Club Badges

[G_&_T]

Apologies if this has been done before, but I would be interested to know the history and significance of each club's badge and, if applicable, the colours worn. 

I'm a bit old school, but I love to think of the club as an ambassador of the town/community in which they play. I think this is why I am becoming disillusioned with the bigger clubs, as they no longer represent their communities...but I digress. So what does your club's badge represent?

[Zen Archer (Raconteur)]

@Scottydog

[tamthebam]

Raith Rovers badge from an Edinburgh City v Raith Rovers programme.  Author: some cnut  (ME)

"The Current Raith Rovers badge dates from at least 1922, a picture of legendary Raith player Alex James from that date shows the badge on his shirt. Other versions of the badge have been used over the years such as Version 2 below which was used in the 1970s and features in the Stark’s Park boardroom and Version 3, the one which I am most familiar with, which was used between 1985 and 1998. In 1998 the original Raith badge was re-introduced onto Rovers’ shirts to celebrate the 125^th anniversary of the club. It would appear that the object being held by the lion is a football (although personally I think it looks a bit like a jam doughnut!)

A number of Scottish football teams have featured the lion motif in the club crests- Rangers, Raith Rovers, Dundee United and Hawick Royal Albert for example. It is not a huge leap of imagination to guess that the lion emblem has been taken from the famous Lion Rampant on the Royal Standard of Scotland. Aston Villa’s lion badge for example was introduced in 1880 by Perthshire born club director William McGregor and was taken from the Scottish Royal Standard.

 Kings of Scotland started to use the Lion as a heraldic symbol in the 12^th Century and it is associated with King William (reigned 1165-1214) who used a red lion on a yellow background on his standard. The lion had a reputation for bravery and several mediaeval monarchs were given the nickname of “lion”, for example Richard the Lionheart, who ruled England at the same time was William was King of Scots. King William’s son Alexander II continued to use the emblem, a record dating from 1222 showing it on the Royal Seal. Interestingly enough an earlier recorded Scottish royal standard featured a dragon which was used at the Battle of the Standard in 1138 by David I (1124–1153)

Lions are not, of course, native to Scotland but they have been known since antiquity and the Biblical tale of Daniel in the Lion’s den was no doubt familiar to church scholars. Scots living in the North of the country would also be familiar with the lion of the glens, the Scottish wildcat. A lion is recorded as having been added to a collection of animals built up by King James IV in 1512 and he built a den at Holyrood House in Edinburgh to house this collection. "

I also did articles on Lowland League clubs badges and most of D2. Except Stenny because I couldn't be arsed by the time it came round to play them. 

[tamthebam]

The Dalbeattie-Airdrie connection. Sort of. 

"Dalbeattie Star’s badge shows a star design, a football and a double headed eagle motif. 

The Double Headed Eagle comes from the town badge of Dalbeattie. A number of Scottish towns feature an eagle on their Civic courts of arms. Perth’s Double Eagle is thought to derive from the fact there was a Roman settlement in the area, similarly the Burgh of Lanark’s crest also contains a double headed eagle, again perhaps deriving from the fact that there are a number of Roman camps in the Lanark area. Lanark’s eagle holds the bell of St Mungo in one of its talons and dates from 1357. Airdrie’s double headed eagle, which can be seen on the badge of the current Airdriedonians F.C., was taken from the arms of a local landowner, Aitcheson of Ruchsollach."

[tamthebam]

Edinburgh City's strip are the colours of Edinburgh, black and white. So f*ck Hearts and Hibs. 

The Edinburgh City badge comes from the coat of arms of Edinburgh but was redesigned last summer as easier to copyright and also perhaps because the Lord Lyon, Heraldic chap in Scotland, had been annoying various clubs over use of civic coats of arms etc in their badges. It's quite a smart design although always makes me think of a sandcastle now, perhaps because of the yellow. Yellow and black are the colours of the away strip, origins of which are obscure (*cough*)

 

The maiden comes from an old legend about the castle, the hart is the symbol of St Giles*, patron saint of Edinburgh, the red in the castle IIRC shows its a royal castle, the anchor is for the Forth and the latin motto means "Except the Lord in vain", comes from the Bible and I can't remember really what it means except that Pa Bam used to translate as "if the Lord cannae dae it, naebody can". Mind you, he was from Fife. 

