Who was the second man on the moon? Which chap was second up Everest? Who was the second person to swim the channel? Who was second to run up the Mall in the last London Marathon? Who knows and who cares, because there are no prizes for coming second, unless it is the Olympics then you get a silver medal, but you know what I mean. It is not an important enough position to remember unless that is, you are Stoke City. Stoke claim to be the second oldest club in the world. (See Notts County for the first) It was not until 1868 that a report in The Field magazine heralded that a football association club had been formed in Stoke-on -Trent, by a former pupil of Charterhouse School. There is, however, a lot of circumstantial evidence to suggest that football was played by pupils of the school five years prior to that date, but no official records were kept of any matches during that time. Anyway, the powers that be at Stoke feel that they are within their rights to put 1863 as the year founded on their badge, making them the second oldest club. (PIC 1)
The badge consists of a shield with the club’s name in the chief, the club’s colours are represented by the red and white stripes and the date of the club’s formation is at the base. Beneath the shield is a banner which bears the club’s nickname “The Potters”. Not the most interesting badge you will find among these pages, you must admit, but if we take a look at the club’s older badge then we can ascertain where the nickname Potters came from, as well as having something a little more interesting to read about. The badge Stoke used before the present offering was the town’s coat of arms. (PIC 2) In addition to the arms, the badge has the club’s name on a banner above the crest. The arms themselves are made up of symbols of the six merged towns and were granted in 1912. (PIC 3) The towns are Stoke-on-Trent, Burslem, which is the home of Port Vale, Hanley, Longton, Fenton and Tunstall. The shield is quartered by a red and gold fretted cross, part of the arms of Burslem. In the top-left quarter is a Portland Vase for Fenton, bottom-left a black eagle for Stoke-on-Trent, bottom-right has a scythe representing Tunstall and the top-right has a kneeling camel which is the emblem of Hanley. Longton is represented in the red chief at the top of the shield, in the shape of a boar’s head, the head coming from the arms of Heathcote of Longton Hall. Each side of the boars head is a Stafford knot showing the city is in Staffordshire. On the crest of the arms is an ancient Egyptian potter working away at his wheel. Stoke is known as one of the worlds leading centres of pottery, hence the area is known as the Potteries. It is, as you will have already gathered, the reason behind the club’s nickname. The motto on the banner or scroll reads “VIS UNITA FORTIOR” which means in Engerlish, Strength United Is More Powerful.
In the 1950s the shield alone is what was worn on the shirts. The 1970s and 1980s saw what in my mind was their best badge. It consisted of a shield design with the club’s initials at the top and in the quarters of the shield are the club’s colours, the Staffordshire knot, and a bottle kiln used to fire the potters’ pots. (PIC 4) Believe it or not, the name Stoke is possibly one of the most commonplace names in England. I counted at least 70, and they all have added parts to them, so as to differentiate them from all the others. This Stoke is Stoke-on-Trent, and the reason there are so many is that they derive their names from the Anglo-Saxon Stoc, a word that meant place and there are a lot of places, so there are a lot of Stokes’. Later it went on to mean a small place, or village dependent upon a bigger place or village. Stoke City play at the 30,089 capacity all-seated Bet 365 Stadium. Local rivals are Port Vale and Crewe Alexandra. If you feel the need to find out more about “The Potters” then wheel your way to www.stokecityfc.com
