Hemel Hempstead Town FC are currently kitted out in an all red strip, but this hasn’t always been the case. As recent as 1997/98 the team played in white and red stripes, and between Apsley FC playing in a claret and blue to the present day the team has played in numerous combinations of colours.

It is recorded that since formation in 1885, Apsley played in claret and blue, a team photo from around the turn of the last century show the shirts were a quartered pattern (in these days the players wore their own shorts and socks). A team photo from the 1920’s shows the players kitted out in claret shirts with blue sleeves and what appear to be white shorts.

Match day programmes from the 1940’s, 50’s and 60’s document that the club continued to play in claret and blue, but in the 1960’s Hemel Hempstead was often listed as playing in white and green, and in 1968, all green. The claret and blue alternated with the white and green, both were worn during home fixtures and there didn’t seem to be any rationale behind the choice of colour for particular fixtures, such as clashes with opponent’s colours. A 1964/65 team photo shows the white and green kit was all white with two green hoops on the shirt.

By 1970, match day programmes listed Hemel’s kit as being all red, and this remained the clubs colours following the 1972 merger with Hemel Hempstead United (who had previously played in blue shirts with white sleeves and white shorts). In 1978 the kit changed to tangerine and black and these remained the club colours in to the 1980’s.

In 1983, Hemel changed to an all red strip, which apart from a few tweaks every now and then has remained the same until today.