The Club marks its 125th Anniversary next season with the launch of a range of kits, all inspired by colours and designs worn earlier in our history.
We will contest the 2007/2008 league and cup competitions with a new home, away and third strip from PUMA, all of which have echoes of various First Team shirts from previous decades. The First Team will also contest one game at White Hart Lane with a Special Edition 125 Anniversary Kit to mark the special occasion itself.
The new home kit underlines the Club’s lilywhite heritage by featuring white shirt, white shorts and white socks. Running throughout the weave of the home shirt is a special jacquard, reading Tottenham Hotspur 125 Years 1882-2007. The second and third strip will be all navy blue and all yellow respectively. Meanwhile, the Special Edition 125 Anniversary Kit is a blue and white halved shirt with white shorts.
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Daniel Levy, Chairman, said: "Our 125th Anniversary is a landmark for our Club. Whilst our focus is always on providing for the future, it is equally important that we look to commemorate our long and rich heritage. Just one of the ways we shall be marking this occasion is with a Special Edition 125 Anniversary shirt. A blue and white halved shirt was first worn by our players in 1885 and a similar shirt will be worn on one occasion during the 2007/2008 season to celebrate the Club’s 125th Birthday."
The special edition shirt will be available for fans to buy as a boxed replica complete with a unique numbered certificate of authenticity to commemorate 125 years of the Club’s history.
For the first time ever, we are revealing all our kits at the same time, giving fans the option of reviewing all the shirts before deciding which to buy. Replica shirts continue to be a very popular item for fans to buy and wear on matchdays. Sales of this season’s kits have broken all records and with a wider choice available to fans, the Club and PUMA expect the Anniversary range to be well received.
The logo of the Club’s sponsor MANSION appears in Mandarin Chinese script on the away and the third kit.
The Club's Executive Director Paul Barber said: "The Club has always enjoyed massive international support and it is a mark of the Club’s tradition and success that we can now look to broaden our appeal in markets such as China. Working in the Chinese market is an exciting prospect for us and for our partners, MANSION. We look forward to exploring the Chinese market in the years ahead working closely with MANSION who already have many customers in this part of the world."
The new kits were launched on Tuesday afternoon at PUMA’s offices in London where we also announced that we would contest the last home game of the current 2006/2007 season on Sunday versus Manchester City in next season’s new all-white home kit.
Tony Ward, General Manager of PUMA UK comments: "PUMA are delighted to be working with a club with such fantastic heritage and tradition as Tottenham Hotspur. Our product design team have worked hard to create a range of kits that combine the Club’s history, values and image with today’s modern technologies and design."
Please note, the 2007/2008 kits are currently available to PRE-ORDER ONLY and are not available in the Spurs Shops until the following in-store on-sale dates:
Home Kit - June 30, 2007
Away Kit - July 21, 2007
Third Kit - July 21, 2007
Special Edition 125 Anniversary Kit - September 8, 2007
Kit history
The first proper Tottenham kit was a navy blue shirt and shorts after the first season did not have a specific design. In 1884 the club changed to a kit like that of Blackburn Rovers, whom the team saw win their second consecutive FA cup final after cancelling their last fixture of the season. Shortly after moving to Northumberland Road the kit changed to red shirt and blue shorts. Five years later after becoming a professional club they switched to a chocolate and gold kit (colours which made a re-appearance as the 2006-2007 third choice/UEFA Cup away kit). At the end of the 19th century the club switched colours again to the white shirts and blue shorts for which they are now well known for wearing, hence the nickname "The Lilywhites". This colour choice is thought to be in reference to Preston North End who were the most successful club at that time. The kit has remained in these colours ever since, although varying amounts of blue have been added to the shirt and sleeves. Sometime after the First World War the cockeral was added to the shirt. In the 1939 season numbers first appeared on the reverse of the shirts and Holsten became the first sponsor on a Spurs shirt in 1983. When Thomson was chosen as kit sponsor in 2002 there was an outcry from a number of Tottenham fans as the logo on the front was red, the colour of Tottenham's biggest rivals Arsenal.
Early Tottenham kits
Tottenham's traditional colours of white shirts and navy blue shorts are now long established, with the change strips, being all yellow, navy or sky blue, reflecting the older shirts. In their 2006/07 UEFA Cup campaign, Spurs wear an all white strip in honour of their glorious European past when this kit was worn. Also in memory of an older strip, Spurs don an all-chocolate kit as their alternate colours.
The 2007/08 Kit will be released on May 12th (12-5) marking the 125 years of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club
Club crest
Since the 1901 FA Cup final the Tottenham Hotspur crest has featured a cockerel. Harry Hotspur (from whom the club is said to take its name) was famed for his riding spurs and fighting cocks were fitted with spurs which can be seen in the crests. In 1909 a former player named William James Scott made a bronze cast of a cockerel sitting on a football to be placed on top of the West Stand and since then the cockerel and ball have been the major part of the club's crests.
Between 1956 and 2006 the Spurs crest featured a number of local landmarks which are linked to the Tottenham area. The lions which flank either side of the shield were from the Northumberland family's crest. The Northumberland family owned large areas of the Tottenham and Sir Henry Percy (Harry Hotspur) was a member of this family. The castle refers to Bruce Castle which houses a museum and is located 400 yards from the ground. The trees are those of Seven Sisters which were planted at Page Green by the Seven Sisters of Tottenham and who the Tube station and road were named after. The crest also featured the Latin motto "Audere Est Facere".
In 1983 the club's badge was remodelled by removing the castle, trees and shield and instead only containing the cockerel, ball, lions and motto. In 2006 both this club badge and the crest were replaced with a new design which will be used for both purposes. This new design features a new look for the cockerel and instead of the motto the club name is shown to symbolise the uniqueness of the Hotspur name.
