I could so easily have ended up being a Skate, as we Saints fans call this outfit, as my family moved there when I was younger. Fortunately, they came to their senses and settled next door in Southampton, so I am not a Skate but a Saint. Pompey, as they are also fondly called, are steeped in footballing history as they used to be the team to beat during the wars. Pompey is, of course, famous for holding the FA Cup the longest, but that was because the war stopped play and the game could not be played for seven years after they won it in 1939, and they hung on to it until 1946. They did win it again in 2008 beating Cardiff 1-0, but few outside of Portsmouth noticed.
Portsmouth FC was formed in 1898. Formed from what was left of the Gunners, not the Arsenal but the Royal Artillery of Portsmouth Team. In 1899, Pompey gained entry to the Southern League, and their home debut at Fratton Park was a friendly against Southampton on 5th September 1899. Thanks, go to Pompey’s historian Dick Owen, for replying to my letter and criticising my bad spelling. Knock knock, (Who’s there?) Owen, (Owen who?) Owen the Saints, go marching in. Sorry, Dick, but I couldn’t resist, and anyway that will teach you for being so critical of my disability. I only have one leg if you would like to have a go at me for that too. I remember when living in Leigh Park, Portsmouth, that everything and anything had the Star and Crescent motif on it. Busses, lampposts, litter bins and drain covers. In fact anything the council touched got star and crescented. The star and crescent motif has been Pompey’s emblem since 1898, and has been adopted from the town’s coat of arms. Pompey first wore the star and crescent badge on their shirts in 1909. (PIC 1) Some believed that originally it was a sun and moon on the coat of arms, and the eight-pointed star does look a little like a hippy sun. The badge changed in the 1980s, to a sword and anchor. (PIC 2) The fans did not like it much, not least for the rhyming slang element. The sword and anchor signified the rich naval history of Portsmouth. In the 1990s, the club did what most clubs do at some stage and used the city coat of arms. (PIC 3) This of course is where the star and moon originate. (PIC 4)
The arms were granted in 1194, by Richard I. He was the Lionheart who was responsible for the start of the three lions. The seal is that of William de Longchamp, Bishop of Ely, and bore an eight-pointed star above a crescent moon. Richard I, adopted the seal of the star and crescent on his crusade of the Holy Land. In 1970 the supporters were granted, a sea-unicorn and a sea-lion. The sea-unicorn wears a naval crown around its neck, and a Mighty Chain of Iron. This is a representation of the chain boom which stretched from the Round Tower in Old Portsmouth, to Fort Blockhouse in Gosport, as a protection to Portsmouth Harbour. The mural crown worn by the sea-lion refers to the land defences which ringed Portsmouth from Elizabethan times until the 1870s. The motto reflects the star and moon motif, “Heavens Light Our Guide”, and was incorporated into the arms in 1929.
The previous badge has the familiar shield, with the star and crescent moon in the colours as it appears on the arms. The club’s name appears below in the scroll. (PIC 5) The present badge or logo has the familiar design in blue and white, the club’s home colours, and the date of formation has been added. The name has been dropped, but anyone who sees this badge knows who it belongs to. (PIC 6) The origin of the nickname Pompey is unknown for sure as there are many different explanations to its origin, including Pom-Pey sounds like a drunken sailor asking the way to Portsmouth Point, where his ship would be anchored. Another, says that naval sailors from Portsmouth may have got the name from a line in Shakespeare’s Anthony and Cleopatra, Act I Scene IV, “Pompey is strong at sea”, then adopted the nickname for themselves. Pompey, or Pompey the Great, was a famous Roman military leader and a rival to Julius Caesar who beat him in battle. My favourite story, however, is that of a landlady called Aggie Weston, who ran a sailors’ rest and club in Portsmouth. She often attracted sailors to the club by giving talks on various subjects. It is believed in 1904, she gave a talk about the Roman General Pompey, the one mentioned in the Shakespeare play. Towards the end of the talk, she became very excited and animated about his downfall, and when she described his assassination one of the sailors called out, “Poor old Pompey”. A few days later at Fratton Park, Portsmouth were playing badly and when a goal was scored against them a sailor cried out, “Poor old Pompey”. Others soon joined in, and the chorus on the terrace soon became “Poor old Pompey, Pompey play up”. This became the club’s theme, and the name soon attached itself to the town as well as the football club.
You would think the name Portsmouth meant at the mouth of the River Port, as in Dartmouth and so on. But there is no river Port. The first mention of the name in writing is from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles of 501, as Portesmutha, and as Portesmuda in the Pipe Rolls of 1194. The change came from the Anglo-Saxon pre 7th Century port, from the Latin Portus, meaning harbour and with Portsmouth being at the entrance to the harbour. So, the name literally means, the mouth of the harbour port. Fratton Park, or the Old Girl as she is fondly known, has been the home of Portsmouth FC since 1899, and holds about 20,000 fans, but they are hoping to increase that with some redevelopment. Pompey’s local rivals are of course Southampton, and Hampshire goes into lockdown, and all police leave cancelled whenever they meet. For more on Pompey dance your way to the tune of In the Navy to www.portsmouthfc.co.uk
