Claret and Blue–Enosis Neon Paralimniou

My claret and blue journey has taken me to Cyprus, where two Paralimni clubs, Heracles and People’s Love, merged in April 1944 and Enosis Neon Paralimniou was born. The club’s name means Youth Union of Paralimni in Greek, and the Clarets currently play in the Cypriot First Division.

In 1965 the club participated in the Cypriot Second Division and got promoted in 1969 to the First Division where they remained until 2014. They bounced back and forth in the following years with promotion in the 2017/18 season. 

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Picture from 2002 Intertoto Cup tie (Courtesy of Shutterstock)

The Clarets best league finish was second in 1974/75, and they have several runners-up medals in the Cypriot Cup in 1973–74, 1974–75, 1980–81, 1982–83. The club participated in the 2002 UEFA Intertoto Cup but were eliminated in the first round by Austrian team SC Bregenz.

One quick note. In researching the club I noticed they were managed by legendary manager Vic Buckingham in 1968.

As for the team’s colors, per Wikipedia:

The team’s colours of claret and sky blue were introduced by Jimmy Parneriou; a local businessman who was friends with former West Ham United player Bobby Moore. Moore donated West Ham United kits for the team to play in the 1970s. These colours became an established part of the club itself.

The Clarets’ current kit is made by Macron, which has supplied their kit since 2016. This graphic from the club Facebook page shows their most recent home shirts:

recent kits via Enosis Neon Paralimniou FB

Kit from 1970s (Thanks to @skitspassion)
2007/08 home shirt (Shoutout to @oldshirts)@ol

The Colours of Football website has several recent sets while Old Football Shirts has even older versions of their strip.

Resources

 

Feel free to comment below or hit me up on twitter, @austinlong1974, with additional information, corrections or comments.

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2020
06/18
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Claret and Blue–Malvern Town FC

This project continues to amaze me. In researching Argja Bóltfelag I stumbled upon this tweet:

tweet

So I added Malvern Town to my research and discovered this English club was established in 1946. The Hillsiders currently compete in the Hellenic League Division One West, which is the Tenth Level of the English football league system. This season saw an upgrade in the club’s facilities with a 3G playing surface and new dressing rooms.

home strip

2019/20 Home Strip (photo courtesy of Malvern Town FC)

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Back of Home Strip with graphic (photo courtesy of Malvern Town FC)

The team’s strip is provided by Scimitar Sports. Malvern Town is a focal point of the brand’s website and their current kits have a wonderful pattern on the back. I reached out to the club on Twitter and was informed that the graphic shows the various peaks of the Malvern Hills.

 

Previous strip (year unknown)
2016 Kit

Resources

Feel free to comment below or hit me up on twitter, @austinlong1974, with additional information, corrections or comments.

2020
06/11
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Claret and Blue–Argja Bóltfelag

In skimming a kit site on Facebook I came across this picture:

2019 team pic

2019 Team Picture courtesy of Argja Bóltfelag

This is Argja Bóltfelag who were founded in 1973 and play in the Faroe Islands Premier League. The club has bounced back and forth since getting promoted in 2006, but 2020 is their third season in top flight, which has recently kicked off again after a short suspension due to COVID-19.

Due to the language barrier, information was hard to come by. But based on research of available images, it appears they wear adidas templates in their colors of claret and blue.

2020 Home Strip
2020 Away Strip
2011 Home Strip

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Feel free to comment below or hit me up on twitter, @austinlong1974, with additional information, corrections or comments.

2020
06/04
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Claret and Blue–South Shields F.C.

South Shields FC, a club with a storied history, was formed in 1974 in the wake of Gateshead A.F.C. and Gateshead United F.C. The club has climbed up the English football pyramid and now play in the Northern Premier League Premier Division, which is the 7th level of English soccer.

FA-Vase-Final-Wembley-Stadium via chronicle live

FA Vase triumph in 2017 (picture courtesy of Chronicle Live)

The last 15 years or so have seen several cup runs, both local and national, for the Mariners but nothing may ever trump the 2016/17 campaign. The club collected the Durham Challenge Cup, the Northern League Cup and most notably Football Association Challenge Vase (FA Vase) title. This competition is for teams playing below Step 4 of the English National League System (or equivalently, below tier 8 of the overall English football league system). On top of that, the team won the Northern League with 108 points.

