Why Do We Wear Pink and Chocolate?

We’ve all heard the story of the Corinthian Football Club and how it was brought into being by the need to gather the best English players together in one place to build a national squad capable of beating Scotland. The Corinthians’ white kit grew in fame and inspired Corinthians Paulista and Real Madrid to wear the same. It remains our away kit to this day.

The Casuals, on the other hand, have a more mysterious history regarding the choice of club colours. There are competing stories, in fact.

The team’s distinctive home colours of chocolate and pink have endured for 130 years and were reputedly the racing colours of one of Casuals’ founder members in 1883, Thomas William Blenkiron. However, it is just as possible they are based on the colours of Westminster and Charterhouse schools, whose players made up the bulk of Casuals’ early squads.

The alternative pink-and-chocolate history is a more romantic tale. According to this version, Blenkiron, a former student of the Charterhouse public school decided to dedicate the colours of his team to Mrs Marion “Annie” Haig Brown, wife of the headmaster and active supporter of all the school’s sports clubs. 

Mrs Brown was known for her pink shawl which she wore in support of the school teams. When deciding on the livery of his team, Thomas went back to his training days and without a doubt in his heart, he knew he would honour Mrs Annie. He chose pink for the colour of Mrs B’s shawl and brown as a nod to the name of his first-ever supporter.

After the merger of the two clubs, it was agreed and constituted that the team would wear the pink-and-chocolate team kit for official matches, while for friendly matches or special tournaments it would wear white in honour of the “Corinthian” history. After several years this fell by the wayside and Corinthian-Casuals went back to wearing a white shirt and blue shorts. 

The return to pink and brown took place in 1997, when manager, Trevor Waller, spoke to the board of directors about the financial difficulty the club sadly found itself in. The members were aware that the club needed new kits, because theirs were worn out, but they could not afford the costs of all the new home and away shirts. 

Trevor suggested, as a way to save money, that we go back to the “Casuals” model. The idea was simple: with that unusual combination, there would hardly ever be a colour clash with any other team, and this way they wouldn’t need to buy two sets of new shirts, just one would be enough! 
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The committee approved the proposal and today the “Corinthian” colours are used as an away kit. A practical but winning choice, the Corinthian-Casuals kit is arguably the most interesting and original kit in the entire English football scene and beyond. You can choose which version of the pink-and-chocolate history you want to believe!

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