The future's bright. The future's brown
Tuesday, 18th November 2003.
It was always going to be a day to remember for Brighton Electricity FC.
Not only were they showing off their unique new strip but they had also secured the services of former England star John Scales for the day.
And the defender, who designed the kit himself, set up the first of three goals in a 3-1 win against Grenadier.
The home side, who play in the Brighton League Division One, took delivery of their new strip on Saturday.
In the Eighties, the team modelled their shirts on Coventry City's famous chocolate brown away kit, despite it attracting widespread derision.
Now Brighton Electricity are delighted to be going back to their brown roots.
Team chairman and secretary Trevor Carney, 54, who works for kit sponsor Seeboard Energy, played in the Eighties strip and welcomed its return.
He said: "It's taken years off me. I was 31 when we wore it in the Eighties so it has made me feel much younger."
His son, George, who plays for the current side who are seventh in the league, said: "We're the only team in the country wearing brown. It's unique and we want to be a unique club."
Brighton Electricity had been so eager to turn out in brown they hired John, who cost Liverpool £3.5 million when he signed from Wimbledon in 1994, to track down the fabric.
John, 37, who runs his own kit company, www.besport.com, designed the brown and white kit and found a company in Portugal to supply the fabric.
He then popped down to deliver the finished product to the team in Braypool and dusted off his boots for a kick about.
He said: "Everyone loves this kit. They wanted something different."
John said during his 17-year career he remembered once turning out in a very unpopular yellow kit for Liverpool.
Unlike Coventry, the Brighton lads are proud to wear brown again.
The brown strip was chosen in the Eighties because they were sponsored by an electricity company and brown was the live wire in a plug, earning them the nickname Live Wires.
Des McDonald, who has been with the club for 14 years, said: "The last brown kit was horrible because it was brown with two white stripes down each side of the chest so we also got called the choc ices."
Dave FitzGerald, who also wore the original brown strip, said: "We have to make an impression."
Rival fans questioning Brighton Electricity's style cannot be too smug as even the high flyers have made some fashion faux pas.
Among the worst kits was Norwich City's 1993 effort, described as being "covered in canary droppings".
Even the Albion have floundered in the fashion stakes with their pink away shirt of 1991.
Fans said it looked as if the players had hacked someone to death while wearing a white shirt and then wiped their bloodied hands on their chests.
