GAFC strips, scarves, hats and other misc. club attire.

[leftwinger]

I have been supporting and attending Guiseley matches for about seven years, after having been bitten by the non-league ‘bug’. When I first came to see a match at Nethermoor, the team played in white/navy strips but then changed to white/royal blue in more recent years. The club badge is composed of half dark blue/half royal blue, so I assume that’s why the club can play in either shade of blue with white. But, I am not sure if the team has mainly played in one of these two versions for most of its recent history or whether it has changed from one to the other periodically over the years. Both are nice but, I prefer by a small margin, the royal blue/white. But, to be on the safe side, I have scarves covering both!

[leftwinger]

Not sure why maroon was chosen to be put forward as the alternative strip this season (or even why green was the alternative, ‘alternative.’ ). I always associate maroon (okay claret if you want to be pickey) with Bradford City, indeed they played in a virtual all maroon strip some years ago, but with amber trim at the collar and cuffs. And, I’ve seen Plymouth Argyle playing in the particular shade of green which was displayed when the choice had to be made by the fans. But, today teams seem to want to cover just about every colour of the spectrum in their choices of away and third (or even 4th) strips. I suppose they just want to increase sales and by doing this it gives more scope for this objective to be met. Nowadays, there are two/three, four new strips a season for some teams (but not I would think in Non-Lge.) Leeds United is a very good example. But, for some teams there are certain colours that they would never ‘touch’ with the proverbial barge pole-eg Barcelona and all white! Rangers and green, Spurs and red, Celtic and blue….to name but four! Talking about Leeds, you’d think ‘red’ would be a big no-no for them, yet, remarkably during the Revie era, the side of the late 60s wore all-red shirts/socks on a few occasions back then!

[physed]

In the 60s when I started watching,the shirts were royal blue with long and short sleeves the white edging and the same on the neckline. The shorts were white.

[mrsann]

I still prefer the strip that incorporates the blue veering toward navy.

[Nik]

Much as I prefer us in white with navy - it's less common and gives us more of our own identity, which is probably why it's hard to find kit suppliers who offer it off the shelf - I've been persuaded recently* that the switch to royal blue is partly my fault.

When I got the chance to redesign the club logo, one of the problems with it (there were a few) was that it was too dark. The navy blue verged on looking black in some versions and everyone agreed that the other colour was supposed to be yellow but it had become orange at some point:



I thought Arsenal's designers had done an excellent job of updating, energising and simplifying an old shield-style badge without offending fans:



So we had a go at drawing something similar for Guiseley.

As part of that process, we chose colours that were readily available in physical form - paint for the ground, ink for the signage. I think that's how the fences and railings came to be the colour they are. (There's a glitch in the timeline, though, because the seats in the main stand are not navy and predate all of this)

So it made sense in some ways (I'm told*) to change the home kits to match the badge and ground, as there was no longer any navy in our branding.

Obviously in truth it's nothing to do with me and not my fault but this is the narrative I've been sold*.


*Mainly by Adam Bridson, who prefers the royal blue kits so would say anything to get me to stop mithering about getting the navy back

[danmartin]

I started watching Guiseley in 2010. As far as I'm concerned, everything started going wrong when the colour changed from navy.

[plasticman]

Apr 24, 2023 12:37:45 GMT 1 Nik said:

I thought Arsenal's designers had done an excellent job of updating, energising and simplifying an old shield-style badge without offending fans:

From memory, the intention of the Arsenal badge re-design wasn't to update, energise and simplify it, but was simply so the club could copyright it and regain control over their merchandise. Up until then, they couldn't stop hawkers selling unofficial products outside the ground.

I'd question whether it didn't offend supporters at the time. And not just the die-hard traditionalists.

I suspect there were at least a few fans who were parents of fans, who wouldn't have been pleased to have to buy new shirts, hats, scarves, duvet covers etc. for their little cherubs.

I think you did a good job on the re-design, though I do like that very dark blue badge with the "burnished gold" surrounding.

[Nik]

Thanks for the kind words.

Oh I only mean the designers’ intent. I didn’t know why they’d been asked to draw something new! That copyright thing is the same reason why publishers are rewriting old children’s books like Roald Dahl I think. It did bother me that there was nothing explicitly Guiseley AFC about the previous logo - it seemed sensible to make something that was very definitely the club’s.

