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Quoted from Withnail

For the benefit of young uns, green is seen an unlucky colour for fishermen, which is why we never traditionally had a green goalkeeper's jersey (certainly not under Buckley Mark I).

I’m familiar with this story, but is it actually true that Buckley put a stop to it? We definitely had green ‘keeper shirts under Buckley, as evidenced by Rhys Wilmott…

[img]https://i.ibb.co/YD81bbc/42-BAFBD0-FC87-445-B-B24-B-7-FC3-F2-D71-BA5.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i.ibb.co/xFhG0PV/12-CD91-A9-D5-EA-4104-AB34-81-FCBBA43-AD1.jpg[/img]

And if we’re calling this season’s effort ‘green’, then so was Paul Crichton’s in the early-90s…

[img]https://c8.alamy.com/comp/HN60B4/paul-crichton-grimsby-town-fc-07-september-1993-HN60B4.jpg[/img]
[img]https://c8.alamy.com/comp/GBFP9E/paul-crichton-grimsby-town-punches-clear-from-robert-rosario-nottingham-GBFP9E.jpg[/img]

https://youtu.be/yN4ibAZY7C0

Not 100% TBH. Just seem to recall Steve Sherwood wore yellow when most opposition goalies wore green. It was during this time I heard about green being an unlucky colour for fishermen. But it's hard to argue against the visual evidence you've put forward...

Pretty sure Nige Batch wore green on a fairly regular basis and we didn't do too badly when he played, personally I think this green shirt thing is a lot of superstitious baloney.

Quoted from Withnail

Not 100% TBH. Just seem to recall Steve Sherwood wore yellow when most opposition goalies wore green. It was during this time I heard about green being an unlucky colour for fishermen. But it's hard to argue against the visual evidence you've put forward...

I think there’s probably something in it, because in the close to 30 years I’ve been following Town these are the only examples I can think of that you could reasonably call ‘green’ (I think the official description of this season’s kit is ‘fluo’).

But yeah, given the photos above, I’d love to know how / when / if it actually started.

Agreed. Just had a quick squiz on Google pics and the vast majority, (not including the Wilmott and Crichton tops you highlighted) are not green, (other than Batchy and one Dixon goalie top (which may not have ever been actually used). Whether it's simply a case of green falling out of fashion I don't know.

Quoted from Withnail

Agreed. Just had a quick squiz on Google pics and the vast majority, (not including the Wilmott and Crichton tops you highlighted) are not green, (other than Batchy and one Dixon goalie top (which may not have ever been actually used). Whether it's simply a case of green falling out of fashion I don't know.

If you’re on about this one, I can’t ever remember this being used in a game. It would have been in the Coyne / Croudson era when there were were red, yellow and blue versions but I never saw this on the pitch. Weird that it even exists, actually.

[img]https://www.oldfootballshirts.com/img/shirts/77/grimsby-town-goalkeeper-football-shirt-1998-1999-s_20471_1.jpg[/img]

I seem to remember reading years ago that the reason for not wearing a green top was that if the trawler returned from sea and the captain was in a green jumper it meant they’d lost a man at sea. No idea if that is true though.

I'm pretty sure it started in George Kerr's era, that Town goalies wore green, such as Nigel Batch.

I once asked George the reason, and he said it was a load of baloney, never wearing green.

Forgot the discussion about green kits…look at the diadora kits😍that training wear…those were the days…

Wasn't it Mick Lyons who picked up on green being unlucky 🤔

Why are people trying to destroy the unlucky wearing green story.The green thing is a great story bearing in mind we were/ are a fishing Town with a great history. I've always thought it was a way of remembering men who risked their lives and many lost their lives at sea and showing a little respect to them. I know I may be wrong but I don't care.

Quoted from Withnail

For the benefit of young uns, green is seen an unlucky colour for fishermen, which is why we never traditionally had a green goalkeeper's jersey (certainly not under Buckley Mark I).

As a 15 year old I went on a " pleasure trip " in 1963 for a 28 day trip to Greenland on the trawler Velinda. Three days out I went on the bridge wearing a green shirt ( I didn't know the superstition then) and the mate ripped it off my back and told me in no uncertain terms never to wear anything green again or I would be in the " oggin " - his words !

Quoted from 4055

Why are people trying to destroy the unlucky wearing green story.The green thing is a great story bearing in mind we were/ are a fishing Town with a great history. I've always thought it was a way of remembering men who risked their lives and many lost their lives at sea and showing a little respect to them. I know I may be wrong but I don't care.

I love this post.

If we all analysed things logically and literally, none of us would turn up at Blundell Park on a Saturday afternoon. It’s our shared cultural history that binds us and our club together. I’ve retold this story so many times to people over the years and frankly don’t care if it’s factually correct, folklore or otherwise. Put quite simply it’s a story that connects GTFC to the cultural roots of it’s community and that in itself makes it worth re-telling.

Quoted from rancido

As a 15 year old I went on a " pleasure trip " in 1963 for a 28 day trip to Greenland on the trawler Velinda. Three days out I went on the bridge wearing a green shirt ( I didn't know the superstition then) and the mate ripped it off my back and told me in no uncertain terms never to wear anything green again or I would be in the " oggin " - his words !

And I love this post even more - a first-hand account of why a GTFC goalkeeper shouldn’t wear green.

As the son of a fisherman, I can say that the wearing of green was frowned upon. Another thing that never happened would be the washing of clothes on the same day that a family member set sail. It was thought that this was tempting fate and could lead to the fishermen being washed away at sea.

Batchy nearly always wore green and it didn't really bring him too much bad luck.

Quoted from Les Brechin

Batchy nearly always wore green and it didn't really bring him too much bad luck.

Not sure steve foley would agree Les 😳

Quoted from ginnywings

As the son of a fisherman, I can say that the wearing of green was frowned upon. Another thing that never happened would be the washing of clothes on the same day that a family member set sail. It was thought that this was tempting fate and could lead to the fishermen being washed away at sea.

Lots of superstitions as regards fisherman, especially at sea. You never used the word "rabbits" - usually referred to them as underground greyhounds!

During my early years of watching Town our two main
goalkeepers were George Tweedy and Wilf Chisholm.

They would wear either red or blue and no way, due to
superstitions related to our fishing background, would
a green jersey be worn. The jersey would have a turtle-kneck
and they wore cloth caps.

In our last season in Division One they shipped 111 goals.

Lord knows how many it would have been if they had
worn green !

Green is a very unlucky colour for superstitious fishermen, in particular hats and jumpers, there are lots of superstions with the fishermen of both GY and Hull, they would not say a lot of words at sea, rats where known as longtails, rabbits was a unlucky word, seeing a clergyman, nun or funeral on the way to the ship was a bad omen.
I believe there is some truth in town keepers not wearing green and remember my Grandad telling me the same.

Quoted from petethemariner

Pretty sure Nige Batch wore green on a fairly regular basis and we didn't do too badly when he played, personally I think this green shirt thing is a lot of superstitious baloney.

And Harry Wainman definitely wore green.