Before we look at the Everton badge and the recent controversy that surrounds it, here is some interesting history. Everton started as St Domingo’s FC in 1878. The players would not only carry themselves onto the pitch, but the goalposts as well. Not quite jumpers, but you get my drift. The pitch was then sited at Mill Lane, which is now a car park for fans on match day. St Dom’s rapidly established itself as a decent side, and soon attracted players from outside the parish. In November 1879, a meeting took place at the Queens Head Hotel in Village Street, just off Everton Road, which itself is just around the corner from the Beacon or Tower that features on the Everton badge, and still stands today. (PIC 1) This meeting was to discuss a new name for this rapidly growing club, and Everton was the result.
An early nickname for Everton was “The Blackwatch”, after the military regiment. This was because Everton wanted a kit that was the same for all the players. Believe it or not, in those day’s players were allowed to wear their gear from their previous clubs, so you can imagine the confusion. As money was too tight to mention, they dyed all the various shirts black, added a scarlet sash, and the Blackwatch was born. Varied shirts followed including a pink number! As common as it is today for men to wear pink in this so-called more understanding world, back then it was not so. However, in the 1901/02 season the team settled for royal blue.
Everton’s fast increasing popularity meant they had to move to a bigger location, and went to a little known place, then just a field off Anfield Road. They would change at the Sandon Hotel, where they would then walk the short distance to their new pitch. In 1888, the leading club’s in the north and midlands decided to form the Football League, and Everton were invited to become founder members. Everton became victims of their own success as the owner of the field they were playing on was a bit of a bread head who doubled the rent at Anfield. So they moved to another field. Some other club plays there now, as they can afford the rent. So off they went to a bit of wasteland called Mere Green Field and within months turned into the country’s first purpose-built football stadium.
It was opened on August 24th 1892, by Lord Kinnaird and named Goodison Park. Everton’s badge started life on a club tie in or around 1938. Everton rarely used a badge on their shirts until 1973 when the initials EFC were used. (PIC 2) Five years later a badge was adopted for the shirts using the now-familiar shield design along with the Latin motto. (PIC 3) There have been many variations of this badge with the difference being so slight it makes you wonder why they bothered. The building that features on the badge is called a Bridewell. A Bridewell was a common name for a lock-up years ago. The name comes from a hospital built in 1553, near St Bride’s or Bridget’s Well in London, which was subsequently a penal workhouse, hence the name Bride-Well. The Everton Bridewell was built in 1787 and is named Rupert’s Tower, it appears on the badge as it is a major landmark in the city. It was used mainly to lock up drunks till they sobered up, but it’s far too small for that use now though. The lock-up was located next to a toffee shop, hence the nickname of “The Toffee Men”, or “The Toffees”.
The toffee shop has long gone but the nickname lives on, as does the lock-up. This is from an Everton fan that emailed me and called himself, “A Moyes Disciple”. Of course, that was before he left Everton. Nevertheless, as a disciple, he should still be a follower, which would mean he has also supported, Manchester United, Real Sociedad, Sunderland, West Ham, and wherever he ends up next. Unless he is, of course, a disciple like Judas and abandoned him when he left for United. I suspect the latter is true. He went onto joke: “The lock-up or tower, was last used when Houllier and Big Nose were held on suspicion of impersonating the cartoon characters, Thom and Gerry.” He was, of course, referring to the sacked manager and his No 2 of rivals Liverpool, Gerard Houllier, and Phil Thompson. I thought it funny enough to mention.
The laurels on the badge allude to winners, as they were once given to winners in days gone by, now replaced by medals and cups. It was nice to see at the Athens Olympic Games, laurels being placed on the heads of athletes as they were given their medals, as that would have been done in the ancient Olympic Games. The motto on the badge “NIL SATIS NISI OPTIMUM” translates as, Nothing Will Do But the Best. Others translate it as, Only the best is good enough, which means the same thing. The badge has changed little over the years, but has added the year the club was formed along with the club’s name, and is still in the club’s colours of blue and white. (PIC 4) However, there was some controversy and unrest when just before the 2013/14 season a new badge was unveiled. (PIC 5) What sparked this heated uprising, a fury so great there were tsunami warnings within yards of the banks of the Mersey? You don’t get between a Scouser and his football and not know you have had a scrap. So, what was it? Well, the Latin motto had been scrapped. This led the governing body at Everton to offer an apology. This is from the Liverpool Echo: “Everton FC has apologised to supporter’s and vowed their controversial new badge will only last for one season before being replaced by a design picked by fans. The club have responded less than 72 hours after they revealed a redesigned crest, which dispensed with their Latin motto, and had sparked a furious backlash online. More than 22,000 people signed a petition urging the Blue’s to have a rethink, and today chief executive Robert Elstone insisted they have taken heed of the widespread reaction”. Many supporters were angered that the club’s consultation process for the new crest did not go beyond speaking with selected fans’ groups, and Elstone admitted that: “it had been a mistake”. He said: “Clearly the weekend’s response has meant that we have reviewed how we went about the whole of the re-design process and whilst many objectives were achieved, we recognised we missed the key part out”. Well done Everton fans! Many objectives were achieved my arse, as a well known Brookside resident would have said. The only thing they did was drop the motto and the Laurels, which begs the question, exactly what were your objectives? Anyway, normal service has been resumed. (PIC 6)
The name Everton, is from the Anglo-Saxon words, Eofor, meaning, wild boar, and Tun means a settlement. Don’t take this the wrong way now lad, but you and your borough originate from a settlement of wild boar’s. Everton’s ground Goodison Park now holds 39,572. Local rivals are of course the club who play on their old Anfield site, Liverpool. If you would like to chew over a bit more about “The toffees” then go to www.evertonfc.com
