Five of the best weird Port Vale kits
Port Vale have had some odd kits over the years – and here are five weird Port Vale kits as selected by OVF editor Rob Fielding.
Note: Kit choices are always a personal affair and these odd Port Vale kits are the choice of OVF editor Rob Fielding.
Why not look through hundreds of vintage Port Vale kit designs on our dedicated kit designs feature? It contains over a hundred home, away, third, goalkeeper and one-off kit designs. See the Port Vale kits here
If you disagree (or agree) with these choices let us know in the forum.
Weird Port Vale kits
The bizarre “Luton away kit” in December 1985
You’ll have to take our word for this one (the OVF editor was in the crowd) as the photos of the time are in black and white but this was an odd one. Vale played a home game against Preston North End where it snowed so much that Vale’s white shirts were getting lost in the snow. The home team came out in bizarre orange tops which seemed to bear an uncanny resemblance to the Luton Town away kit of the time. You can see an image of Vale’s loan striker Steve Cammack on the right.
The away kit with names taped over in 2002
This match at Huddersfield’s McAlpine stadium saw a kit change that wasn’t due to the weather but was apparently because Vale’s away kit was judged to clash with the home team’s blue and white number. The Valiants took the field in Huddersfield’s red away kit with the player names taped over!
Pretty in pink in 2012
Due to the infamous antics of the MOLD board and the failure to complete the Keith Ryder takeover, the Valiants didn’t have a kit deal for the start of the 2012-13 season. It resulted in the club having to beg kit manufacturers Vandanel for some sort of design and Vale were given this natty number for the opening games. It was swiftly replaced with a hastily designed white number and didn’t seem to do the team any harm as they powered to promotion by the end of the campaign…
Fantasy formative years in 2008
When Vale’s then board announced a striped number in 2008, fans were stumped. No-one could remember the Valiants playing in black and white stripes. The board said it was a tribute to a strip used in the club’s formative years but no record of early Vale sides ever playing in black and white (their early colours were often red) was ever produced. The Vale have never had a striped home shirt since…
Red and white stripes!
It’s difficult to tell from a black and white photo but reports indicate that the 1898 design was (whisper it quietly) red and white stripes… The player pictured is James Peake.
Want more Port Vale kits?
Why not look through hundreds of vintage Port Vale kit designs on our dedicated kit designs feature? It contains over a hundred home, away, third, goalkeeper and one-off kit designs. See the kits here