*sitting on cold, damp seats watching City means you're in danger of getting "St Giles". Hey hum. 

 

 

[lichtgilphead]

Airdrie - Lets forget that we're from Clydebank and rip off the badge of a club that went bust instead

Arbroath - A big gate to imply the stability of the defence. It's not about the town's traditional welcome to incomers, not at all.

Brechin - Some sketches of local buildings. No references to villages or hedges here, no sirree!

Dumbarton - What do people think of when Dumbarton is mentioned? That's right - elephants... f*cking big  elephants with castles on their backs!

East Fife - Right lads, don't mention Leven, Methil or Buckhaven. If we just say we're from Scotland, maybe people will think of the nice bits

Forfar - Let's have a few pictures of trees, castles and animals. It's not as random as Dumbarton, but it'll make people think

Montrose - Some writing to show we can spell, some numbers to show we can count and a stylised rose for shits and giggles. Oh, and a football. Why not!

Raith Rovers - A big cuddly lion showing off the mouse he uses to access depraved pornography (unusual weird stuff  involving lions & mice, allegedly)

Stranraer - A boat. Wouldn't you choose the quickest way out of here too?

Stenhousemuir - Let's  make our badge even more boring than Montrose's. Get rid of all the pictures & numbers. Simples.

[tamthebam]

Berwick: A bear and a tree. From the old saying "Are Berwick shite? Do bears shit in the woods?" 

 

 

[tamthebam]

8 minutes ago, lichtgilphead said:

Airdrie - Lets forget that we're from Clydebank and rip off the badge of a club that went bust instead

Arbroath - A big gate to imply the stability of the defence. It's not about the town's traditional welcome to incomers, not at all.

Brechin - Some sketches of local buildings. No references to villages or hedges here, no sirree!

Dumbarton - What do people think of when Dumbarton is mentioned? That's right - elephants... f*cking big  elephants with castles on their backs!

East Fife - Right lads, don't mention Leven, Methil or Buckhaven. If we just say we're from Scotland, maybe people will think of the nice bits

Forfar - Let's have a few pictures of trees, castles and animals. It's not as random as Dumbarton, but it'll make people think

Montrose - Some writing to show we can spell, some numbers to show we can count and a stylised rose for shits and giggles. Oh, and a football. Why not!

Raith Rovers - A big cuddly lion showing off the mouse he uses to access depraved pornography (unusual weird stuff  involving lions & mice, allegedly)

Stranraer - A boat. Wouldn't you choose the quickest way out of here too?

Stenhousemuir - Let's  make our badge even more boring than Montrose's. Get rid of all the pictures & numbers. Simples.

I always thought it was a shame Montrose FC left the mermaids from the burgh crest off their badge. 

<Insert Smokie joke about finding plenty of tits in Montrose here>

[lichtgilphead]

I used to be the Weights & Measures inspector in Montrose. By that time, the official verification mark was UK 111. I would much rather have used this beauty

 

[G_&_T]

26 minutes ago, lichtgilphead said:

Airdrie - Lets forget that we're from Clydebank and rip off the badge of a club that went bust instead

Not really, eh?! I could understand why a Clydebank supporter might be upset by the circumstances surrounding their club's demise, but their supporters let it be sold. So f$%k them, they let their club die. They've been reformed as a junior outfit, which is clearly where they belong. 

[G_&_T]

25 minutes ago, tamthebam said:

Berwick: A bear and a tree. From the old saying "Are Berwick shite? Do bears shit in the woods?" 

 

 

Had to laugh at the away day guide to Berwick...not sure whether it was on here or elsewhere. Young teams hanging about to fight 'Jocks'.

[tamthebam]

17 minutes ago, lichtgilphead said:

I used to be the Weights & Measures inspector in Montrose. By that time, the official verification mark was UK 111. I would much rather have used this beauty

 

Weights and Measures Inspector eh...  "I say landlord, now that I've tested the pint glasses I must test your optics to see they're pouring the right amount of single malt...."

