Walsall

Est. 1888 · England

About Walsall

Walsall are a West Midlands club with a history stretching back to 1888, when Walsall Town and Walsall Swifts merged to form Walsall Town Swifts and entered the Football League. Known as The Saddlers, a nod to the leather trade that defined their hometown, they have spent most of their existence in the lower divisions but produced one of English football's greatest upsets in 1933: a 2-0 FA Cup win over Arsenal, the reigning league champions. It remains one of the defining giant-killings in the competition's history.

Founded in 1888, Walsall are based in Walsall, West Midlands, and compete in the EFL. They play their home matches at the Banks's Stadium (formerly the Bescot Stadium), which holds around 11,300 spectators. The club are nicknamed The Saddlers. Their home kit features red and black, reflecting the colours of the Black Country. The club won the Fourth Division championship in 1959 to 1960.

Walsall's red and black colours are rooted in the identity of the Black Country, the industrial heartland of the West Midlands. The red shirt with black trim has been a constant for the Saddlers across many decades, with various manufacturers producing clean, functional kits for a club that has always punched slightly above its weight. Away kits have often gone to white or yellow, and there have been some notable third kits over the years, but the red and black home shirt remains the emblem of a club that beat the mighty Arsenal in the Cup and has never forgotten it.

Players who wore the shirt