WHEN did rugby supporters first begin to wear club replica tops at matches? The query comes from John Harvey who just might have been the first to bring this fashion in.

He wore his Saints' shirt at Wembley in 1961. "So could I have been the first fan to wear a Saints shirt to the Cup Final?" he asks.

And he forwards a shot of himself, in rugby top and wearing his dad's pit helmet, with five other sober-clad Saints diehards, to back up his claim.

"Another RL Cup Final over, and one more victory for Saints," he writes. "Having seen all the different replica shirts, I began to wonder when fans first started to wear their club colours."

On the front of his helmet was pasted a picture of the heroic Saints' loose-forward Vinty Karalius.

John, from Coniston Grove, Haresfinch, can name all but two on the old picture taken at the front of a Wembley-bound coach. They are (left to right) standing: Geoff Lee, Unknown, Geoff's dad, Jackie Lee. From: Kerry (Tommy) Vose, John Harvey, Unknown.

ANYONE know the 'unknowns'? Please write to me if you do.