Every football clubs around the world has a unique badge/crest, which stands as an iconic image that goes hand in hand with the history of the club, and perhaps what the club believes in and stands for.
We’ve also seen passionate fans tattoo the badge of their favorite club on their body, while some get a logo of the badge and put it behind their car’s bonnet. By doing this, the fans in one way or the other are showing their love for the club and also familiarise themselves with the history of the club. Likewise, it is believed that they’re showing their loyalty to the club.
Before now, football clubs don’t usually have badges on their shirt, except for a stitched badge or crest on their shirt when they have big matches, such as a ‘Cup Final‘ which their supporters or neutral fans use in differentiating both teams involved in the match. However, in the ’60s football clubs started having club badges on their shirt, and since then the club supporters, neutrals have all witnessed huge changes in the beautification of their respective club badges.
Today, on Cheapgoals we’ll look at what the badge of Manchester United means, and the history behind it.
Manchester United, ‘Red Devils’ as they are usually called by their fans and football supporters at large, is one of the most prestigious football clubs in England, likewise all over the world. United are well known for maintaining the distinguished culture or tradition of the club, which is simply keeping the consistent records of success which has been the hallmark, which also pushes them in striving to achieve more success.
Brief History Of Manchester United
The club is no doubt one of the most decorated and prestigious football clubs in England, that has always maintained a distinguished tradition of success and great history. They’re the most successful English football club ever, and with what they stand for, they would always want to constantly achieve success.
The club was founded as Newton Heath LYR Football Club in 1878 before its name was later changed to Manchester United in 1902. Their stadium ‘Old Trafford’ which has been a slaughter slab for teams in the past and recently, became their home in 1910 when they moved their permanently.
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Manchester was one of the fastest-growing cities during the industrial revolution, due to a large number of workers arriving from different parts of the British Islands. As of then, Manchester is arguably one of the smallest towns at the beginning of the 19th, and by 1900 the city of Manchester had passed over million inhabits and became one of the biggest cities in Europe.
Due to the increase in population in the city of Manchester, it serves as a condition for a football club to emerge. As soon as the club was created it was dominated by the workers of the city before the club was later named Manchester United FC which was initially founded in the year 1878, named Newton Heath L&YR Football Club. L&YR stands for Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company, which was the company some of the players work for then.
Manchester United’s Badges Era
United has had five badges so far as a club since the creation of the football club, the earliest official badge or crest was unveiled at the 1963 FA Cup Final against Bolton, which was the ‘Manchester City Council’ ‘Coat of Arms’.
However, the only badge used before the official one used in the cup final carries the club’s original name which was ‘Newton LYR Football Club with the shield which was dominated by the ‘Yellow and Green‘ stripes.
In 1902, when the club received the current name ‘Manchester United‘. A lot of badges were introduced to be the main crest of the team, out of all the badges introduced then, non really captured or depict what the club stands for.
Meanwhile, in 1909, the shield on the badge was introduced but never depicts anything sporty, but it was left to be added in the badge with the white rose and white patch which was embroidered in the badge, which actually made it look elegant and stylish.
The 1960’s badge of Manchester United came with a more corporate crest. However, it wasn’t used on their kits until 1963 in the FA Cup final where it was officially used on their kits. In the center of the badge carries the ‘Shield‘ featuring a ‘Ship‘ over a ‘White Stripe‘ which stands for the color of Yorkshire and a ‘Red Shield‘, the club name, ‘Manchester United’ with the ‘Football Club’ were also placed above and below the shield.
After some years, the ‘Red Devils’ was added on the badge, it was placed below the ‘Ship’, this little tweak in the badge came to fore in 1973. Meanwhile, in 1978 the corporate badge of United was placed over the white and black stripes pattern, while the colors and shape of the badge also got slight modification, and finally got a brighter color in 1993.
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Over the last three-decade, the club badge has always been the same, one of the few notable changes was the removal of the words ‘Football Club’ in 1998 to ‘United’ which is now been refers to as Manchester United. The ‘United’ was moved to the bottom of the badge and the word became more legible and clearer with a good font for the fans to read.
Manchester United’s Color & Meaning
We can’t talk about the crest, without talking about the color, although the official color has always stayed the same way, which comprises of two basic colors ‘Red and Yellow‘. The two auxiliary ones which are ‘Black and White’, were also introduced which stands for Yorkshire’s official color.
‘The Red Devils‘, the nickname was adopted in the early 1960s after the great ‘Matt Busby‘ heard it in reference to the red-shirted Salford Rugby League side, aftermath of the Bayern Munich disaster and Busby Babes era.
The ‘Ship’ on the United badge from their early days is in reference to Manchester’s United trading prowess. While the globe on top simply represents the city’s trading power, the ‘Bees’ on the top of the badge represent a creature that is known for its industrial ability and determination which connotes that Manchester was the birthplace of the industrial revolution.
As such the introduction of the canal in Manchester meant anything going to the city would go directly through the canal instead of passing through Liverpool, and this development has led to the genesis of massive rivalry between the two most successful clubs in English football.
In conclusion, there are millions of clubscrest, those good to the eyes, and those that look awkward. Regardless of the color and the look, every badge has its historical and traditional representation.
