Founded in 1912, the same year the Titanic sank, Newport County had the same fate in store, and in 1989 they sank with a trace. I say with a trace because their supporters refused to let it lie. There is none more loyal than the football fan. You can change your car, house, job, wife, gender, and wherever in the world you live, but you never ever change your football team. So, a year later Newport AFC was born. Eventually, the names of the two club’s became one, and now we know this Welsh club as Newport County AFC.
The club’s first badge is in the roundel with the club’s name at the top and the nickname below. (PIC 1) “The Ironsides” has nothing to do with a love for 60s TV shows featuring Raymond Burr, but alludes to the fact that Newport was home to Lysaght’s Steelworks. Why not Steelsides? Well, that’s a name Saints fans give to Liverpool, and we don’t like other teams using it. Seriously though, iron is the main ingredient of steel. The rest of the badge is made up of a football inside the roundel, and a shield taken from the coat of arms.
It was the Newport coat of arms that was, in fact, the first emblem of Newport County. (PIC 2) The arms were officially granted in April 1929, and the supporters granted in May 1958. Newport’s coat of arms has two unusual heraldic aspects about it. Firstly, it has a cherub above the shield of arms in the crest position. This is usually where you would find heraldic emblems above a knight’s helmet. Secondly, one of the supporters is a winged sea lion. Newport was the first authority to use this heraldic symbol. In the centre of the arms is a gold shield with a red chevron, as is found in the club badge. The shield is that of the Staffords, the Earls and Dukes of Buckingham. Lords of the Manor of Newport in the 14th and 15th Centuries. A chevron is usually the other way up, also making these arms unusual, so having them point downwards helps mark the difference between the borough arms and those of the family. The supporters represent strength on land, sea, and with the added wings, in the air. The motto “TERRA MARIQUE” translates as, By Land and Sea. The badge is decked out in the club’s home colours. The badge of Newport County AFC is different inasmuch as it’s the reverse of the older club’s badge. (PIC 3) Still in the club colours, which remained the same, the outer roundel is in black with the club’s name in the upper. I can only assume the black is in mourning of the old club, because it has its date of birth 1912, and its death 1989, instead of just the usual formation date.
There is quite a lot turning out to be unusual in the emblems of the arms and badges of this club, because the nickname has changed as well. “The exiles” is now what adorns the bottom of the badge. A nickname is a name of sorts, and all names start with a capital letter, but here on the badge exiles is spelt using lowercase to start the name. Just another unusual aspect to what is beginning an unusual club. The newer badge has an older looking football, which is not totally unusual as a lot of clubs do this to add a bit of style to the badge or logo. The shield is the same, but then again, the colours are reversed. Like the first club, AFC also used the borough coat of arms before the present badge. (PIC 4) As South Wales legend Tom Jones sang: “It’s not unusual”, but in the case of this South Wales team, or at least its badges, there is a lot that is.
The name Newport comes from the Anglo-Saxon word neowe, meaning new, and port, meaning, well port to be exact. Newport County AFC play their games at Rodney Parade, and it has a capacity of about 9,000, but they have to share with two rugby clubs, one league and one union. As the nickname suggests, Newport County AFC have been exiled from their old ground by the council and pushed from pillar to football post by a council, who believed the new club was responsible for the old club, which it wasn’t because it was taken on by the supporters who had nothing to do with the running of the old club. But they managed to strike a deal with the Welsh Rugby Union and so have a home at Rodney Parade. Until that is, when they can return from exile to the green green grass of home. Cardiff are local rivals, and if you haven’t had enough and want more on the exiles then hire a private investigator in a wheelchair and try and uncover www.newport-county.co.uk