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Current home strip (picture courtesy of South Shields FC)

South Shields claret and blue shirts and white shorts are an homage to their predecessors, who have used a multitude of color schemes over the last century–tangerine and black, red and green, blue and white, all white, amber and blue, all red and even white and green. Historical Football Kits has previous iterations. Recent kits for the Mariners have been provided by Nike, Macron, Stanno, Errea and now are made by Puma.

Resources

Feel free to comment below or hit me up on twitter, @austinlong1974, with additional information, corrections or comments.

2020
05/14
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Claret and Blue–Cumbernauld United F.C.

Looking into claret and blue teams has taken me to Scotland as a reader clued me in to Cumbernauld United F.C. 

Cumbernauld United F.C. is a Scottish Junior team with a stop/start history. The team was formed in the 1900s, dissolved in 1923 and restarted in 1929, lasting until the start of World War II. United returned to the field in 1967 and have been going strong ever since.

The team has interacted with some famous teams and players through the years, hosting prestige friendlies against Celtic and Manchester United and having Sir Kenny Dalglish, Johnny Hamilton, Jackie McNamara, Lee McCulloch, and Bobby Russell in their ranks.

At the time of writing, Cumbernauld United F.C. is in the Scottish Junior Football Association (SJFA) West Region Championship. My research led me to learn that the term “junior” does not relate to the age of players, and Roddy Cairns wrote an informative piece for The Football Pink that laid out the history and current status of Junior Football. The West Region Championship is the second tier of region with promotion to the West Region Premiership or relegation to the West League One. 

The current strips are made by Stanno, a brand I had not heard of before. Turns out Stanno is part of the Dutch Deventrade Group, which also oversees hummel. Cumbernauld United’s current strip is the Torino template and looks fantastic.

Kenny Dalglish in 1967 via @74frankfurt
Current Home Strip via Cumbernauld United F.C. Facebook page
Current Away Strip via Cumbernauld United F.C. Facebook page

Resources

Feel free to comment below or hit me up on twitter, @austinlong1974, with additional information, corrections or comments.

2020
05/07
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Claret and Blue–Gzira United FC

This project took me to Malta and Gzira United FC. Founded in 1947, information was difficult to find but the Maroons won the Maltese FA Trophy in 1973, which qualified them for the 1973-74 European Cup Winners’ Cup, with their participation lasting one round. Details from the tie here. 

This is their only major honor to date but the club were promoted to the Maltese First Division for the first time in 2016 and back to back third place finishes in 2018 and 2019 saw them enter the UEFA Europa League, winning their first round tie but falling at the second hurdle each time.

Their strip was made by Joma for 2016/17 and 2017/18 seasons while the current kit is made by Puma. The home strip is a dark burgundy while the away set is deep sky blue. The club interchanges both sets to give them lots of flexibility for kit clashes.

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Picture of team from 1952/53 (Courtesy of Malta and International Football Collection Facebook page)

cwc team

Picture of team from 1973/1974 Cup Winners Cup (Courtesy of Malta and International Football Collection Facebook page)

1920 kit 2

2019/20 Home kit (pic courtesy of Gzira United FC)

1920 away kit (2)

2019/20 Away kit (pic courtesy of Gzira United FC)

Resources

Feel free to comment below or hit me up on twitter, @austinlong1974, with additional information, corrections or comments.

2020
04/30
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Kit Collection (2020)

2020 will go down as the year of COVID-19. This pandemic is horrific and people have had to stay put in order to slow the spread of the disease. But on the upside, it has seen kit collections from around the world bubble to the surface, and I have been inspired to put mine together.

It appears that I do this every couple of years, with 2013 and 2016 being examples. My collection has changed over time due to selling shirts, giving away shirts and following my rules, which were developed around 2016. What are my rules? Glad you asked.

  • At club level, I only buy shirts from Manchester United and Atlanta United.
  • For national team kits, only buy ones of the United States Men’s National Team. Why? Because I’m American, if only by an accident of birthplace. (Of course, thanks to Nike, this policy has been a real problem as they keep designing crap shirts.)
  • Only buying personalized jerseys (printed with JUNIOR 7) and not buying “hero jerseys” (unless I find a really good deal!!).
  • Only buying shirts on sale (promotional or otherwise) or wait until the release of the following set of kits.

