Reason for Rangers being called the Light Blues

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The first Rangers teams were full of willing teenagers, their absolute enthusiasm more than compensated for their lack of game nous. In the early years from playing on a the flood plain at Fleshers' Haugh, through Burnbank, to Kinning Park, the young Rangers attracted crowds in excess of 2,000(considered huged by comparitive standards). Rangers were NOT successful in their first 20 years, a few losing Scottish Cup finals, plus a few minor cups; why did these crowds continue to turn out?

 

It was the way Rangers attacked the game, Moses McNeil(the club's first internationalist) is the epitome of what we are attempting to get at here; he was a strong running inside forward/winger that drifted past opposition lunging tackles. When he was dispossessed, he tackled back with venom despite being callow and half the weight of his opponent. Rangers were often recorded in the newspapers as playing the game in, "a light and speedy manner".

 

A big part of popuarlising the game in the late Victorian era was through cigarette cards and postcards(both given free with the purchase of a packet of coffin nails and newspapers). Each club would be depicted in the way they approached the game, Rangers were always portrayed by a young athletic player running at full tilt with the ball at his feet, the underlying strap line was always, 'Rangers - the Light and Speedy Blues'.

 

It became journalistic and Bluenose shorthand to refer to, "the Light Blues".

 

Thus, nothing to do with the colour, or the depth of blue hue. It was game approach, a light and breezy style that attracted large crowds. The Rangers approach perculated through the club, the second eleven were known for 60-70 years as , 'the Swifts' - darting, rolling, balanced, swooping, turning, ........................... etc

 

We should be proud of our original nickname, it should endure; we are the Light Blues - absolutely.