Colour photography

Prescot Cables' last game of their pre season programme was at home to Marine.

Whilst I spend most of my football time following and photographing Prescot Cables, I also support Dulwich Hamlet, who I am usually able to watch 5 or 6 times a season. On this occasion, I was wearing a replica Dulwich Hamlet 1937 FA Amateur Cup shirt from TOFFS.

The shirt is a design worn by Dulwich from 1927 until the 1960s. The history of the club's distinctive colours can be found in this article on the Hamlet Historian blog. The photograph at the beginning of the article shows players from the 1937 FA Amateur Cup winning side, sporting the shirt from which the TOFFS shirt was modelled.

Wearing the shirt when Marine are playing occasionally raises a wry smile from people who know their club's history. Marine's foremost achievement was reaching the FA Amateur Cup Final in 1932, where it was their misfortune to meet one of the best Dulwich Hamlet sides in the history of the club, including the legendary Edgar Kail, and they succumbed 7-1.

During the game, I was approached by a gentleman who described himself as "more of a ground hopper, and a bit of a Marine supporter". He had purchased a Prescot scarf at the merchandise table too, so we are not complaining. We chatted about cameras and lenses, and a couple of photo ideas he had. He also enquired after my shirt. The following conversation ensued.
Me: Dulwich Hamlet.
Him: (quizzical look)
Me: 1932 FA Amateur Cup Final?
Him: Ah, the team that beat Marine 7-1.
Me: Yes.
Him: So, Marine lost 7-1 to a team playing in pink? Not a lot of people know that, but they might now.

A comment like that will usually attract a reply along the lines that the shirt has history, and enquiring about the history of whatever they are wearing. This did not seem appropriate with someone who clearly had a knowledge of his club's history, but a question came to mind - how would he know?

Last time I was in the Marine clubhouse (some years ago), they had a large photograph from the 1932 Final, about a third life size, behind the bar, and there are pictures from the game in the club history, The Mighty Mariners. However, in common with almost all photographs from that time, they are in black and white.

Although colour photography existed at this time, the process was too cumbersome for sports action: Kodachrome colour film was not to come to the market for another three years.

Many people under 30 have probably never taken or appeared in a black and white photo, unless they are, or know, an enthusiast. Everything is in colour, newspapers, magazines, the web. For those of us a bit older, we can remember that only a few years ago newspapers were all black and white, and even most magazines only had a few colour pages.

It is a welcome development that more people than ever are interested in the history of their clubs. The ways and traditions of clubs are being recorded and catalogued, but in the case of memories of games more than 30 or 40 years ago, mainly in black and white. It limits our ability to visualise the past. The TOFFS shirt above was created from an actual playing shirt, lent by the late Ernie Toser, a member of the 1937 FA Amateur Cup winning side. The prototype shirt, made before the actual shirt was available, created by best estimates of the colours from black and white photographs was quite literally pale by comparison. Club colours are part of their tradition, and clubs who play in their historic colours are playing their part in keeping alive the history of the game.

Dulwich still play in their traditional colours, having used different patterns over the years - here is the latest version.

So, in answer to the question, yes, the 1932 FA Amateur Cup (and 1920, 1934 and 1937) was won by a team playing in pink and blue, and feel free to tell more people that the club are still proud to play in their traditional colours.

As for the game I was actually watching and photographing, the pictures can be seen here.