Scottish Championship side Raith Rovers have released their away kit this season, featuring a special nod towards Las Palmas.
The kit, which mimics the Las Palmas colour scheme, consists of a yellow top and blue shorts, with a small map of the Canary Islands on it too. It is in honour of their ‘shipwreck team’ of 1923.
With Raith Rovers running low on money, they sent their team on tour to Denmark in 1922 and raised money. They thought they would repeat the feat in Spain.
💛 Our New 2023/24 Away Kit
🇮🇨 Commemorating 100 years since the team were shipwrecked on their tour to the Canary Islands.
Buy now: https://t.co/kyOw6F44iq#YouBelong pic.twitter.com/MYPyvDED0U
— Raith Rovers Football Club (@RaithRovers) July 21, 2023
Boarding the ‘Highland Loch’ steamer, they were set to head to Vigo in Galicia, where they would get off, and then head onwards to their destination of the Canary Islands, carrying beef on the same boat.
However as they approached the Galician coast, the ship sank after being shipwrecked. The Raith team helped others to their lifeboats before getting on themselves, in an incident that remarkably saw nobody harmed.
A century ago, the Scottish football team @RaithRovers embarked on an eventful tour of the Canary Islands. A hundred years later, their new kit commemorates this event.
You can read the full story here:https://t.co/H3ZItCFcmG pic.twitter.com/U7McQisKH2
— Embassy of Spain UK (@EmbSpainUK) July 27, 2023
After taking in a bullfight and regrouping in Vigo (some arrived at different places along the coast), they eventually boarded a South American boat to the Canaries.
Finally arriving a week after running aground in Vigo, they would play four friendlies against Real Vigo twice, Marino and Gran Canaria. The first one attracted a crowd of 8,000, and Raith Rovers would go on to win all four.
Raith Rovers have begun taking international orders on their online shop, as Las Palmas fans look to buy the kit, celebrating the 100th anniversary of the tour. The two clubs are also linked by former player of both Paquito Ortiz.
