Couldn’t resist it after rosc’s post in the McBride thread. The Badge - Part 1 When we moved to the Cottage in 1896 the strip top was RED, which is why that colour keeps popping up every now and again. And in fact we didn’t actually go to the traditional ‘Black and White’ until season 1903/04. please log in to view this image That year was also quite significant as the Club entered a new phase of development and became a limited company under the name of The Fulham Football and Athletic Club Ltd - a title which it held for some seventy years. The purpose of this move was of course to raise money to build a new stand. Archibald Leitch was commissioned and in 1905 the Stevenage Road Stand (now the Johnny Haynes and apart from a new roof and the odd lick of paint, pretty much unchanged) was opened. As you’ll know the Club’s roots are in St Andrew’s Church, in the parish of Fulham Fields, when the St Andrew’s Cricket and Football Club was formed in 1879. As the title suggests cricket took precedence over football and in the early years football was really only played for fun; more a winter activity for cricketers who wanted to keep fit than anything. Kit was informal: shorts, long pants, knickerbockers, whatever came to hand. Same for the footwear and as for changing rooms .. you did that at home! But things got a bit more serious in 1883 when the Club were offered a proper pitch at the Ranelagh Club (now the Hurlingham) at Putney Bridge. Still no dressing rooms but players could change at the nearby Eight Bells pub. And their football matches stared getting reported in the local press. One match of significance covered by the West London Observer 1886 was against a team formed through a merger of ‘Christ Church Rangers’ and ‘St Jude’s Institute’ and who became Queen’s Park Rangers. Happily the paper reported that the St Andrew’s captain Jack Howland scored the only goal of the game. Somewhere in that period, 1883 -1886, the Club also changed it’s name to Fulham and St Andrew’s Cricket and Football Club, to avoid confusion with other clubs called St Andrew‘s. The Club’s popularity was growing also; such that by season 1887/88 it was possible to field a third eleven. And in January 1889 a momentous decision was made. A further change to the Club’s name … to Fulham Football Club. This wasn’t a break away from the Church. Quite the reverse and the decision was purely to simplify the title. With that came a surge of identity and no little success; the most notable being winners of the West London Observer Challenge Cup in 1991. Additionally there was a major breakthrough in realising it’s aspirations (or ambition, if you will) when the Club acquired a derelict plot of land in 1894 on the north bank of the Thames. A cottage built on the site by Lord Craven in 1780 had been destroyed by fire and the area really was a wilderness. It took two years of hard work and determination to turn it into a football ground. For starters, it was six feet below the river level and landfill had to be brought down from excavations at the new Shepherd’s Bush underground. In the end the efforts were rewarded though and the Club moved into Craven Cottage in 1896. In that season, 1896/97 the Club entered the FA Cup for the first time and joined the London League. The following year the inevitable happened in that the Club could no longer avoid appointing professional players. Also that year (1898) the Club introduced, for the first time, a badge. Which of course is where all this preamble was leading to and I believe this is the one rosc was meaning. please log in to view this image This Crest, to give it’s proper description, was however never worn on a Fulham FC football shirt.
The Badge - Part 2 In fact only six different designs of Crests have appeared on Club shirts. And the first wasn’t until 1931. It was a rather incongruous large black image of Craven Cottage - please log in to view this image This ‘badge’ stayed until the end of the war when in 1945 one that incorporated an identity with the Borough of Fulham was introduced - please log in to view this image Two years later the RED background was replaced and in 1951 the lettering removed. Both changes were said at the time to simplify the design but in reality they were probably for economic reasons. Whatever, this Crest stayed for another twenty years, meaning of course that it was worn proudly by The Maestro throughout his time at the Club: please log in to view this image By co-incidence, who knows, at the same time as Johnny Haynes retired the Club decided to change ‘Badges’ and go for a clean but retro look - please log in to view this image Five years later, in 1977, a switch back to some sort of alignment with the Borough (by now the London Borough of Hammersmith - much to the chagrin of Fulham people) was made - please log in to view this image This one only lasted seven years. And whether because of turmoil within the Club or political pressure, the next change fully adopted the Borough identity. In fact the ’copyright’ was owned by the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham (the Fulham bit got added back in in 1979!) - please log in to view this image This iconic Crest stayed from 1984 until 2001 when the current one (not reproduced here) was introduced. In selling this latest change to fans, the Club said, "The clean and distinctive bold outline emphasizes stability while the club's two core colours - black and white - are represented by its wide bars. The letters 'FFC', that were so popular during the mid-1970s, are prominently visible, but this time in a modern format, linked together for cohesion and using the club's reserve colour of red.” It was of course all a marketing tactic!!
A typically thorough and enjoyable account, Cottager. Many thanks. I've always had a soft spot for the 1977 one, but that's probably because it was current when I first started going to games. I didn't like the modern FFC when they introduced it, but I've got used to it now. I agree that the change was for marketing reasons. I remember hearing somewhere that the club did research that showed a large number of people didn't recognise the old one as being the Fulham badge. Whatever other faults the current badge has, it's very recognisable. I can't see the club dropping it.
Something I saw recently prompted me to re-visit this thread. I found it kind of interesting that the only badge, other than the current one, where the Club has retained the copyright is the one that led to our promotion to the Premiership – please log in to view this image As you’ll see the Badge kicked off in 1998. That was with Keegan and promotion straight away from Division 2 with a record breaking 101 points. Quite an attacking minded side but the key was the defence who set another record, keeping 24 clean sheets – and yes, Kit Symons was there at the heart of it. Digressing a bit more, Keegan can boast a 'good manager' legacy bring in the likes of Steve Finnan, Geoff Horsefield and Barry Hayles. Only 3 years later the Badge was cast aside after we won the Division 1 title (again coincidentally with 101 points) and promotion to the Premiership. That title winning side in 2000/01 under Tigana was arguably Fulham’s best ever; certainly from a view of consistency (the year we won our first 11 games) and entertainment (the year we scored 90 goals). Incredibly 72 of those goals were shared among only three players, Barry Hayles, Louis Saha and Luis Boa Morte – the last two being Tigana legacies. So a short life for a Badge. In that wee while it had a momentous history though and maybe that’s why it remains an icon for many.
