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DRONFIELD TOWN HOME - UNKNOWN YEAR



Every now and then I stop and think about just how many football clubs exists around the world. “A lot” doesn’t quite seem to cut it. 737 teams took part in last year’s FA Cup, and that’s just English clubs that qualified. Multiply that by all the countries around the world where football is played at least semi-professionally (so almost all of them) and you have a mind-boggling amount of players, fixtures, results, small pennants with fringe around the edge, old blokes in pubs telling you that they were there for That Famous Match, badges and, yes, kits. Dronfield Town FC are definitely one of those teams, and here’s one of their home shirts.


Dronfield’s a small Derbyshire town located fairly near to where I live, which is probably why I managed to find this shirt in a local charity shop. I can’t tell you what year it’s from, but there’s not a huge window to chose from given that Dronfield Town were formed in 1998. I’d guess around the turn of the millennium. The Dronfield Town website doesn’t go back that far, though, and it’s difficult to find information about teams that play in the Northern Counties East League Division One, which is DTFC’s current home. Wikipedia tells me that’s the tenth tier of English football. I’ll take their word for it -  I’ll admit I get lost if I go any lower than the Conference. That means there's a good chance that this shirt was match-worn, because I can't imagine Dronfield Town are doing a roaring trade in replica shirts.
As for the shirt itself, it’s a classic striped number in red and black from Prostar that brings to mind Italian giants AC Milan and, because I’m a huge dork, a team of footballing vampires. This is definitely the kit that Transylvania Wanderers would wear.
Being as basic as it is, there’s not much else to say about it besides mentioning the stars that run down each sleeve, giving the shirt just a hint of USA-style razzmatazz. Not quite a shirt fit for Evel Knievel, but there’s the faintest hint of sparkle and stardust on an otherwise no-nonsense shirt.


The club’s badge, both this version and a slightly different one that they’re using these days, features Dronfield’s most “famous” landmark – the Peel Monument, a small structure that looks like a house for a cartoon witch. It was built to honour Sir Robert Peel for his part in repealing the Corn Laws, and that’s one of the most British-sounding sentences I’ve ever written down.
Speaking of history, Dronfield Town got a new footballing neighbour in 2001 when Sheffield FC moved to the town. Sheffield FC are famous for being the oldest football club in the world. They also play in red and black. I hope Dronfield Town didn’t feel put out by this.
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