What does a badge mean in any case? It’s a complicated question to answer.
Perhaps your football club’s most ubiquitous symbol is a storied, heraldic design harking back to the local coat of arms or a sleek, modern design dreamt up to look effortlessly slick emblazoned on modern sportswear.
But, why are trees so important? Or a bee. Or a devil? Or an elephant? SQUIRRELS!!
The AthleticThis is about revealing the details hidden in plain sight and explaining why your club badge is important.
After returning to the top flight 2001 marked the 33rd anniversary of the last time it was done.Fulham marked this new era with a radical change to their club crest.
Out went the coat of arms and in came the design that is now synonymous with the club’s Premier League years.
However, at the time, it was not EveryoneBest pleased.
“I remember there was a bit of a kerfuffle at Craven Cottage,” recalls former Fulham managing director Michael Fiddy. “There was a fan who was more upset than most. They asked me to meet this fan and speak to him.
“He was very cross about why we changed the brand. I explained to him it was a modern, fresh look, that we didn’t own the other one and this is for the benefit of Fulham as a whole. He said, ‘That’s all very interesting’, but then started taking his shirt off.
“He took his shirt off and he had, literally in the week before, got the old crest tattooed across the whole of his back!
“Anyway, we apologised profusely and I think we got him in to speak to the players. Peace was restored.”
Fulham’s current club crest could be described as a minimalist design. Oder, to put it another way, it is very simple.
It consists of a shield shape, with the letters ‘FFC’ — Fulham Football Club — placed at an angle through the middle of three black and white sections. It is the 10th iteration of Fulham’s crest, with the first dating back to 1898, the year the club turned professional.
There are some similarities between the latest edition and those older crests; the inclusion of red letters mirrors that of the 1898 version, while the use of ‘FFC’ at the front and centre has been done before, including on the iconic shirts worn when the club reached the FA Cup final, for the first and so far only time, in 1975. The club colours are black and white.
This badge was, however, a marked departure from previous designs.
Louis Saha was one of Fulham’s star performers in their promotion season of 2000-01, the last one before this complex badge was updated to its current, simpler design (Photo: Mark Leech/Getty Images)
“It came as a surprise to everybody,” recalls Tom Greatrex, chair of the Fulham Supporters’ Trust. “You always get a reaction when there’s a change of something like that because the symbols are quite important.
“Personally, I don’t like it — it could be the badge of any team whose initials were ‘FFC’. There’s nothing that links it to anything around the club, or the ground or previous badges. These are some things that I consider traditionalist. I think badges should identify with the club, the heritage and maybe the ground.”
Historically, Fulham’s badges have reflected the history of the area or the club.
They used a badge with a heraldic coat o’ arms of London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham for most of the post Second World War era. Craven Cottage is located in this badge.
It includes various symbols such as mitres or swords to show that the Bishops of London lived in Fulham Palace for more than 1,300 Years.
It also featured a ship that reflects the story of Danish Vikings who stayed in Fulham in AD879 to tell the tale of Alfred the Great of Wessex battling Guthrum, the Old, a Viking King.
There have been blue waves, representing the River Thames that flows right past the club’s ground, while in 1931 a badge redesign featured Craven Cottage itself.
The 2001 badge change was part of club rebranding.
Then-owner Mohamed Al-Fayed was exploring new avenues of growth for the club, including turning Fulham’s women’s team professional in This was a groundbreaking development at the time.. The goal was to make badges more modern and easier, which is a trend that has been observed at other clubs over the years. The redesign was overseen by the club’s directors, including Fiddy, Lee Hoos, Andy Ambler, marketing expert Tim Delaney and sales and marketing head Juliet Slot.
“It’s important it’s seen as part of the attempt to own ‘brand Fulham’,” explains Fiddy. “Al-Fayed put in his cash and wanted to ensure ‘brand Fulham’ was an attractive entity that people wanted to invest in and that you could monetise, just as the world has seen subsequently with other football clubs. This type of philosophy was not yet common.
“Al-Fayed saw the merchandising opportunity as being significant and that wasn’t an unpopular view at the time.”
Club members also considered owning the badge as an important decision. There were concerns about copyright and potential royalties. This was due to the inclusion of the borough’s coat of arms. The club’s website today admits that “elements of the previous crests were owned by the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham”.
“The problem was that Fulham didn’t own its logo,” Fiddy says. “The fear was that you could build it up to be something worthwhile, but then somebody comes knocking on your door and says, ‘Can I have the money?’. So it was a protective view, and a way of monetising and investing in the club on a purely commercial level.”
Complexity of the previous design, worn during promotion seasons 1996-97 to 1998-99 and 2000-01 presented challenges for shirt and merchandise reproduction. Also, the new design could be printed in black and white to make it more practical. “I remember bizarre things like the cost of sending a letter was ridiculously expensive, for the headed notepaper,” Fiddy says. “These things might seem ridiculous now, but at the time these were considerations.”
Market testing was done. Fiddy recalls: “There was a mixed reaction. There were both those who were passionate about the crest as well as those who understood the arguments for change. And then we launched it.”
Badge changes today require a “thorough and extensive consultation process with supporters” after the Football Association passed new rules before the start of this season.
But whatever the discord, Fulham’s present The badge isOne of their most successful eras is synonymous with them, covering their Premier League years and a legendary You can run to the Europa League final 2010.
It has been the only one that they know for a generation, domestically as well as internationally, owing to the international growth and success of the Premier League.
(Graphic design by Sam Richardson