CLUB

FC Barcelona

Juventus

Manchester United

NATIONAL TEAMS

United States

For all the posts on kits that I have owned, own currently or want to own, please visit the Strip Club page of the SoccerNomad blog.

Here are some good resources for researching or purchasing vintage or retro shirts:

Feel free to share your faves/collections or great sites for shirts in the comments below.

2020
04/28
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Claret and Blue–Westfields FC

Another lower league team was brought to my attention after my original post.

Westfields FC were formed in November 1966 by local youths following England’s 1966 World Cup win. Per the club’s website: The club took the claret and blue colours from West Ham United, as its founders admired Bobby Moore, Martin Peters and Sir Geoff Hurst, who were part of the England squad that won the World Cup in the year they were founded.

One of the founders, Andy Morris, is still involved with the club and is now its chief executive. He was given the Lifetime Achievement Award for 50 years’ service as during their 50th anniversary celebration, which took place in 2016/17.

The Fields, as they are known, are currently playing in the Hellenic League Premier Division (ninth level of English football).The Hellenic Football League is an English men’s football league covering an area including the English counties of Worcestershire, Berkshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, southern Buckinghamshire, southern Herefordshire and northern Wiltshire. 

Westfields were unbeaten this campaign (20W 6D 0L) and 13 points ahead, but unfortunately the season has been abandoned and all results expunged, with no promotion or relegation.

One of the highlights for the club was their FA Cup run during the 2016–17 season. The club won six matches and qualified for the first round of the FA Cup for the first time in their history. Per Andy Morris, “We appeared on Match of the Day and Football Focus, and I appeared as a studio guest for the live FA Cup First Round Draw in Manchester.” The Fields played Curzon Ashton and were knocked out after losing 3–1 in a replay after drawing 1–1 initially at home.

westfields old strip

The Westfields team that won the Herefordshire Sunday League Premier Division in 1972

1920 home

2019/20 Home kit

Resources

Feel free to comment below or hit me up on twitter, @austinlong1974, with additional information, corrections or comments.

2020
04/23
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Claret and Blue–Weymouth FC

This was another club brought to my attention on my original post about teams who wear claret and blue.

Going through the history of Weymouth FC made for interesting reading with a string of ownership groups, managers and promotions/relegations. This club has experienced a lot in 130 years.

Founded in 1890, the club started with a halved navy blue and pink shirt paired with white shorts and navy socks. The club was referred to as the Terra Cottas during the 1893-1894 season. 

A kit of white shirts with black shorts and socks was introduced in the 1930s and was used in the late 50s and for most of the 60s and 70s. Interesting that their strips have been manufactured by Macron, Joma and Umbro in recent seasons.

The Terras were promoted to Conference South in 2006 and played in the National Conference (fifth tier of English Football) until their relegation in 2009. The club is currently in the National League South (sixth tier of English Football).

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Picture courtesy of Peter Else (Flickr)

James Warrener, author of The Weymouth FC Shirt Story, let me know that the halved shirt had an image of the town’s jubilee clock on the back.

2016/17 Home shirt

1819 home kit

Current Home Strip

Resources

Feel free to comment below or hit me up on twitter, @austinlong1974, with additional information, corrections or comments.

2020
04/16
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Chelsea/FC Barcelona 2005

Football Ramble’s Greatest Games podcast looked back at the dramatic events between Chelsea and FC Barcelona in March 2005.

Barca were up 2-1 from the first leg heading back to Stamford Bridge, and the tie was on the proverbial knife’s edge. After working my shift at the coffee shop, I headed to a friend’s house to watch the game. What I witnessed was incredible. A fast start by the Blues and they were up 3-0 in 20 minutes. Then came the comeback from Barcelona including that goal from Ronaldinho that put the visitors ahead on away goals. The second half went back and forth before Terry’s goal settled matters. I was devastated, but the Blaugrana knocked out Chelsea the following year on their way to winning the European Cup and continue an amazing rivalry of almost twenty years, with matches full of incident and tension and memorable moments.

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2020
04/14
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