On 26 July 1887, in a pub in the Lancashire seaside town, the club of the whole town was born. Blackpool turns 140 on 26 July 2027. It is the club of the "Seasiders", with a tangerine shirt like no other in England.

A meeting at the Stanley Arms

Blackpool was born out of a disagreement. Members of local side St John's, a team with roots among old boys of St John's school, fell out over the name and decided to create one club for the whole town.

The club was founded at the Stanley Arms. In its first competitive match it won 2-1 at Chorley, and in its first season it won the Fylde Cup and the Lancashire Junior Cup.

In 1896 it joined the Football League and in 1899 it merged with neighbours South Shore. From that merger it also gained its ground, Bloomfield Road, where it has played since the early 20th century.

Stripes, red and white

The first shirts were blue and white stripes, known as "The Merry Stripes". On 26 October 1901, against West Brom, the team wore red for the first time, and it stayed until the First World War.

In the 1914-15 season Blackpool wore red, black and yellow to support Belgian refugees of the war. From 1915 it switched to white shirts with navy shorts, and fans called the team the "Lilywhites".

The tangerine of Holland

The big change came in 1923. Albert Hargreaves, a club director and also an international referee, had taken charge of a Belgium v Netherlands match and was captivated by the Dutch team's orange shirts.

He persuaded the other directors to adopt a similar colour, and so tangerine was born. No other Football League club had worn plain shirts in that shade before, and the town's coat of arms went on the chest.

In 1937 the club tried stripes again, in light and dark blue, but public pressure brought tangerine back shortly before the Second World War. It has never left since, and it gave the club the nickname "Tangerines".

Crests with a tower

A first crest, a monogram on a shield, appeared in 1908-09. From the early 1950s until 1968 the shirt carried the town's coat of arms.

In 1979 the famous Blackpool Tower, the town's symbol, went on the chest. In the decades that followed many crests and makers came and went, from Umbro to the Puma of the 2020s.

The Matthews Final

The brightest moment came at Wembley in 1953. Blackpool were losing 3-1 to Bolton, but inspired by Stanley Matthews they turned the game around and won the FA Cup final 4-3.

Stan Mortensen scored the only hat-trick ever in an FA Cup final and Bill Perry hit the winner in stoppage time. In 1956 Matthews became the first winner of the Ballon d'Or, while Jimmy Armfield reached 627 appearances and a stand at Bloomfield Road bears his name.

In 2010 the club beat Cardiff 3-2 in the play-off final and went up to the Premier League, where it stayed for one season. In 2025-26 it played in League One, and in October 2025 Ian Evatt took over as head coach.

Celebrate with us

From the stripes of 1887 to the tangerine a referee brought back from Holland, Blackpool is the colour of the Lancashire coast. Happy 140th birthday to the Tangerines!

See our collectible jerseys at sportarena.gr.

Photo: Bloomfield Road stadium – Seasider53, Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY 4.0.