Grimsby Town 1906

Grimsby Town – Early Years (1878–1918)

Grimsby Town Football Club traces its origins to September 1878, when members of Worsley Cricket Club gathered at the Wellington Arms public house in Freeman Street to establish a football club to occupy the winter months. Initially known as Grimsby Pelham, in honour of the local landowning family of the Earl of Yarborough, the club adopted its present name, Grimsby Town, the following year.

From the outset, the club’s identity was as colourful as its surroundings. One of the founders, Bob Smart, later recalled the earliest kit with some amusement: “Great Scott what an outfit! Broad blue and white stripes, stockings the same and caps hanging to the shoulder!” By the early 1880s, these bold stripes had evolved into narrower hoops, though inconsistencies in dress—ranging from differing widths of stripes to varied knickers—suggest that players often supplied their own attire.

In 1884, the club abandoned hoops in favour of striking royal blue and cardinal halves, frequently adorned with the town’s coat of arms. Though blue caps were reportedly part of the uniform, no photographic evidence survives to confirm their use. Through the late 1880s and early 1890s, variations in colour tones and shirt arrangements persisted, reflecting both the limitations of early photography and the informal nature of football kit production at the time.

Grimsby’s ambitions grew alongside the game itself. After early participation in the short-lived Combination league, the club sought entry to the Football League but was initially unsuccessful, instead joining the Football Alliance in 1890, the same year it adopted professionalism and became a limited company. Two years later, when the Alliance was absorbed into the expanded Football League, Grimsby became a founding member of the new Second Division, marking the beginning of its long association with league football.

The club’s nomadic early existence saw it play at Clee Park from 1880 before moving to Abbey Park in 1889. In 1899, Grimsby settled at Blundell Park in neighbouring Cleethorpes, which remains its home to this day. On the field, steady progress culminated in the Second Division Championship of 1900–01, earning promotion to the First Division for the first time. Although their stay among the elite lasted only two seasons, it represented a significant milestone in the club’s development.

The early 20th century was marked by both experimentation and adversity. Kits changed frequently—from salmon pink shirts in 1904–05 to unusual white tops with a red yoke—before a return to darker combinations. However, fortunes waned, and at the end of the 1909–10 season Grimsby failed re-election to the Football League, dropping into the Midland League. In a testament to their resilience, they won the Midland League at the first attempt and were promptly voted back into the Football League, narrowly at the expense of local rivals Lincoln City.

Despite this swift return, stability proved elusive. By 1920, Grimsby again found themselves at the foot of the League and were voted out for a second time. Yet fortune intervened: the club was invited to join the newly formed Third Division, and shortly thereafter transferred to the Third Division North, securing its place once more within the expanding structure of English football.

These formative decades laid the foundations of Grimsby Town’s identity—resilient, adaptable, and deeply rooted in its community—while the club’s evolving colours and fortunes mirrored the broader development of the professional game itself.