Is England Red or Blue Football?

As an English football fan, one of the first things you learn is whether your club plays in red or blue. That color instantly marks where your allegiance lies in the tribal world of English soccer. But why does the simple choice between red or blue matter so much in the nation‘s favorite game?

A Brief History of England‘s Red and Blue Clubs

England‘s obsession with red and blue in football extends back to the 19th century beginnings of the sport.

The first club to adopt red was Sheffield FC, founded in 1857 and recognised by FIFA as the world‘s oldest soccer team. Early northern clubs like Manchester United (founded 1878 as Newton Heath) also wore red shirts.

In the south, blue was the dominant color of pioneering teams like Oxford University AFC (1872). London‘s first club, The Forest FC, played in blue shirts from its inception in 1859.

As more professional clubs sprung up in the late 1800s, red and blue emerged as the defining kit colors for clubs across England.

Let‘s look at when the main red and blue clubs of today adopted their famous home colors:

• Liverpool – Founded 1892, wore blue and white until adopting their familiar red kit in 1964.

• Arsenal – Originally wore dark blue and pink kits after being founded in 1886 as Dial Square FC before switching to red shirts in 1913.

• Manchester United – Aside from a green and gold spell, have worn red shirts since 1902.

• Chelsea – Wore royal blue shirts from their first match in 1905 right through to the present day.

• Manchester City – Adopted their sky blue home colors after becoming Ardwick AFC in 1894.

• Everton – Nicknamed the ‘Toffees‘ after their blue and toffee brown kits when founded in 1878.

So why did early English clubs gravitate towards red or blue as their colors of choice? Let‘s explore this next.

The Symbolism Behind England‘s Football Colors

In 19th century England, blue was associated with the upper classes and elitist universities like Oxford and Cambridge. Football clubs with links to wealthy businessmen and ex-public school pupils thus tended to wear blue.

Red was seen as the color of the working classes and radical political groups like the Chartists. Northern industrial cities like Manchester, Liverpool and Sheffield aligned themselves with red in football as a demonstration of their socialist and labor movement credentials.

"Everton are respectable, Liverpool are radical. Everton are the establishment, Liverpool are the working class," said former Liverpool defender Jim Beglin on the connotations of red and blue.

Beyond politics, red and blue also represented different facets of English society and culture:

• Red signified danger, passion and swagger – qualities valued in northern England.

• Blue represented calm, dignity and intelligence – virtues of the southern middle and upper classes.

So in many ways, the choice of red or blue reflected deeper social divides across England based on history, politics and class. Let‘s look at some examples of how these distinctions played out among fans.

Fan Cultures and Demographics of Red vs Blue

The fanbases of the traditional big red clubs were drawn heavily from the industrial working classes in cities like Manchester, Liverpool and north London.

Many did manual labor in industries like shipbuilding, steelworks and textiles. Supporting Manchester United or Liverpool FC gave these working class communities a sense of identity. It still does today.

"Being a Red is part of who I am. My Grandad worked on the Manchester docks and supported United – it‘s in the blood," said Craig Wilson, a fan I know from Salford.

The blue clubs tended to have a more bourgeois, selective fan culture centered around the middle and upper classes. Businessmen, merchants, white collar professionals and the intelligentsia were more prevalent at clubs like Everton, Chelsea and Manchester City.

"There was a sense that we were the gentlemen amateurs, the fancy dans down south playing against the northern hoi polloi in their cloth caps," said former Chelsea player Ray Wilkins about red vs blue rivalries in the 1960s and 70s.

The identities and membership of the red and blue fanbases has changed over time as football became more commercialized and ticket prices increased. But as we‘ll see, elements of the old working class vs bourgeoisie, north vs south divide still shape perceptions and loyalties today.

The Geography and Politics of England‘s Red and Blue Football

It‘s no accident that the strongest red footballing strongholds emerged in the industrial cities of northern England – Sheffield, Manchester, Liverpool and Leeds.

Blue football has flourished more in the south and Midlands, especially in London and in port cities like Portsmouth.

This geography mirrors England‘s political landscape. The North is associated with Labour – red being the color of socialism and the left. True blue Conservative heartlands are found in southern counties like Surrey and Kent.

