Sporting colours

Sporting colours or just colours (sometimes with a modifier, e.g. club colours or school colours) are awarded to members of a university or school who have excelled in a sport. Many schools do not limit their use to sport but may also give colours for academic excellence or non-sporting extra-curricular activities, Colours are traditionally indicated by the wearing of a special tie or blazer.
Many university colours are known by the name of the colour used, which is usually the colour worn by the university's sports teams, e.g. Blue at Oxford and Cambridge, Palatinate at Durham, Pink at Trinity College Dublin or Red at Bristol. These are similar to the varsity letters awarded by American universities.
The level of representation required for the award of a colour varies between the different schemes. A full Palatinate at Durham, a Royal Blue at Liverpool or Full Colours at Cardiff require a student to have represented their country, while at Oxford the requirement for a full Blue is to have represented the university in a varsity match against Cambridge in an eligible sport. In many colour award schemes, it is possible to receive a half colour. These are normally given for lower levels of achievement than a full colour.
History
University colours were first introduced in the second University Boat Race between Oxford and Cambridge in 1836. Durham adopted palatinate purple for its degree hoods at about the same time. At Cambridge, teams would seek permission of the boat club to use their blue colour; by the 1860s the established sports with full blue status were rowing, cricket and athletics. In 1884, the rugby and football clubs awarded themselves blues following their varsity matches (against Oxford), leading to a debate at the Cambridge Union that was decisively lost by the boat club. The hockey club also gained full blue status (in 1894) before the system was formalised by the establishment of the blues committee in 1912.
The award of Palatinates for sports at Durham dates to at least 1883, when the cricket "Eleven" were permitted to wear the "university coat" (i.e. blazer) of palatinate purple rather than the claret coat of the club, and the award of both Palatinates and half Palatinates was well established by the end of the century. Manchester adopted maroon in 1905. Trinity College Dublin adopted Pink in 1950.
University colours
Different universities award different colours, often based on the colour worn by their athletes. Sometimes these are known by the colour used, but they may also simply be known as "colours". These include:
Aberdeen: Blue
Bath: Blue
Birmingham: Blue
Bristol: Red
Cambridge: Blue
Cardiff: Colours
Dublin: Pink or Colours
Durham: Palatinate
Edinburgh: Colours
Glasgow: Blue
Heriot-Watt: Blue
Leeds: Colours
Liverpool: Blue or Colours
London: Purple
Loughborough: AU Colours
Manchester (pre-2004): Maroon
Oxford: Blue
Robert Gordon: Blue
St Andrews: Blue or Colours
St Mary's: Blue
Sheffield: Colours
Stirling: Blue or Colours
Gallery
Notes
1. The present-day University of Manchester was created following the merger of UMIST and the Victoria University of Manchester in 2004. Before this point the VUM awarded Maroons and Half Maroons, having adopted the sporting colours of maroon and white in 1905. Since 2004 the university has not used maroon and white for sports kit, instead having kit in the university colours of purple and yellow. In recent years the university has awarded 'Performance Colours'.
See also
School colors
References
Sports terminology
Sports colors