The most widely accepted story is that it was adopted in honour of the Duke of the Abruzzi and the House of Savoy , which , after the victorious liberation of Turin from the French in 1706 , adopted a blood-colored handkerchief in honour of a messenger killed bringing the news of victory . Other accounts , considered less reliable , speak of a tribute to the founder Alfredo Dick , who was a fan of the Genevan team Servette , the Swiss club of the founders homeland , or a reference to the English club Sheffield , the oldest football club in the world , whose colours were also initially adopted by Internazionale Torino . There is even the possibility that the dark red was created by chance , as a result of repeated washing — a reconstruction that is found with many other club 's football kits — among the uniforms that were red with black socks ; the colour derived , being considered a good omen , would eventually be chosen as the official colour . Previously , the club had tried to obtain permission to use royal blue , but the monarchs of Italy were reluctant to grant the use of their dynastic color to a single team , as opposed to a few years later , when Azure adopted by the various national sports teams . Since then , the traditional home uniform of Torino has been composed of a kit combined with traditionally white but occasionally also maroon shorts , and black socks cuffed maroon . It has not been unusual however to see the team take to the field with maroon socks , especially at the turn of the 1970s and 1980s when the team permanently adopted a complete maroon kit . The away uniform , usually in reverse colours , consists of a white shirt with contrasting cuffs , maroon or sometimes white shorts , white socks and a maroon lapel . Cyclically , an away shirt with a diagonal maroon band has also been used . This is an homage to River Plate , the Argentine club which has had close historical ties to Torino since the tragedy of Superga . the shirt was debuted on 6 January 1953 in a league match against Milan , ending 1 – 1
tragedy of Superga
Superga air disaster
Torino F.C.