This is one of my favourite badges due to its local history and nickname. It has had a few variations on the theme. The club’s badge has an eagle swooping onto an old lace-up football. (PIC 1) Anyone over 40 will remember playing with them, especially when the thing was wet or when you headed the laces. On either occasion, you would get hurt, but that was when the game was played by men for men! Recently in Scotland, they have banned children from heading the ball in practice games because of the amount of professional players that have suffered in later life. Although I can’t see the balloons they play with today doing any harm wet or dry. Below the ball in the badge is an image of the old glass-built Crystal Palace and the formation date of the club is also included. This is a reworking of some older badges that would not look out of place in a spot the difference competition. (PIC 2)
The Crystal Palace building in the latest version has more detail in it and looks more realistic. Another badge has an eagle facing in a different direction, perched on top of a modern ball, again on top of an image of the Palace. The position of the wings makes for a less majestic looking beast than the others. (PIC 3) The modern ball seems to look out of place too. In using the old-style ball the badge keeps a sense of history and the Palace have that in bundles. The earliest eagle-themed badge I could find is in the roundel with an eagle swooping down onto the ball in very much the same manner as in the present badge. It has the club’s full name in the outer part and as in all the badges is decked out in the club colours. (PIC 4)
The eagle, of course, represents the club’s powerful nickname of “The Eagles”, and this was adopted in 1973 when it superseded “The Glaziers” and the “Eeeeeagles” does make for a better chant don’t you think? (PIC 5) Anyone who has been to a game at Crystal Palace will tell you of the bald eagle mascot Kayla that flies from crossbar to crossbar before the game and again at half time with ribbons in the club’s colours hanging from its talons, a great piece of halftime entertainment. “The Glaziers” was, of course, the nickname because the old Crystal Palace was made of glass a lot of glass, 900,000 square feet of it. That is nearly a million square feet of glass, so there was not another nickname they could have adopted really, maybe the Windowmen, or the Window Cleaners, but that would surely have the opposition’s fans singing George Formby songs for 90 minutes, and you know what football fans are like for changing lyrics. (PIC 6)
Many thanks, to the club’s chaplain and historian for replying to my letter, I am sorry but I could not read your signature: “Notice the two towers”, the club’s historian informs me, that they feature on most contemporary photos of the Palace, and of course are evident in the badge: “Though you won’t find many photos with both towers in the picture due to the large size and the limitations cameras had then”, he added. I’d like to thank you for that my mysterious benefactor. One way around it was to shoot it from the air. (PIC 7) The original Crystal Palace was built by Sir Joseph Paxton for the Great Exhibition in Hyde Park in 1851. When the exhibition closed in October of that year Sir Joseph was worried that his great masterpiece was going to disappear. At the time there was a chap who didn’t like the palace and despite its popularity wanted rid of it. This buffoon was called Colonel Charles Waldo Sibthorpe, and he called it: “A transparent humbug and a bauble”. He sounds like his name, a right ……., fill in the blanks yourselves. He was a Tory and very right-wing. We still have these morons around today who rattle their cages and jump on a topical bandwagon like the Dome and Brexit, but look how well the O2 turned out.
So, a new site was found on Sydenham Hill, South East London for this great Victorian glass building. It was rebuilt and even now you can still see and walk around on the remains of the concrete foundations and the steps. (PIC 8) There have been demonstrations to try to prevent the site being turned into another money-making machine called a multiplex cinema and all that comes with it. £10 for a bag of sweets, £15 for a small box of popcorn and if you want a Coke with your hot dog that then you need to take out a mortgage, and that’s before the price of entry. The Taliban and ISIS demolish places of historic meaning and beauty with explosives. Our governments do it with the promise of lots of money but it looks like the demonstrators have beaten the developers as it is still as it was. Anyway, I digress.
After the palace was rebuilt the Brighton Railway Company built a train station next to the site and a glass walkway to the palace. Yes, that’s right lads, a Brighton company built your train station and the tunnel that leads to it, so you may want to thank them next time you get a train there for a match. The structure remained there as a theme park and housing many exhibitions until it burnt down in the bonfire month of November, 1936. (PIC 9) There was very little left of the once majestic building after the fire, causing many to lament its demise. (PIC 10) The building may be gone but the area on and around Sydenham Hill is still known as Crystal Palace and in a twist of true British irony the only time you will hear the Colonel’s name is in the children’s game, Where’s Waldo?
The original Crystal Palace football team were formed in 1861 by the chaps who worked on the palace grounds, and they became CPFC, as we know them today in 1905. Early FA Cups were played at the Crystal Palace ground and now the club play at Selhurst Park which is down the road in Norwood, a mile or so away from the original site. The club play in claret and blue and this is because they used to have to borrow some kit in the early days. Aston Villa were only too pleased to help and Palace maintained the colours. Selhurst holds 25,486, and local residents have opposed any developments as it is surrounded by houses and when I go to watch the Saints there I can park at my friend’s house next door while drivers drive their cars around in circles looking for a parking space that end up being nearer to the away side. Still, it’s better than taking the mobile roulette wheel that is the London Transport System.
So, they may have to relocate if they want a bigger ground and maybe they could go back to Sydenham and the original site, where fans would have to walk again down the original steps in picture eight to get to the ground. I doubt if anyone will complain if they do what Southampton did at St Mary’s after leaving the Dell, and go back to their roots. You will still need a mortgage for a pie and a pint but it would be worth it as I have never seen a movie in a multiplex or elsewhere that excites as much as a game of football. The athletics stadium site in the park could be developed to house both sports, plus it has a ready-built railway station and bus terminal right next door. Palace’s rivals locally are Millwall and Charlton but the fiercest rivalry is always reserved for Brighton and you can read the Brighton page to find out why. To find out more on “The Eagles”, check in to the Hotel California, or alternatively swoop on to www.cpfc.co.uk
