The Great Colour Change of 1954

I've been reading elsewhere about many Cardiff City supporters remaining unhappy about the change of colours from blue to red. This begged the question: how would we feel about such a drastic colour change? Then somebody remembered that we made such a change in 1954. How, precisely, was that greeted? That's an interesting question. We've certainly discussed the colour change before but I'm not sure if we've been able to explore how people felt about it. Not unless I've missed something.

To put it into context, the Historical Kits website records that we'd been playing in black-and-white at least since the merger of 1921. In this sense it was all the professionalised Torquay United Mark 2 had ever known. There looks to have been a good dose of stripes - à la Newcastle United - up until 1934; then twenty years (either side of the war) in plain white shirts and black shorts. You'd have thought there would have been some grumblings when the change was made.

But maybe the black-and-white was just too dull and ordinary for people's liking? Perhaps some fans felt it had not been the same since the "old stripes" had been ditched. Yet, had those been retained, what price Torquay United not changing them at a time when Newcastle United actually won things? In fact, why didn't we bring them back just there and then to latch on to the glamour of the mighty Magpies? If that had happened it's possible that we too would have been the Magpies for ever more. With two magpie mascots of course. Just like Newcastle. Just like Notts County.

I can't quite remember the boardroom dynamics of the time but, maybe, the change of colours was part of a "new era" strategy devised by the board. Or may it have been at the request of an Eric Webber confidently asserting himself as a bright young manager? Perhaps too, with clothing rationing safely finished, the country was starting to show more of an interest in how it dressed. Yellow-and-blue (or whatever subtle variation) might have fitted the mood of the crossover period between the ending of austerity and the start of the New Elizabethan era. Better than that dowdy old black-and-white nonsense.

There's also the business of the yellow representing the sand; blue the sea. Or am I just dreaming that? I'm sure I've heard this said over the years and - should that case have been argued in 1954 - it may have had a resonance in a seaside resort which was far more self-confident than it appears to be now. Indeed, was it a suggestion from the borough publicity manager down on the harbourside?

None of this answers the question about the response. We had far greater numbers of regular punters in those days but I sense it was accepted without much dissent. And, in the medium-term, it may have helped that the club's playing fortunes immediately improved from 13th to 8th to 5th to 2nd. But I guess it's now almost impossible to discover how fans felt about the new colours. The club programme probably didn't record dissent; the newspapers may only have refelected it by publishing letters. Consequently we're probably now reliant on folk memory. 

Yet I certainly think a colour change would be more emotive now. Yellow-and-blue (and variations) is still relatively unusual and it's now been fifty-nine years since the change which means few people remember otherwise. It is broadly speaking, various times in the 1970s and 1980s aside, all we've ever known.

Now here's a funny thing. I always think of yellow-and-blue - or gold-and-blue - but perhaps the emphasis is purely on a "yellow" identity these days?

Well, you would think so by reading the club'a website and programme. Although the club switches between "Torquay", "Gulls" and "Yellow(s)", I sense the last of these three is gaining pre-eminence. It seems to be forever "Yellow this" or "Yellow that". Now I'm not sure if this is a deliberate strategy or purely accidental. And, as we appear to be incapable of singing much other than "Yellow Army" or "Cone on you Yellows!", you could argue this is a case of listening to the fans.

But I'm not convinced of the overuse of the term "Yellow". It works as part of chants but not in print or in normal speech. Nor have I ever been fully won over by "Gulls". We may use "gull" to identify ourselves online but we're not exactly a community or diaspora of seagull lovers. When I received a "Good win 4 Gulls" text on Saturday I reckon it would have been fairly unlikely to have come from a Torquay supporter. It's time I feel to make a bid to reclaim the word "UNITED" when talking about our team. After all we are - 1910-21 hiatus aside - one of the first Uniteds.