[lichtgilphead]

7 minutes ago, G_&_T said:

Not really, eh?! I could understand why a Clydebank supporter might be upset by the circumstances surrounding their club's demise, but their supporters let it be sold. So f$%k them, they let their club die. They've been reformed as a junior outfit, which is clearly where they belong. 

Would you rather that I had said:

Airdrie - The main theme is a cock. Very descriptive. There are also two lions couchant (implying inferiority to the "three lions" motif used by the English FA) and a downward pointing chevron to show the recent direction of travel through the leagues. The badge just reinforces the club's servile craven image.

That would have been nasty though

[lichtgilphead]

7 minutes ago, tamthebam said:

Weights and Measures Inspector eh...  "I say landlord, now that I've tested the pint glasses I must test your optics to see they're pouring the right amount of single malt...."

More chance of over-measure from an open measure than an optic. What sort of crap pubs do you go to that put decent malts through optics? 

[G_&_T]

8 minutes ago, lichtgilphead said:

Would you rather that I had said:

Airdrie - The main theme is a cock. Very descriptive. There are also two lions couchant (implying inferiority to the "three lions" motif used by the English FA) and a downward pointing chevron to show the recent direction of travel through the leagues. The badge just reinforces the club's servile craven image.

That would have been nasty though

More creative! Better banter all round, I'd say...not quite sure about the chevron, though. 

[lichtgilphead]

6 minutes ago, G_&_T said:

not quite sure about the chevron, though. 

Not a diamond, not pointing up. How else would you describe it 

[Rio 2]

6 hours ago, lichtgilphead said:

Not a diamond, not pointing up. How else would you describe it 

A shield! But we left out the sword, so we can't gaurd old derrys walls.

[Silverton End]

[50/50 Winner]

Raith Rovers badge from an Edinburgh City v Raith Rovers programme.  Author: some cnut  (ME)

"The Current Raith Rovers badge dates from at least 1922, a picture of legendary Raith player Alex James from that date shows the badge on his shirt. Other versions of the badge have been used over the years such as Version 2 below which was used in the 1970s and features in the Stark’s Park boardroom and Version 3, the one which I am most familiar with, which was used between 1985 and 1998. In 1998 the original Raith badge was re-introduced onto Rovers’ shirts to celebrate the 125^th anniversary of the club. It would appear that the object being held by the lion is a football (although personally I think it looks a bit like a jam doughnut!)

A number of Scottish football teams have featured the lion motif in the club crests- Rangers, Raith Rovers, Dundee United and Hawick Royal Albert for example. It is not a huge leap of imagination to guess that the lion emblem has been taken from the famous Lion Rampant on the Royal Standard of Scotland. Aston Villa’s lion badge for example was introduced in 1880 by Perthshire born club director William McGregor and was taken from the Scottish Royal Standard.

 Kings of Scotland started to use the Lion as a heraldic symbol in the 12^th Century and it is associated with King William (reigned 1165-1214) who used a red lion on a yellow background on his standard. The lion had a reputation for bravery and several mediaeval monarchs were given the nickname of “lion”, for example Richard the Lionheart, who ruled England at the same time was William was King of Scots. King William’s son Alexander II continued to use the emblem, a record dating from 1222 showing it on the Royal Seal. Interestingly enough an earlier recorded Scottish royal standard featured a dragon which was used at the Battle of the Standard in 1138 by David I (1124–1153)

Lions are not, of course, native to Scotland but they have been known since antiquity and the Biblical tale of Daniel in the Lion’s den was no doubt familiar to church scholars. Scots living in the North of the country would also be familiar with the lion of the glens, the Scottish wildcat. A lion is recorded as having been added to a collection of animals built up by King James IV in 1512 and he built a den at Holyrood House in Edinburgh to house this collection. "

I also did articles on Lowland League clubs badges and most of D2. Except Stenny because I couldn't be arsed by the time it came round to play them. 

The Rovers were 115 years old in 1998, not 125.

[Ebanda's Handyman Services]

I'm not a fan of our badge at all. 

I'd even go as far as saying that I think it's shite.