Real reason Millwall FC wear navy blue… with a hidden link that reaches 500 miles away from London
THE reason Millwall FC wear navy blue has been revealed and it involves a hidden link hundreds of miles away.
Millwall FC are based in Bermondsey, London, and are known for their notorious hooligans and fierce rivalry with West Ham United.
But the London club’s well-recognised kit has some interesting heritage that is linked far away from their base in the capital.
The football club was originally founded in 1885 as Millwall Rovers by the workers of J.T. Morton in the Millwall area of the Isle of Dogs.
J.T. Morton itself had been founded in Aberdeen, Scotland in 1849 to supply sailing ships with food.
And while not all the workers who came to the Isle of Dogs hailed from Scotland, there was certainly a strong Scottish contingent present in Millwall’s first ever footy team.
This was reflected in Millwall’s traditional kit, which consists of dark blue shirts, white shorts, and blue socks.
This colour was chosen because it paid homage to the Scottish roots of the club, according to Richard Lindsay’s book ‘Millwall: A Complete Record’.
For the first 50 years, up until 1936, they played in a traditional navy blue that was very similar to the colours of Scotland national team.
Although the club adopted a lighter royal blue in 1936, Millwall went back to their roots in 2010.
As it was the 125th anniversary of the club, they re-adopted the darker navy blue of their first strip and it has stayed the same since.
The club’s crest features a lion rampant, which again seems to be an obvious indication of the club’s Scottish roots.
Notorious Millwall hooligan Ginger Bob also claimed this was due to the club’s original influence with Scotland.
Ginger Bob, 65, joined the infamous Millwall Bushwackers when he was just 11 years old.
And after working his way up through various sub-firms he went on to become one of the Bushwackers’ top chiefs.
He told the Anything Goes podcast: “The history of the club is Scottish, Millwall’s original colours are Scottish colours.”
However, some club historians believe this is a matter of accident rather than design.
Millwall History Files claim that in the club’s cup run to the Semi Finals in 1900, they were referred to as Lions for their acts of giant killing.
They say that this is when the name stuck and was adopted as the clubs nickname and emblem.
The club’s first headquarters were in the rooms of The Islanders pub in Millwall.
Millwall FC inhabited four different grounds in the club’s first 25 years with their current stadium known as ‘The Den’.