Rovers have released their all-new home kit for the 2007/08 season - with a limited number of shirts available to order now. The club have reverted back to their more traditional shade of blue and the Cowlin Construction 'C' has been replaced with the company's full brand name.
The shirts come with a round neck rather than a v-neck, and sport blue and white quarters on the back as well as the front.
The shirts also show off a new sponsor on the back, with 'Blackthorn' replacing 'ALD Automotive'.
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Rovers would like to stress that the new kit will be worn for the first time at the beginning of next season and not at Wembley Stadium next weekend. The shirts are available to order now in all adult sizes, although children's sizes are not expected to be in stock until next month. However, a size 'S' (small) will fit children from 12 upwards.
All orders received by the end of play on Wednesday will be dispatched in time for the trip to Wembley.
Colours and badge
Bristol Rovers are known for their distinctive blue and white quartered shirts, which they have worn for most of their history. The current kit consists of a light blue and white quartered shirt, white shorts and blue and white hooped socks.
The away kit is navy blue with yellow trim, and the third-choice strip is yellow with black trim. The team began playing in black shirts with a yellow sash from their foundation in 1883 as Black Arabs F.C. until 1885, by which time they were called Eastville Rovers.
For the next fourteen years, until 1899, the team wore blue and white hooped shirts. These were replaced by black and white striped shirts until 1919. When Rovers were admitted to The Football League in 1920 they wore white shirts with blue shorts. These remained the team colours until 1930, when the colours were reversed to blue shirts and white shorts for one season. The blue and white quarters were first worn in 1931, when they were introduced to try and make the players look larger and more intimidating.
Rovers continued to wear the quarters for 31 years until they were replaced by blue pinstripes on a white background. Over the next ten years, Rovers went on to wear blue and white stripes, all blue, and blue shirts with white shorts before returning to the blue and white quarters in 1973, which have remained the colours ever since.
During the 1996-97 season, Rovers wore an unpopular striped quartered design, prompting fans to refer to it as the Tesco bag shirts[8] because of their similarity to the design used for the company's carrier bags. The change in design prompted the Trumpton Times fanzine to change its name to Wot, No Quarters? The black and gold shirts were also used as the away kit for the 2002-03 season, the mark the 120th anniversary of the club.
In 2007, the club reverted to a far lighter shade of blue, in recognition of their 1930's kits. In 2005, Rovers ran an April Fools' joke on their official website, stating that the team's new away strip would be all pink. Although this was intended to be a joke, a number of fans petitioned the club to get the kit made for real, and also suggested that funds raised through the sale of the pink shirts should be donated to a breast cancer charity.
Although the pink shirts were never used in a competitive fixture, they were worn for a pre-season friendly against Plymouth Argyle in 2006. A pirate features on both the club badge and the badge of the supporters club, reflecting the club nickname of The Pirates.
