I like the colour pink. I sometimes wear a pink shirt, or a pink tie, and socks with a dash of pink. I know that some of you might think that it’s a really girlish colour. But, I would like to ask you then, how come some of the most prestigious rowing clubs in England are using pink as their club colour? The men of Leander Club, Auriol Kensington RC, Westminster School, and Abingdon School are all having pink on the oar blades, racing kits, etc. This question is brought up by the good ‘Doctor Rowing’ (Andy Anderson) in the current issue of the magazine Rowing News (September, 2011).
Doctor Rowing writes in his article (p. 61) that, although Leander calls its colour ‘cerise’, “it’s not a cherry color at all. It is pink.” I would not like to offend Leander Club in any way, but I would like to call it ‘Leander pink’. Well, anyway, Doctor Rowing explains why pink is actually for men. He writes, “Since Victorian times, the color pink has been a manly color associated with friendship. Even here in the U.S., a clothing trade magazine was counseling in 1918 that, ‘The generally accepted rule is pink for the boys and blue for the girls. The reason is that pink, being a more decided and stronger color, is more suitable for the boy, while blue, which is more delicate and dainty, is prettier for the girl.’”
There, you see, it’s blue that is the girlish colour!
Pembroke College, Oxford, also wear pink (though the pink leggings may have been a mistake), as do Emmanuel College, Cambridge and Worcester College, Oxford. Pembroke aren't particularly great on the wider scale of things (though better than Auriol Kensington), but they're a massive powerhouse of Oxford college rowing and are the only college ever to have held the men's and women's headships at the same time. I understand that Emmanuel are also quite good, and Worcester are a pretty solid rowing college as well.
ReplyDelete