Sporting colours

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Pupils who are awarded Colours at Christ's Hospital school, receive a tie, and in the case of sporting colours awarded for cricket, they also receive a cricket cap with the school crest and cricket 'XI' embroidered at the front. Christ's Hospital Colours for Cricket..jpg
Pupils who are awarded Colours at Christ's Hospital school, receive a tie, and in the case of sporting colours awarded for cricket, they also receive a cricket cap with the school crest and cricket 'XI' embroidered at the front.

In the United Kingdom, sporting colours or just colours [1] (sometimes with a modifier, e.g. club colours or school colours) are awarded to members of a university or school who have excelled in a sport. Many schools do not limit their use to sport but may also give colours for academic excellence or non-sporting extra-curricular activities, [2] [3] [4] Colours are traditionally indicated by the wearing of a special tie or blazer.

Contents

Many university colours are known by the name of the colour used, which is usually the colour worn by the university's sports teams, e.g. Blue at Oxford and Cambridge, Palatinate at Durham, Pink at Trinity College Dublin or Red at Bristol. These are similar to the varsity letters awarded by American universities.

The level of representation required for the award of a colour varies between the different schemes. A full Palatinate at Durham, a Royal Blue at Liverpool or Full Colours at Cardiff require a student to have represented their country, [5] [6] [7] while at Oxford the requirement for a full Blue is to have represented the university in a varsity match against Cambridge in an eligible sport. [8] In many colour award schemes, it is possible to receive a half colour. These are normally given for lower levels of achievement than a full colour.

History

University colours were first introduced in the second University Boat Race between Oxford and Cambridge in 1836. [9] Durham adopted palatinate purple for its degree hoods at about the same time. At Cambridge, teams would seek permission of the boat club to use their blue colour; by the 1860s the established sports with full blue status were rowing, cricket and athletics. In 1884, the rugby and football clubs awarded themselves blues following their varsity matches (against Oxford), leading to a debate at the Cambridge Union that was decisively lost by the boat club. The hockey club also gained full blue status (in 1894) before the system was formalised by the establishment of the blues committee in 1912. [10] The award of Palatinates for sports at Durham dates to at least 1883, when the cricket "Eleven" were permitted to wear the "university coat" (i.e. blazer) of palatinate purple rather than the claret coat of the club, [11] and the award of both Palatinates and half Palatinates was well established by the end of the century. [12] Manchester adopted maroon in 1905. [13] Trinity College Dublin adopted Pink in 1950. [14]

University colours

Different universities award different colours, often based on the colour worn by their athletes. Sometimes these are known by the colour used, but they may also simply be known as "colours". These include:

Notes

  1. The present-day University of Manchester was created following the merger of UMIST and the Victoria University of Manchester in 2004. Before this point the VUM awarded Maroons and Half Maroons, having adopted the sporting colours of maroon and white in 1905. Since 2004 the university has not used maroon and white for sports kit, instead having kit in the university colours of purple and yellow. In recent years the university has awarded 'Performance Colours'. [28]

See also

Related Research Articles

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The academic dress of Durham University has many similarities with that of other older British universities such as Oxford and Cambridge. Most colleges of Durham University insist on gowns being worn on formal occasions, including matriculation and formal halls (dinners); exceptions are Van Mildert, St Cuthbert's Society, Collingwood, Stephenson, St Aidans, and The College of St Hild and St Bede. Some colleges also insist on their being worn to Junior Common Room meetings, and they are often seen in college chapels. At formal halls, only gowns are worn and doctors normally wear their undress gowns; for more ceremonial occasions full-dress gowns and hoods are worn by graduates. Until 1990, the General Regulations of university 'recommended' the wearing of gowns by members of the university when attending divine service at the Cathedral – but this is now left to individual choice apart from at certain services. Gowns are also customarily worn to meetings of the university Senate by members of that body.

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School colors, also known as university colors or college colors, are the colors chosen by a school, academy, college, university or institute as part of its brand identity, used on building signage, web pages, branded apparel, and the uniforms of sports teams. They can promote connection to the school, known as "school spirit", and help differentiate it from other institutions.

Maroon is a brownish crimson color that takes its name from the French word marron, or chestnut. "Marron" is also one of the French translations for "brown".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blazer</span> Striped or bright, solid-color informal jacket

A blazer is a type of jacket resembling a suit jacket, but cut more casually. A blazer is generally distinguished from a sport coat as a more formal garment and tailored from solid colour fabrics. Blazers often have naval-style metal buttons to reflect their origin as jackets worn by boating club members.

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A blue is an award of sporting colours earned by athletes at some universities and schools for competition at the highest level. The awarding of blues began at Oxford and Cambridge universities in England. They are now awarded at a number of other British universities and at some universities in Australia and New Zealand.

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Palatinate or palatinate purple is a purple colour associated with Durham University and the County and City of Durham. The term has been used to refer to a number of different shades of purple. The Oxford English Dictionary defines it as a "light purple or lavender colour", which is used for Durham academic hoods. For corporate purposes Durham University uses a darker shade.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cambridge Blue (colour)</span> Colour commonly used by sports teams from the University of Cambridge

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