Everton Football Club

1878 as St. Domingo F.C.

Liverpool

Bill Kenwright

At the end of the 1937-38 season, Everton secretary Theo Kelly, who later became the club's first manager, wanted to design a club necktie. It was agreed that the colour be blue and Kelly was given the task of designing a crest to be featured on the necktie. Kelly worked on it for four months, until deciding on a reproduction of Prince Rupert's Tower, which stands in the heart of the Everton district. The Tower has been inextricably linked with the Everton area since its construction in 1787. It was originally used as a bridewell to incarcerate mainly drunks and minor criminals, and it still stands today on Everton Brow in Netherfield Road. The tower was accompanied by two laurel wreaths on either side and, according to the College of Arms in London, Kelly chose to include the laurels as they were the sign of winners. The crest was accompanied by the club motto, "Nil Satis Nisi Optimum", meaning "Nothing but the best is good enough". The ties were first worn by Kelly and the Everton chairman, Mr. E. Green, on the first day of the 1938-39 season. The club rarely incorporated a badge of any description on its shirts. An interwoven "EFC" design was adopted between 1922 and 1930 before the club reverted to plain royal blue shirts, until 1973 when bold "EFC" lettering was added. The crest designed by Kelly was first used on the team's shirts in 1980 and has remained there ever since, undergoing gradual change to become the version used today. In the very early days players would wear their own badges on their shirts. These could be their county or city association badges. The city of Liverpool's emblem, the Liver Bird was used on club stationary and plaques and many players would have a Liver Bird in their Liverpool Association badges. There has been a move to have the Liver Bird on the shirts of Everton FC, as Everton are the senior of the club's in Liverpool and the emblem is not new to the club. Wearing the city emblem would assert Everton FC's connection with the City of Liverpool. This prompted Liverpool FC, who use the emblem on their shirts, to attempt to patent the city emblem, which met with city council opposition. Liverpool FC dropped the absurd move

During the first decades of their history, Everton had several different kit colours. The team originally played in white and then blue and white stripes, but as new players arriving at the club wore their old team's shirts during matches, confusion soon ensued. It was decided that the shirts would be dyed black, both to save on expenses and to instill a more professional look. The result, however, appeared morbid so a scarlet sash was added.When the club moved to Goodison Park in 1892, they first played in salmon shirts with blue shorts before switching to ruby shirts with blue trim and dark blue shorts. The famous royal blue jerseys with white shorts were first used in the 1901-02 season. The club played in sky blue in 1906, however the fans protested and the colour reverted to royal blue. Occasionally Everton have played in lighter shades than royal blue (such as 1930-31 and 1997-98) but these have proved unpopular with fans. Everton's traditional away shirt was amber with either amber or royal blue shorts and various editions appeared throughout the 60s, 70s and 80s. Recently however black, white, grey and yellow away shirts have been used. The kit today remains royal blue shirts, white shorts and white socks although when playing teams away who also wear white shorts Everton typically wear all blue. For the 2008-09 season, the away kit is a predominantly white shirt with a navy and grey trim across the chest, accompanied with navy shorts and socks. A third kit was issued consisting of luminous yellow shirt and socks with dark blue shorts, which will also be used as an away kit in European games. Everton's goalkeepers will wear a lime green shirt with light grey shorts and socks at home and all black away