How United became the 'Rags'Updated: June 9th, 2008
I’ve always wondered how United got to be nicknamed the ‘Rags’, until I found a fascinating snippet in Gary James’ Manchester - The Greatest City.
It appears the name was given to them by their own fans.
During the 1930-31 season, United were in a wretched state. The club teetered on the brink of bankruptcy and were attracting crowds of less than 4,000 for some games - despite still being in Division 1.
Harry Hughes, a City fan working in Trafford, tells this story:
“I worked in Trafford then, and all the locals were United fans. I was working nights and when Saturday morning arrived a couple of them asked ‘are you going to see the Rags today?’ I didn’t know what that meant, and then they explained that United fans had started to call the team the ‘Rags’ because they were so poor and that their kit looked liked rags. So after that I knew who they meant, but when I mentioned the Rags, they’d go, ‘who the Hell are you talking about?’ They didn’t like the opposition saying it.”
The poor level of support continued throughout the 1930s. When war broke out in 1939 an immediate ban was placed on the assembly of large crowds. The joke doing the rounds in Manchester was that United would have nothing to worry about.
There’s another great Rags story told by Howard Burr, secretary of the Reddish Blues. Full story here.
In 1968, Howard’s father was manager of the Umbro factory in Stockport. When United reached the European Cup final they put in a rushed order for the kit. The material his dad used had been lying about in the factory since the place was built and was full of dust and cobwebs.
In fact, some of the machinists were upset it was being used because they used to cut lengths off the roll to take home for dusters.
~ For the record, I should point out that Old Trafford did get the odd huge gate in the 1930s. In March 1939 the ‘Theatre of Empty Seats’ drew a crowd of 76,962 - when Wolves played Grimsby in the FA Cup semi-final.
Manchester - The Greatest City is currently out of stock at Amazon, but you can find more books on City by Gary James and other authors here. Other book sellers are listed in our Shopping section here.
How United became the 'Rags'Updated: December 20th, 2006
I’ve always wondered how United got to be nicknamed the ‘Rags’, until I found a fascinating snippet in Gary James’ Manchester - The Greatest City.
It appears the name was given to them by their own fans.
During the 1930-31 season, United were in a wretched state. The club teetered on the brink of bankruptcy and were attracting crowds of less than 4,000 for some games - despite still being in Division 1.
Harry Hughes, a City fan working in Trafford, tells this story:
“I worked in Trafford then, and all the locals were United fans. I was working nights and when Saturday morning arrived a couple of them asked ‘are you going to see the Rags today?’ I didn’t know what that meant, and then they explained that United fans had started to call the team the ‘Rags’ because they were so poor and that their kit looked liked rags. So after that I knew who they meant, but when I mentioned the Rags, they’d go, ‘who the Hell are you talking about?’ They didn’t like the opposition saying it.”
The poor level of support continued throughout the 1930s. When war broke out in 1939 an immediate ban was placed on the assembly of large crowds. The joke doing the rounds in Manchester was that United would have nothing to worry about.
There’s another great Rags story told by Howard Burr, secretary of the Reddish Blues. Full story here.
In 1968, Howard’s father was manager of the Umbro factory in Stockport. When United reached the European Cup final they put in a rushed order for the kit. The material his dad used had been lying about in the factory since the place was built and was full of dust and cobwebs.
In fact, some of the machinists were upset it was being used because they used to cut lengths off the roll to take home for dusters.
~ For the record, I should point out that Old Trafford did get the odd huge gate in the 1930s. In March 1939 the ‘Theatre of Empty Seats’ drew a crowd of 76,962 - when Wolves played Grimsby in the FA Cup semi-final.
Manchester - The Greatest City is currently out of stock at Amazon, but you can find more books on City by Gary James and other authors here. Other book sellers are listed in our Shopping section here.