The birth of Brentford FC was heralded in the October 9th 1889 Thames Valley Times headline: “Proposed Football Club for Brentford”. The story told of how a usual monthly meeting was held by the Brentford Rowing Club, to find an alternative sport for the winter months, which had become common among cricket clubs also. The article went on to invite any gentlemen interested to attend a meeting at the Oxford and Cambridge Hotel The outcome was that The Brentford Rowing and Football Club was born. Although somewhat later as an afterthought someone suggested the two names should be separated so, at a later date the Rowing was dropped from the club’s name and Brentford FC was born. Well, no not quite, you see no one had mentioned what sort of football was to be played at the new club, was it to be rugby football or association football? So what do you call at a time like that? Yep, a meeting, that’s right and association football won the vote 8-5 and Brentford FC was born.
The town of Brentford went through a tough labour before the birth of the football club. So it was only fitting that they used the coat of arms of Brentford and Chiswick as a club emblem, at least for one season, and that was the season of 1938/39. (PIC 1) The arms incorporate the emblems which appeared on the former Urban District Council seal. Which displays in the shield the figure of St Nicholas, in reference to the dedication of the parish church together with the sea axes from the arms of the County Council. The blue waves represent both the rivers Brent and Thames, as the Borough of Brentford lies on the latter’s banks. The crest has a phoenix, a symbol of the new borough rising from the ashes of the old urban district. The supporters are two griffins. Which themselves have no significance, but the two wavy lines around their necks echo those of the shield. The motto is “FIRMIOR” meaning Stronger.
Before the arms were used Brentford used aspects of the arms on their badges, but nothing stuck. It seems the club did not sport a badge for a while after, although in the 1970s when they did it suggested the club were formed in 1888, which as we all now know was wrong. (PIC 2) The present badge puts that right. (PIC 3) This badge was introduced in the 2017/18 season, and is a dumbing down as far as badge design is concerned, and it probably cost the club millions to do so. It is in the roundel with a bee in the middle representing the club’s nickname of “The Bees”. The club’s name runs around the outside and the correct formation date runs across the middle, all beautifully decorated in the club’s colours.
It would appear the supporters were not too supportive, but press ahead they did as there is only one thing more important than the supporters, and that’s their money. It’s all about the money and you must read this insensitive pile of tosh from the Bank of Brentford FC: “Flaws in the previous design are obvious, but I’m sure that by addressing them in the club crest mini-site it helped bring supporters on board with the update”. Well no, it didn’t. Supporters do not generally trawl the club’s crest mini-site. It then goes on and gives the reason why the previous badge was so flawed: “Founded 1889, is not clearly legible over the red and white stripes. Having words on top of stripes also make it very difficult to create an accurate single colour version of the crest. While Middlesex is an important part of the club’s history, the swords from the county’s coat of arms are not of primary importance today. The bees and hive illustration is cartoon-like and too detailed for the small section of the crest in which it sits. The ‘Football Club’ font feels dated and is a different size to the Founded 1889 text”. No wonder the fans were upset! Slagging off the badge they and the players have loved so dearly for all of those years. “And the advantages of the new crest”, they say is it: “Solves the practical issues with the current crest”. There were no issues until they made some up for goodness sake. They continue: “draws most inspiration from the 1972-75 crests and the 1960’s Brentford Supporters Club badge”. That will be the one that had the wrong date then? There is more: “The bee at the centre of the roundel is more angular and aggressive looking than any bee illustrations used down the years, adding to the strength and character of the overall design”. How is it more aggressive-looking? You can’t see its face, or the faces of the bees on the previous badge. Maybe it is because it is less round and cuddly. The dribble continues: “The typeface is clean and legible and the numbers in 1889 draw inspiration from historic football typography”. Unlike the dirty illegible typefaces most clubs use, is that what they are saying? And finally: “The colours mimic the red, black and yellow