Derry City F.C. - Colours and Crests

Colours and Crests

Derry City wore Aston Villa Football Club's famous claret and blue jerseys with white shorts for its first season – 1929–30. The colours lasted until 1932, when white jerseys with black shorts were adopted. This style was replaced by the now-traditional red and white "candystripes" with black shorts in 1934. The style derived from Sheffield United, who wore the pattern and, specifically, Billy Gillespie, a native of nearby Donegal. He played for Sheffield United from 1913 until 1932, captaining them to a 1925 FA Cup win. The club's most capped player with 25 appearances for Ireland, he was held in such high regard in his home country that when he left Sheffield United in 1932 to become Derry's player-manager, they changed their strip within two years in appreciation of his career at Sheffield United.

Derry have worn red and white stripes since, except from 1956 to 1962, when the club's players wore amber and black. Jerseys since 1962 have had "candystripes" of varying thickness. The kit features white socks – originally black socks were used and occasionally red if a clash with the opposition occurred. Similarly, white shorts were adopted for a spell in the early 1970s and for 1985. They are still sometimes worn if a clash occurs, as are black socks. Away jerseys have varied in colour from white, to navy and green stripes, to yellow, to white and light-blue stripes, and to black.

Derry have had various kit suppliers, including Adidas, Avec, Erreà, Fila, Le Coq Sportif, Matchwinner, Umbro, Spall O'Neills, and, currently, Hummel. Commercial sponsorship logos to appear on the shirt's front have included Northlands, Warwick Wallpapers, Fruit of the Loom, Smithwick's and AssetCo. Logos to have appeared on the sleeve have included the Trinity Hotel, Tigi Bed Head and Tigi Catwalk. For 2007, the logos of local media, Q102.9 and the Derry News, appeared on the back of the shirt just below the neck, along with the logo of Meteor Electrical on the jersey's front.

The club did not sport a crest on the club jersey throughout the Irish League years, nor for most of the first League of Ireland season. Instead, the coat of arms of the city appeared on club memorabilia such as scarves, hats and badges. The symbols on the arms are a skeleton, three-towered castle, red St. George's cross and sword. The sword and cross are devices of the City of London, and along with an Irish harp embedded within the cross, demonstrate the link between the two cities – the city's official name under UK law is Londonderry and the city itself was developed by the Honourable the Irish Society, a livery company of the City of London. The castle is thought to be an old local Norman keep built in 1305 by the de Burca clan. The skeleton is believed to be that of a knight of the same clan who was starved to death in the castle dungeons in 1332. This is accompanied by the Latin motto, "Vita, veritas, victoria", meaning "Life, truth, victory."

In April 1986 the club ran a competition in local schools to design a crest for them. The winning entry was designed by John Devlin, a St. Columb's College student, and was introduced on 5 May 1986 as Derry hosted Nottingham Forest for a friendly, with Liam Nelis and Paul Gormley (on his fifth birthday) acting as mascots. The crest depicted a simplified version of the city's Foyle Bridge, which had opened 18 months previously, the traditional red and white stripes of the jersey bordered by thin black lines, the year in which the club was founded and a football in the centre representing the club as a footballing entity. The name of the club appeared in Impact font.

With the novelty of the Foyle Bridge wearing off over time, the crest lasted until 15 July 1997, when the current one was unveiled at Lansdowne Road with the meeting of Derry City and Celtic during a pre-season friendly tournament. The modern crest also features a centred football, the year of founding and the club's name in a contemporary sans-serif font – Industria Solid. The famous red and white stripes are present along with a red mass of colour filling the left half of the crest, separated from the right by a white stripe. Known cultural landmarks or items associated with the city are absent from the minimalist design. The crests have always been positioned over the heart on the home jerseys.