Sefton Harriers A Centenary History
1889-1999
Norman Wilson

A Topic that is from time to time discussed informally amongst members, is that of our Club colours. There is a long held belief, call it folk memory, or an oral tradition, that our founding colours were red jersey with a black diamond shaped badge on the front, and in 1893 we changed to black and white hooped jerseys. On scrutiny of the Club minute books, there are entries which give cause to re-think this question. The author lays the details before you. At a General Meeting held at Park Road Coca Rooms on 13th September 1892, a motion was proposed and eventually carried by a majority of nine "that the colours be as previous viz. black and white". Further at the General Meeting at the same venue on 21st April 1893, Rule 9 was altered to read, "That the Club's colours be a red jersey with white badge on black diamond shape and bearing the Club's monogram, balck drawers with a gold stripe". The latter change is the complete reversal of what we believed all this time. The author has pondered over these conflicting notions, and after some Sherlock Holmes type deductions, offers the following thoughts. The rule change in 1892, back to previous black and white, could imply that these were the colours of the club that we emerged from i.e., the Sefton and Dingle Bicycle Club. the change to red jerseys in 1893 we can accept, as this is borne out by what the runners are wearing in the photograph reproduced in this book, of Sefton Harriers as the 1893/4/5 Liverpool and District Champions. The team is clearly not wearing black and white hoops. The jerseys they have on are of a plain colour, which could be red. In addition, the man 3rd from the left on the back row, wears a jersey which shows the diamond shape on the front. the earliest evidence that we have to hand of our wearing black and white hoops, is the photograph of W.T.Clarke at the time of winning the Counties Cross-country Championship in 1908. The date is clearly written on the photograph. The photograph referred to appears in Dr Phil Thomas's "Centenary History of the Northern Counties Cross-Country Association". a work to which the author is indebted as a very useful reference  point in the process of compiling this history. Based on these details it would be reasonable to assume that at a date sometime between 1895 and 1908 we changed the colours to the now familiar black and white hoops, although there is no entry in the minute book to show this. If there is anyone amongst the readers of this book, who can throw any light on this shady area, the author will be pleased to know of it.