And changing any long-standing logo is fraught with danger but especially football clubs… I was terrified to release this one at the time, because they’re nearly always met with shock at first, even the really well drawn and thoughtfully designed ones you see sometimes in the top divisions (eg Brentford’s one, which is a little rounding on the bee’s bum short of being perfect IMO).

[guiseleyguile]

White and Navy for me - our best days spent in those colours - sort it Adam !!

[Nik]

Apr 24, 2023 13:05:22 GMT 1 danmartin said:

I started watching Guiseley in 2010. As far as I'm concerned, everything started going wrong when the colour changed from navy.

😂 2009 for me but otherwise- same!

[adambrid]

Apr 24, 2023 12:37:45 GMT 1 Nik said:

Much as I prefer us in white with navy - it's less common and gives us more of our own identity, which is probably why it's hard to find kit suppliers who offer it off the shelf - I've been persuaded recently* that the switch to royal blue is partly my fault.

When I got the chance to redesign the club logo, one of the problems with it (there were a few) was that it was too dark. The navy blue verged on looking black in some versions and everyone agreed that the other colour was supposed to be yellow but it had become orange at some point:



I thought Arsenal's designers had done an excellent job of updating, energising and simplifying an old shield-style badge without offending fans:



So we had a go at drawing something similar for Guiseley.

As part of that process, we chose colours that were readily available in physical form - paint for the ground, ink for the signage. I think that's how the fences and railings came to be the colour they are. (There's a glitch in the timeline, though, because the seats in the main stand are not navy and predate all of this)

So it made sense in some ways (I'm told*) to change the home kits to match the badge and ground, as there was no longer any navy in our branding.

Obviously in truth it's nothing to do with me and not my fault but this is the narrative I've been sold*.


*Mainly by Adam Bridson, who prefers the royal blue kits so would say anything to get me to stop mithering about getting the navy back

Don't listen it is all nik's fault, he's secretly a lover of the royal blue too!

In all seriousness I think the royal blue matches the badge and the surroundings much more than the navy did and they were our previous colours at some point in the 90s too.

AB

[adambrid]

Apr 24, 2023 13:05:22 GMT 1 danmartin said:

I started watching Guiseley in 2010. As far as I'm concerned, everything started going wrong when the colour changed from navy.

Shall we just ignore the 2017/18 season where we wore white and navy? 😉
AB

[Nik]

Apr 24, 2023 17:10:00 GMT 1 adambrid said:

Apr 24, 2023 12:37:45 GMT 1 Nik said:

Much as I prefer us in white with navy - it's less common and gives us more of our own identity, which is probably why it's hard to find kit suppliers who offer it off the shelf - I've been persuaded recently* that the switch to royal blue is partly my fault.

When I got the chance to redesign the club logo, one of the problems with it (there were a few) was that it was too dark. The navy blue verged on looking black in some versions and everyone agreed that the other colour was supposed to be yellow but it had become orange at some point:



I thought Arsenal's designers had done an excellent job of updating, energising and simplifying an old shield-style badge without offending fans:



So we had a go at drawing something similar for Guiseley.

As part of that process, we chose colours that were readily available in physical form - paint for the ground, ink for the signage. I think that's how the fences and railings came to be the colour they are. (There's a glitch in the timeline, though, because the seats in the main stand are not navy and predate all of this)

So it made sense in some ways (I'm told*) to change the home kits to match the badge and ground, as there was no longer any navy in our branding.

Obviously in truth it's nothing to do with me and not my fault but this is the narrative I've been sold*.


*Mainly by Adam Bridson, who prefers the royal blue kits so would say anything to get me to stop mithering about getting the navy back

Don't listen it is all nik's fault, he's secretly a lover of the royal blue too!

In all seriousness I think the royal blue matches the badge and the surroundings much more than the navy did and they were our previous colours at some point in the 90s too.

AB

This is what I’m saying. I’m being gaslit into thinking I chose the change that I’m not in favour of.

[deejayrobertson]

I quite enjoyed reading about the thinking behind the change of badge. I have talked to Nik about this before but I think people just assume this sort of thing just sort of magically happens without much thought going into it. Although, based on our transfer policy over the last few years I get why people would think that…

[colin19]

Apr 24, 2023 17:10:49 GMT 1 adambrid said:

Apr 24, 2023 13:05:22 GMT 1 danmartin said:

I started watching Guiseley in 2010. As far as I'm concerned, everything started going wrong when the colour changed from navy.

Shall we just ignore the 2017/18 season? 😉
AB

Corrected it for you Adam