History: The History of Fans wearing Sweaters to Games, and the C of Red

[Commandant]

Calgary has an interesting role to play in the evolution of fans wearing jerseys to games. And they were part of it twice.

http://lastwordonsports.com/2016/08/...ockey-sweater/

[Lanny'sDaMan]

Bookmarked for the next Jets fan who tries to convince me the White out came first.

[trumpethead]

Interesting article. I had never really considered the 'C of Red' in a historical sense. Actually the more I think about it, has any team, from any city in any league been capable of filling the stands with so many people wearing the home team's home jersey(s)??

I don't think there is a single professional sports team in the world that can top us.

[nik-]

Originally Posted by Lanny'sDaMan

Bookmarked for the next Jets fan who tries to convince me the White out came first.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manito...ride-1.3043684

At that point the Jets were up against the Calgary Flames in the first round of the NHL playoffs, and the team was looking for something to compete with Calgary's Sea of Red.

The creator of the idea even admits it.

[polak]

Originally Posted by trumpethead

Interesting article. I had never really considered the 'C of Red' in a historical sense. Actually the more I think about it, has any team, from any city in any league been capable of filling the stands with so many people wearing the home team's home jersey(s)??

I don't think there is a single professional sports team in the world that can top us.

College Football fans. But pro sports teams usually have to give out t-shirts to come close to this, that's what makes the C of Red so special. It's all on the fans.

[dakeyras]

Originally Posted by trumpethead

Interesting article. I had never really considered the 'C of Red' in a historical sense. Actually the more I think about it, has any team, from any city in any league been capable of filling the stands with so many people wearing the home team's home jersey(s)??

I don't think there is a single professional sports team in the world that can top us.

Yes. In the playoffs, a lot of teams seem to give away t-shirts so the crowd is mostly wearing 1 color. Only in Calgary have I ever seen that many jerseys in a crowd.

[trumpethead]

Originally Posted by polak

College Football fans. But pro sports teams usually have to give out t-shirts to come close to this, that's what makes the C of Red so special. It's all on the fans.

No way that a college football stadium could match the C of Red for jerseys. Sure they are rabid fans and yes almost all of them they wear their team's gear, but I am talking about the concentration of fans wearing team jerseys (not t-shirts)

[troutman]

How long have the Dutch been all wearing Orange?

[Fire in the disco]

Originally Posted by trumpethead

Interesting article. I had never really considered the 'C of Red' in a historical sense. Actually the more I think about it, has any team, from any city in any league been capable of filling the stands with so many people wearing the home team's home jersey(s)??

I don't think there is a single professional sports team in the world that can top us.

Thanked an quoted because the wife and I are in this picture! Best game I've attended

[polak]

Originally Posted by trumpethead

No way that a college football stadium could match the C of Red for jerseys. Sure they are rabid fans and yes almost all of them they wear their team's gear, but I am talking about the concentration of fans wearing team jerseys (not t-shirts)

Oh yeah, I didn't catch the jersey comment. Agreed, Calgary takes wearing the home jersey in the playoffs to the next level.

[GoinAllTheWay]

Originally Posted by trumpethead

Goosebumps. God I love that picture. Long live the C of red!

[CaptainCrunch]

There was something to be said about the era before the jersey wearing fan though. I remember seeing pictures of games in the 40's and 50's where it was almost like a night at the opera where men wore their sunday best suits and woman were unchained from the kitchen, given a pair of shoes and showed up in nice formal dresses.

There was a certain era of class to it.

I would love to see the NHL or the Flames have a vintage night where the teams have to wear their oldest vintage jersey (Atlanta Flames please) and the fans are encourage to wear a suit and tie and woman dress to the 9's. The refs have to wear bowler hats and whenever a goal is scored a actual goal judge throws his hat in the air.

[J79]

Originally Posted by troutman

How long have the Dutch been all wearing Orange?

I think it started back in 1974, during the world cup of football (soccer) in Germany.
As long as I can remember 'we' wear orange at every sportsevent and national holiday (like Queensday and now Kingsday)
I also think it got out of hand when people started wearing wooden shoes, windmills and cheeses on their head

[CroFlames]

There are a bunch of guys wearing white in that photo of Dutch fans.

Nice try.

[Knut]

I still laugh about this troll job. You can not be mad.. it was brilliant

[CliffFletcher]

The C of Red in the 80s was people just wearing red shirts and sweaters to the games - it was still considered kinda weird for an adult to wear a sports jersey and few fans owned one. Interesting to see the change in attitudes about jerseys between '89 and '04.

[heep223]

It was pretty dumb tbh

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by J79

I think it started back in 1974, during the world cup of football (soccer) in Germany.
As long as I can remember 'we' wear orange at every sportsevent and national holiday (like Queensday and now Kingsday)
I also think it got out of hand when people started wearing wooden shoes, windmills and cheeses on their head

So, why orange?

[troutman]

Orange is the color of the Dutch Royal Family. House of Oranje-Nassau.

[Resolute 14]

Yeah, Calgary didn't come up with the idea of everyone wearing one colour. We just perfected it. To the point that FanAttic doesn't even bring out the white sweaters on game day.