Firstly I must thank, Media Editor Ed Furniss, who wrote back to me saying he had drawn a blank in his research on City’s club badge but he wouldn’t let it lie and got back to me a month later with what I am about to share with you. Thanks again, Ed. Bristol City began life after being formed in 1894, as Bristol South End Football Club. In 1897 the club became a limited company and was renamed Bristol City FC after a meeting in the Albert Hall, Bedminster. A chap named Ian Hollis was engaged as manager after being lured away from the Woolwich Arsenal with £40 to build a team. In 1900 Bristol City merged with Bedminster FC who played their games at Ashton Gate and were elected to the Football League Division Two the year after.
The club has renewed their badge since Ed wrote me back but more on that later. The previous Bristol City FC badge was made up of the city coat of arms and both the name of the club and year formed beneath in a scroll. (PIC 1) The coat of arms was first used in 1897, though rarely worn on the shirts at that time. The arms the badge was based on goes back to the 15th Century and its supporters were added in the 16th Century. (PIC 2) It has been determined that it was first worn for the 1901/02 season and then did not reappear until 1950, excepting the 1909 FA Cup Final. As was common in the 1970s Bristol City wanted to protect its products, so for merchandising reasons, a competition was run to design a new badge. A 57-year-old rugby fan named Harry Winn, won! He pocketed the grand prize of £50. That was a lot of money in 1972. He used the club’s nickname the Robins and perched a robin by a gate, as in Ashton Gate, the club’s ground. (PIC 3) Unfortunately for Harry the badge never made it onto the shirts, and the city coat of arms remained until the end of the 1975/76 season.
The start of the 1976/77 season saw the adoption of a new badge, a robin, a ball, and the Clifton Suspension Bridge. (PIC 4) For some reason this badge remained until December 1983. Harry’s badge was far more relevant but didn’t get a look in. Then a rather dull BC 82 was introduced in plain lettering. It lasted three years. When then faced with the opportunity to bring in Harry’s design they decided to go back to the bridge. So the badge made a welcome reappearance. I say welcome because anything was better than the dull lettering. A lot of people get paid a lot of money to design this stuff. Anyway, it stayed until 1994/95 when the sanity of the board was restored, along with the original badge using the coat of arms and have thus remained.
The shield in the arms is based on the early seals of Bristol and pictured are the seals from the 14th and 15th Centuries. (PIC 5) & (PIC 6) You will see mention of seals on this site as many arms are based on them. Some early seals date back to 3000 BC and were made to mark personal property and make documents legally binding. Usually incorporated into the design is the owners name and also depicted are a number of motifs. The motifs depicted in Bristol’s seal is a ship and castle, a common name for pubs in the area. This signifies a strongly fortified harbour. As I mentioned earlier the shield was in use from about the 14th Century and in 1569 the supporters were added, (PIC 2) the supporters being the unicorns. Also added was the crest, which has two arms rising from the clouds holding scales and a serpent. The significance of these emblems is the unicorn will only pay homage to men of virtue and the crest means good government depends on wisdom, which explains why there are no good governments I guess. The serpent, justice, and the scales are divine gifts from above represented by the clouds. The motto “VIRTUTE ET INDUSTRIA” translates as, Virtue in Industry. As for the new badge well, they have invested in a robin, surprise, surprise. (PIC 7) As you can see it is a modern-looking stylised version of a robin and it is shaped like a B and is perched on a C, the club’s initials. It is in the club’s colours and with the full name of the club in the roundel.
The name Bristol is Anglo-Saxon in origin, from Brycgstow meaning bridge and stow, as in place, like stow it away somewhere. So Bristol means the place by the bridge. The club still plays at Ashton Gate which today holds 27,000 fans. The club’s nickname “The Robins” comes from a song which was sung at Ashton Gate in the 1920s: “When the red, red, robin goes bob, bob, bobbing along,” which was a big hit at the time for Harry Woods. Other nicknames have included “The Garabaldians” after the red shirts worn by the followers of the Italian revolutionary Garibaldi, he of biscuit fame, “Citizens”, a common nickname among teams ending with City, “Bristol Babes” and “The Reds”. Local rivals are the other team of Bristol, the Rovers, and Cardiff City, some fans also enjoy a bit of Swindon baiting. To find out more on “The Robins” then just go bob, bob, bobbing along to www.bcfc.co.uk
