110 years dressed in red and white

1910, January 9 is one of those days highlighted in the annuals of the Club. A friendly match against Sporting of Irun was played that day as the opening of the field of Amute was taking place. Sporting of Irun was the owner of the facilities and lost 2-0. Athletic made the red and white colours of its gear official. The colours have to do with the flag of the village of Bilbao: a white flag, red at the top left edge.

A red t-shirt with vertical white stripes, white trousers and black tights was the first gear that from that day become part of the history of the Club.

There were, obviously, other times, but the press of the times does not write about that revolutionary change in the gear of the main representative Club of the city.

It was not only about 1910, January 9 but about the anecdote of the red-and-white t-shirts. Let´s recall it once again.

Juan Elorduy, player and manager of Athletic Club, spent Christmas season of 1909 in England so that the managing board asked him to get some blue-and-white t-shirts, like the ones used by the Blackburn Rovers in London. Elorduy did leave his duty until the last minute and could not find the mentioned t-shirts. On the following day, he embarked in Southampton to make his way back to Bilbao. He did not find the t-shirts in the departing city but he found the t-shirts of the Southampton team, with narrow red and white strips, colors of Bilbao´s flag. He got 50 t-shirts that became the first gear used by Athletic.

Asier Arrate. Manager of AC Museum