origin":43209,"position":0},"title":"1967-68: Colour programmes, an abandoned game and a ghost game","author":"arsenalcollection","date":"10 March 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The first week This week we've added a couple more seasons of programmes: 1954-55 and 1967-68. 1967-8 was fairly eventful on the pitch and within the programme. Arsenal reached their first final since 1952, unfortunately losing 0-1 to Leeds in the League Cup final. This was only their second season\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Latest News"","block_context":{"text":"Latest News","link":"https:\/\/thearsenalcollection.org.uk\/?cat=91"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thearsenalcollection.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/1968-05-31-Manchester-United-v-Benfica-H-EC-01-e1489092262384.jpg?fit=300%2C439&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2140,"url":"https:\/\/thearsenalcollection.org.uk\/?p=2140","url_meta":{"origin":43209,"position":1},"title":"1949-50 A New Era For The Arsenal","author":"arsenalcollection","date":"31 March 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Today we publish all of Arsenal's home programmes from the 1949-50 season. It was a season of firsts on and off the pitch. Gordon Ross took over as programme editor from Harry Homer. Gordon remained in this post until his retirement 34 years later in 1983. He is by far\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Latest News"","block_context":{"text":"Latest News","link":"https:\/\/thearsenalcollection.org.uk\/?cat=91"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thearsenalcollection.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/David-Rocastle-1983.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thearsenalcollection.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/David-Rocastle-1983.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thearsenalcollection.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/David-Rocastle-1983.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thearsenalcollection.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/David-Rocastle-1983.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":35423,"url":"https:\/\/thearsenalcollection.org.uk\/?p=35423","url_meta":{"origin":43209,"position":2},"title":"How Arsenal’s Name Changed – Royal Arsenal","author":"arsenalcollection","date":"17 April 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"by Andy Kelly and Mark Andrews In this series we explain when and why the football club now known as Arsenal changed its name. Having played their first game the members of Dial Square Football Club decided to open up their club to the whole of the Royal Arsenal. Why?\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Dial Square"","block_context":{"text":"Dial Square","link":"https:\/\/thearsenalcollection.org.uk\/?cat=656"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thearsenalcollection.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/1892-09-03-Gainsborough-Trinity-H-FR.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thearsenalcollection.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/1892-09-03-Gainsborough-Trinity-H-FR.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thearsenalcollection.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/1892-09-03-Gainsborough-Trinity-H-FR.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":35537,"url":"https:\/\/thearsenalcollection.org.uk\/?p=35537","url_meta":{"origin":43209,"position":3},"title":"Arsenal underground station renamed earlier than believed","author":"arsenalcollection","date":"31 October 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Celebrating the wrong day for nearly 60 years If you\u2019re an Arsenal fan that has been to a game any time in the last 80 odd years, the chances are you will have used or walked past Arsenal underground station. 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