The fact that the northern red territories suffered more from deindustrialization and economic decline has fueled resentments against the affluent Tory south among many red football supporters.

"Those arrogant Blues down in the capital, with their posh talk and fancy ways. What do they know about the real England?" said Jimmy Knotts, a Lancashire Manchester United fan I once interviewed.

Football allows these longstanding regional grudges and class divides to be played out symbolically, with red vs blue taking on powerful socio-political connotations.

Now let‘s dig deeper into statistics on fanbases, attendances and trophies to assess whether the red and blue fortunes remain evenly matched today.

Fanbase Sizes and Attendances

The traditional big red clubs continue to have the largest supporter bases as shown below:

Club	Estimated Global Fanbase
Manchester United	1.1 billion
Liverpool	82 million
Arsenal	71 million

The blue clubs have fast growing international fanbases, but their roots remain more local:

Club	Estimated Global Fanbase
Chelsea	72 million
Manchester City	47 million
Everton	4 million

In terms of matchday attendance, Manchester United had the highest average in the 2021/22 Premier League season with 73,675 fans per game. The combined average attendances of the big six red and blue clubs were:

Color	Combined Average Attendance 2021/22 Season
Red (Man Utd, Liverpool, Arsenal)	153,026
Blue (Man City, Chelsea, Everton)	132,740

So the data confirms the red clubs continue to hold the edge over their blue rivals for attractiveness and pulling power. Although foreign fans are increasingly willing to cross traditional red and blue battle lines.

Historical Honors and Spending Power

The most recognized metric of success in English football is top flight league title wins. Here the three big red clubs have historically dominated:

• Manchester United – 20 league titles
• Liverpool – 19 league titles
• Arsenal – 13 league titles

Compare that to the major honors for the blue teams:

• Chelsea – 6 league titles
• Manchester City – 6 league titles
• Everton – 9 league titles

However, the rise of billionaire foreign owners at Chelsea and Manchester City has seen the blue clubs surge ahead financially in the modern era.

The two Manchester clubs provide a stark illustration of how spending power has shifted from red to blue:

Club	Owner	2021/22 Revenue
Manchester City (blue)	Sheikh Mansour (£23bn)	£613 million
Manchester United (red)	Glazer family (£4bn)	£583 million

As a result, the blue teams have claimed the majority of recent Premier League titles:

Last 5 Premier League Titles	Club	Kit Color
2021/22	Manchester City	Blue
2020/21	Manchester City	Blue
2019/20	Liverpool	Red
2018/19	Manchester City	Blue
2017/18	Manchester City	Blue

The genuine passion, history and huge fanbases of the red clubs ensures they won‘t lose their exalted status anytime soon. But the financial muscle of the blue teams from the Premier League TV era onwards has shifted the balance of power.

Why Red vs Blue Rivalries Remain So Intense

Football rivalries generally intensify when neighboring clubs share the same city. This geographic proximity breeds passion and animosity between local red and blue rivals.

The Manchester derby between United and City is fuelled by the close proximity between the two clubs and their intertwined histories as Manchester‘s leading teams.

Liverpool‘s neighborly clashes with Everton date back to the 19th century and split Merseyside down red and blue lines twice a year.

Even in London, Arsenal and Chelsea‘s red vs blue derbies are hotly contested. Families, friends and colleagues find themselves divided by color come matchday.

Proximity also feeds into community pride and notions of identity tied up with a club‘s red or blue heritage. To understand more, I spoke with some local fans.

"Being born blue in Liverpool isn‘t a choice – it‘s who we are," said Peter Gibbons, an Everton fan from Kirkdale. "To us, red is just a color. But being a Blue is a way of life."

"I can‘t stand Man City – all that money and bragging," said Lucy Stevens, a lifelong Manchester United fan. "United is the real Manchester club. Always will be."

As these voices attest, red and blue attachments run generationally deep. The colors transcend football to represent fierce neighborhood and city pride.

This tribal loyalty means the sporting, cultural and psychological divide between England‘s red and blue football families will continue for many generations to come.

So in summary, yes – England remains very much divided between red and blue. And I don‘t see that changing anytime soon!