If you guessed that the term “Racing Factions” was a take-off on the concept of Racing Fractions (where each member of the consortium owns a fraction of our horses), you would be wrong. Instead the term Racing Factions is derived from ancient history.
Hundreds of years ago, during the Greek, Roman and Byzantine eras, chariot racing was one of the most popular ancient sports. Chariot drivers and horses were first supported by financial backers. Gradually these teams were the focus of competitions where spectators aligned themselves with certain teams, and the races became more than social events, they were state-sponsored and politicized. One of the first literary references to chariot racing was made by Homer in describing funeral games. Historical evidence shows that chariot races were the foundation of the Olympic Games.
Because the chariot races were held in huge arenas, it became necessary for drivers to wear an easily-identifiable color so that the fans could clearly see how their team was faring during the races and spectators could keep track of their favorite team’s progress. Originally the first racing faction colors were red and white but eventually the colors of green and blue were added. In the third century the colors purple and gold also became associated with factions in chariot racing. Fans developed loyalty to their favorite factions, symbolized by these colors. Over the course of time the factions came to represent much more than sporting teams. Colored factions began to influence politics, religion and the military during the time of the Byzantine Empire.