Season 1882/83
original illustrations of the kits worn during the season

Possible Kit with navy knickerbockers
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Possible Kit with white knickerbockers
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The Season in brief

Season tickets were issued for the first time, reflecting both the growing interest in the club and the confidence of the committee to arrange a full set of fixtures. Games with Astley Bridge, Blackburn Olympic and Bolton Wanderers, all of whom had appeared in the previous season's FA Cup competition, were all arranged in the late winter and spring, although the reaction of the season ticket holders when all three clubs sent their reserve sides for the fixtures has not survived.

There was also the usual fare (Manchester Arcadians, West Gorton St. Mark's, Haughton Green) and, thanks to the club's links with the L&YR, fixtures against other 'railway' sides. Southport L.Y.R. sent a team to North Road in March 1883 and the 'Heathens' played home and away fixtures against Crewe Alexandra for the first time - losing 7-2 in November 1882 in Crewe, and 3-0 at North Road the following February.

The links with the railway company also provided the club with cheap transport, and allowed them to travel for games throughout the North West. Perhaps surprisingly to modern day fans, the L&YR also put on special trains for supporters to away games.

There remains a great deal of doubt concerning the team colours. In the absence of any definitive contemporary evidence, we believe it is probable that the playes wore red and white quartered shirts, the colours of the L&Y Railway.

However, modern club histories list the club colours as green and gold, although they don't offer any compelling evidence to support this claim. These colours were supposedly included in a match report from a Bolton newspaper in November 1880, but the report remains untraced.

Whatever the colour of their shirts, the Heathens would probably have continued to wear different coloured knickerbockers.