Hibs In Purple
As we revealed our purple and green third kit earlier today, John Hislop took a trip down memory lane and looked back at Hibs in purple!
We first wore a purple shirt in a European Cup Winners Cup tie against Sporting Club de Portugal, better known as Sporting Lisbon on 13 September 1972.
Hibs qualified for the tournament by finishing runners up to league winners Celtic in the 1972 Scottish Cup final.
The first leg was played at the José Alvalade Stadium in Lisbon and the Hibs side that started that night became known collectively as Turnbull’s Tornadoes, Jim Herriot, John Brownlie, Erich Schaedler, John Blackley, Jim Black, Pat Stanton, Alex Edwards, Jimmy O’Rourke, Alan Gordon, Alex Cropley and Arthur Duncan.
The jersey worn for the game was an exact replica of the home shirt except instead of green, the top was coloured purple with white sleeves, much to the surprise of the small band of travelling supporters in the huge 100,000 crowd.
The reason for choosing purple was never explained although the rumour at the time was that it was Chairman Tom Hart’s wife Sheila’s favourite colour.
Sporting were considered to be one of the top teams in Europe and were managed by former Wolverhampton Wanderers manager Ronnie Allen.
Their team included top Brazilian striker Hector Yazalde who would become the top scorer in Europe the following season.
The Portuguese side scored twice but a wonderful goal from Arthur Duncan gave Eddie Turnbull confidence for the return leg.
That confidence was more than justified because two weeks later in front of 26,000 fans at Easter Road, and playing in an all green top for the occasion, Hibs ran riot and defeated Sporting 6-1 with a Jimmy O’Rourke hat trick, a double from Alan Gordon and an own goal.
The defeat in Lisbon was one of only two defeats suffered by the Tornadoes when they started together but despite the result and many of the players consider that to be the team’s finest performance.
On the flight back to Edinburgh the great Gordon Smith who had travelled to support the team told his fellow passengers that the Hibs team that night would have been too good for the Famous Five side that won three league titles.
Five years later in 1977 we became the first club to sign a shirt sponsorship deal.
Sportswear company ‘Bukta’s’ name was displayed on the jerseys, but TV companies refused to show games where these tops were worn as it was considered to be free advertising.
In response we produced a purple away shirt with white sleeves with green and yellow trimmings on them.
These shirts were worn in a 3-1 defeat to Celtic at Parkhead and a 1-0 victory over Ayr United at Easter Road but when a game against Rangers was due to be filmed, a potential colour clash meant that we changed to a yellow top and white shorts.
In January 1978 we were drawn to play East Fife in the Scottish Cup at home. The game that was due to have been broadcast was postponed so the cameras turned up at Easter Road at the last minute.
Despite a frantic search, the purple strips could not be found but the kit man was able to produce a pre-Bukta set of green and white tops.
So with permission of the long-suffering company we ran out 4-0 winners against a team which ironically wore strips with ‘Cannon Valves’ on the front under a less publicised agreement.
Only John Brownlie, John Blackley, Erich Schaedler and Arthur Duncan were still around from the 1972 purple strip night but others to wear the new purple top included Jackie McNamara, George Stewart, Ally Brazil, Ally McLeod, Des Bremner Bobby Smith, Tony Higgins and Jim McKay.
Thankfully common sense prevailed, and the TV companies subsequently accepted shirt sponsorship.
The following decade saw supporters wearing replica tops and all clubs were keen to maximise revenue by bringing out second and sometimes third kits.
Since then several Hibs’ strips have included purple of various shades.
Between 1992 and 1994 we were sponsored by ‘McBean Protective Clothing’ and a dark purple away strip with a green and purple collar was produced.
Later that decade we brought out the popular purple and green striped shirt sponsored by ‘Calor Gas ‘and a light purple top sponsored by ‘Carlsberg’.
All three tops also included the famous ‘sloping’ badge which had been chosen after a fans’ competition, in the late 1980s as a “modern and representative of Hibernian at the end of the twentieth century”
The badge was immortalised in the girders of the Famous Five Stand and remains there to this day as a reminder of a certain point in our past.
It was replaced by the current badge at the turn of the century to mark the club’s 125th anniversary combining the original harp, the ship of Leith, Edinburgh Castle, and a football to represent the club’s roots.
Purple continues to be popular amongst the fans and several tops strips have included that colour since the millennium.
These include a light purple or lilac strip which was released with Crabbies on the front in 2011.
A splendid all purple ‘Marathonbet’ sponsored strip which was worn during the famous Scottish Cup winning season of 2015/16. That run included the famous 2-0 victory over Raith Rovers at Starks Park which featured a sensational strike from the purple clad Darren McGregor.
A purple top with narrow green stripes sponsored by the Hibernian Community Foundation was worn during the 2019/20 season.
A grey top with purple trimmings on the collar and sleeves with Thank You NHS on the front was worn during season 2020/21 when the Covid Pandemic arrived.
A purple top with green patterned trimmings sponsored by Bevvy was worn last season.
And for the 2024/25 season the new purple and green striped third shirt inspired by the popular 1994 design but with Bevvy on the front will be worn for chosen games.
