I've still not found any hard proof as to who was the first team ever to pull on the famous black and white stripes, but I'm pretty sure I've dug out the oldest - and it might not be who you think.
Brigg Town were formed in 1864, and have been playing in the stripes from the outset. "Now hold on," I hear some of you say, "surely
Notts County formed two years before that?" True. But in those early days they played in amber and black hooped shirts, plain amber and even chocolate and blue halves. They didn't adopt the glorious stripes until as late as 1890, so as far as I can work out, that makes Brigg the team who have played in the kit for the longest.
On top of that, they appear to be the eleventh oldest club in the world. Not bad for a
small rural town from
North Lincolnshire with a population of just 5000. They currently play in the
Northern Premier League Division One - the eighth tier of the English league system. They've played there - the highest level they've attained to this point - since 2004, although they qualified to play there by winning the Northern Counties East League in 2001, but were denied their chance of going up a tier as their ground wasn't deemed worthy of that higher level at the time.
Their greatest prize is as two-time winners of the FA Vase. In 1996 they beat Clitheroe Town 3-0 at the old Wembley, while 2003 saw them just nip a much closer contest when they beat AFC Sudbury 2-1 at West Ham's Boleyn Ground. This makes them one of the five most successful clubs in this prestigious non-league knock out tournament.
As I write they've been playing at their 4000 capacity The Hawthorns ground for 156 years, and let's hope they go continue for at least double that.
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