Founded in 1885 Chester City started life as a mixture of two teams, Chester Rovers and Old King’s Scholars. History has repeated itself and now Chester City is known as Chester FC due to the club folding. It’s not the only folding this club has done. This club has folded so often I’m surprised they are not nicknamed the Origamis. The fans took over and the CFU stood for City Fans United, then after a vote, they settled for Chester Football Club and in 2010 the club was reborn.
The Club’s badge is made up primarily from aspects of the old badge. (PIC 1) In the roundel, it has the club’s new name and inside, the wolf on top of the crown surrounded by laurel leaves. The old badge and in turn the new badge is adapted from the city’s coat of arms. Always a winner when considering your club’s badge after all your club is named after your city. Most of the time anyway, I hear Wimbledon fans shout. (PIC 2) The badge is in the roundel encircled by oak leaves, a tree common to the area and also common to the city’s coat of arms. What looks like a lion’s head is, in fact, the head of a wolf and dates back to Norman times when Hugh d’ Avranches, nephew of William the Conqueror was appointed 1st Earl of Chester in 1071.
The newer badge, although more modern in design, has a more wolflike wolf. Hugh was left in charge of keeping the locals in order and the Welsh at bay, while Uncle Bill was out conquering the North of England. Due to Hugh’s success at the shedding of blood, be it Welsh or otherwise, he was named Hugh Lupus, Lupus being Latin for wolf and so the wolf was used henceforth in his emblems, crests and arms. The crown is believed to symbolise the loyalty that Chester has shown to the crown particularly during the civil war. The arms of Chester have been in use since the 14th Century. (PIC 3)
The coat of arms from which the club badge has been derived has the red and blue on the shield and a combination of the Royal Arms of England, a red shield with three gold lions, and those of the Duchy of Chester and gold garbs on blue, a garb is the heraldic term for a wheatsheaf. The gold border has acorns on, a symbol of the oak and also representing the rural district. The supporters are the golden lion of England and as shown on the club badge, the silver wolf of Hugh Lupus, 1st Earl of Chester with a crown around its neck and this is the club’s badge right there. Above the shield, the crest has a sword, which is a symbol of the Lord Mayor’s regalia and two oak branches for the two rural districts. Both the crest and supporters were added in 1580. The motto reads “ANTIQUI COLANT ANTIQUUM DIERUM”, and translated from Latin means, Let the Ancients Worship the Ancient of Days.
The ancient of days being another title for God, and God is another title for Jehovah, the actual name of God as found in the King James Bible at Psalm 83:18 unless you have a new version where that has been removed. The name Jehovah appeared over 7000 times in the original transcripts of the Bible. If you have an older King James you will read at the front that the name was removed and replaced with Lord, with a capital L, except for four scriptures where the name remained until recently. It is easier to make people believe two separate entities are in fact one if you give them the same name or in this case the same title and do away with the name! Now, and this is important should any of you want to be saved, at Acts 2:21 and in other places it says, “And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved”. KJB. Spelt with a capital L means the name, Jehovah, has been replaced with the title, Lord. The scripture does not say, call on the title of the Lord! Just saying. When you mess with the Bible it gives people a right to question its authenticity. Catholic dogma has done away with the name, as its belief system does not hold up to much scrutiny if it is included. You may want to look at the Plymouth Argyle page, as its 1662 coat of arms include God’s name.
So there you have it and all things considered, I would have thought Wolves would have been an apt nickname and there is nothing wrong with more than one team having the same nickname. After all, how many “The Blues” are there? Still, mine is not to reason why. The name Chester and in addition, caster and cester, are Roman in origin from the Latin word castrum, meaning Roman Fort. Chester play at the old club’s Deva Stadium but due to sponsorship could now be called anything. In fact, due to a sponsorship deal, it is now called the Swansway Chester Stadium. The Deva, as fans still call it, holds 5,126. Local rivals are Wrexham and Crewe. To find out more on “The Blues” buy a John Lee Hooker CD and get down to www.chesterfc.com