of the current design”. No, they don’t mimic the red, black, and yellow of the current design. They are the red, black, and yellow of the current design. Colours do not mimic, Mike Yarwood mimics, Rory Bremner mimics, Alistair Magowan mimics. Black does not mimic black. Why? Because it is black for goodness sake. What they are failing to tell their poor beleaguered supporters who pay to keep their club going is the truth, which in my mind is this. Our badge is fine really, but we had to be economical with the truth to try and pull the wool over your eyes. You see it’s so hard to make any real money using either the town’s crest or aspects of it, because you see it belongs to you and the people of Brentford, so we can’t copyright it. However, if we make our own business logo then copyright it, we can stick it on the shirts, cups, hats, key rings tea towels, soap and your little lad’s pillow, and make a bucket load of dosh and no one else can earn a penny from it. Oh yes, and the old one was designed by a supporter and not a multi-million-pound design company, who have a pool table in the office, and that will not do. Sorry about that, I will climb down off my soapbox now and we will see why this awful badge is so disgusting, so improper, dirty, and illegible that it had to be removed from all memory. (PIC 4)
Exactly, look at it, it’s a great badge and has all the aspects and history you need to tell your club’s story. You can also read the date and the style the words are printed in has a historic quality to it. Designed by Brentford supporter Andrew Henning in 1993, it is quartered and in the top left are the club’s colours, along with the correct formation date. Top right has a couple of cute bees buzzing around a beehive which alludes to the club’s nickname of “The Bees”. The nickname came about in the late 1800s when a JH Gittens, who was attached to Borough Road College, persuaded a mate to join him at Brentford home games. The Borough Road war cry was: “BUCK UP B’s”, and they started to shout this at the home games. The rest of the crowd miss-interpreted “B’s” for “bees”, and it was published in the press as such and the rest, as they say, is history. In case a confused rower were to wander in off the embankment, the bottom right-hand quarter will clear up any confusion as to what club he has arrived at. It also finishes off the club name, which starts in the banner wrapped around the top of the shield. Finally the bottom left-hand quarter shows the Middlesex County Crest, which itself was an early Brentford badge in the early 1900s.
Like Essex, Middlesex formerly used the arms assigned by the medieval heralds to the ancient kingdom of the Middle and East Saxons, or sea-axe-on, and Essex is from East-sea-axe-on and Middlesex, well, you get the idea. But I do believe I am being unfashionable as that does not matter anymore. Sorry, I got back on the soapbox again, but I have jumped off and will put it away. When Middlesex County Council was granted arms, the sea axes were incorporated into them, together with a Saxon crown to distinguish them from the former arms which were granted to Essex County Council. All that history is gone. Sorry Andrew but the times they are a-changing. But if it is of any consolation to you mate, then all that money they spent on the bee, well, it looks just like a wasp!
I thought wrongly that maybe the ground Brentford play at was named after the supporters on the Brentford and Chiswick Coat of Arms which are, as you can see griffins. Easy mistake to make but according to Mark Chapman of Brentford FC, Griffin Park takes its name from the Griffin Brewery in Chiswick owned by Fullers, as they used to own Griffin Park and the land on which it lies. Before the ground was built and the club arrived in 1904, the site had been an orchard, no doubt so the brewery could produce cider, my favourite tipple, and the ground has a pub on each corner. That has now changed and nearly 120 years of history gone. While I may bemoan the new logo the new ground is needed as Griffin Park only holds 12,763 football fans and this club is going places, so much so they could soon be in the Premiership. The name Brentford was recorded as Old Braynford in 1476, and was previously known as Estbraynford. The river Brayn means in Gaelic, The holy one. it is said to be attributed to the local tribespeople there, and a ford is a crossing in the river. So, the name Brentford is from, the crossing in the east of the River Brayn. The new ground will be named after whoever are the sponsors at the time I guess. It will hold 17,250 fans and should be ready for the 20/21 season. Not made to feel welcome will be the fans of rivals Queens Park Rangers and Fulham. Need to find out more about Brentford? Then make a beeline to www.brentfordfc.com
