Victoria Football Club was formed in 1877 under the direction of the Rev James Wyman. After the disbandment of Victoria FC, Blackpool St Johns came into existence and was made up of mainly old boys from the St Johns School. After a dispute among the players, a meeting was called at the Stanley Arms Hotel on 26th July 1887. The result of the meeting was that a team should be formed to represent the town and that the team should be called Blackpool Football Club, and the following year Blackpool FC became founder members of the Lancashire League. Which brings me to the club badge. But before I go on to explain the club’s badge, I could not possibly fail to mention Blackpool’s most famous son, Sir Stanley Matthews. (PIC 1)
Stanley Matthews was born in Stoke-on-Trent on 1st February 1915 and moved to Blackpool from Stoke City in 1947. Among his many achievements (rather than honours) include having an FA Cup Final named after him. The 1953 final was renamed the Matthews final after Blackpool trailed Bolton 3-1 after an hour’s play and all seemed grim for Stan and his team. Matthews was known as the fastest player in the game and after an hour took over the game. Matthews tore down the right-wing to set up Mortensen who made it 3-2. With only three minutes left Mortensen converted a free kick and at 3-3 the scene was set for the most exciting finale in the history of the FA Cup. Stanley sets off and dribbles his way past all comers losing his footing before regaining it to square it to Bill Perry to smash home the winner 3-4 to Blackpool. Some argue it was the Mortensen final as he scored the majority of the goals but it was Stan’s skill on the ball that transformed the match so the Matthews final it was and still is. It was the major event of 1953 with the Queen’s Coronation and the conquest of Everest coming in a close second and third. Stanley played in the top league of Division One five days after his 50th birthday! He was the first footballer to be knighted and after a career spanning 35 years this gentleman’s gentleman like Gary Lineker was never booked. Following his death in February 2000, one minute’s silence was kept immaculately in grounds around the country.
The badge which Sir Stanley proudly sported on his shirt is taken from the town’s coat of arms. (PIC 2) The arms were granted in 1899. The lower part of the shield is made up of black and gold waves. The black is a reference to the town’s name, the gold to miles of sandy beaches and the waves to the sea. The seagull alludes to the fact it is a seaside town. Between the fleur-de-lis for the Banks family and the lion for the Cocker family is a thunderbolt, a symbol of the town’s generation of electricity and its famous electric tram system. The Blackpool tram’s finest hour surely was its finishing off of Alan Bradley in that dramatic Coronation Street episode that could have been the end of our dear Rita, but I digress as I am prone to doing. The crest has a mural tower to suggest grandeur and solidity. Above is a pair of windmill sails, a symbol of the Fylde area of Lancashire, and the red rose represents Lancashire itself. The motto on the banner reads “Progress”. The club badge differs only from the coat of arms because it has the club’s name above and below. (PIC 3) The club’s apt nickname is “The Seasider’s” and I remember going to the seaside back in the 1970s when we were in the Second Division. We would travel up from Southampton overnight by Coombes coaches, hit the beach at 7.30 am with a ball and have a kick about till the Yates Wine Lodge opened. In the words of Mary Hopkins: “Those were the days my friends”.
Blackpool gets its name from a historic drainage channel that ran over a peat bog, discharging discoloured water into the Irish Sea which formed a black pool. On the other side of the Irish Sea is Dublin or Dubh Linn and is derived from the Irish for a black pool, so it must have made quite a mess. The sands are now golden again on the beaches and the Seasiders play their football at Bloomfield Road which has been the home of Blackpool since 1899. It gets its name from the road it’s in being on the corner of Bloomfield Road and Seasiders Way and holds 17,338 northern folk. Preston North End and Burnley come in for some sharp criticism from the Bloomfield terraces as they are the local rivals. For more on “The Seasider’s” roll up your trouser legs and paddle your way to www.blackpoolfc.co.uk
