100 Symbols That Changed the World by Colin Salter

Author:Colin Salter [Salter, Colin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2022-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

Football club badges

(1888)

Nowhere does the human instinct for tribalism find its expression more strongly than as a supporter of a football club. The most popular English clubs attract fans from around the globe who will never visit the team’s home town. But a club’s badge can tell even the most remote follower something of its history.

Manchester United Football Club (MUFC) has fans about as far away from the northern English city of Manchester as it is possible to be. Like many English clubs its badge is derived from the coat of arms of the city, which depicts a sailing ship above three diagonal yellow lines on a red background. In the 1960s, United acknowledged its nickname, the Red Devils, by replacing the lower half of the crest with a scarlet demon. Local rivals Manchester City FC also retain the city’s sailing ship, above the red rose which represents the county of Lancashire of which Manchester was once a part.

Lancashire’s historic enemy, its neighbour Yorkshire, displayed a white rose, and the long-running conflicts between the two were known as the Wars of the Roses. Today the badge of Sheffield United FC, in the heart of Yorkshire, is a white rose above a pair of crossed swords, a reference to Sheffield’s traditional skill at making blades for weapons and cutlery; the club’s nickname is the Blades. Arsenal, another club represented by weaponry, was originally formed by workers at the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich, London, where they made cannons for the British Army. A cannon has featured on the club’s crest since 1888, and it’s no surprise that this club’s nickname is the Gunners. Another London club, West Ham United, known as the Hammers, also displays the tools of its trade on its badge. They are rivet hammers, a reference not to the club’s name but to the employment of its founding players at the Thames Ironworks, which built the world’s first all-iron warship, HMS Warrior, in 1860.

Liverpool FC, Manchester United’s frequent rivals for many of football’s highest honours, are one of many English clubs to portray a bird in their badge. In Liverpool’s case it is the liver bird, a mythological creature whose history encapsulates that of the city of Liverpool. It began life as an eagle on the city’s seal in the thirteenth century but gradually changed shape until it more closely resembled a cormorant. Liverpool’s local rivals Everton were actually the first club to use the liver bird, but since the 1930s their badge has shown a local landmark, the Everton Lock-Up, which served as a holding cell for drunks, thieves and perhaps football fans in the eighteenth century.

Norwich FC’s bird is a canary – the club is nicknamed the Canaries, a name also reflected in its bright yellow home strip. But the name actually derives from the locally popular hobby of keeping caged canaries, at a time when the strip was blue and white. Much humour was derived from a 1907 fixture between Norwich and West Bromwich Albion (WBA), both of whom sported a bird badge.

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