“Give me a kiss and I’ll give you a penny”! That’s my favourite line from Swansea’s most famous son Dylan Thomas’s play for voices, or Under Milk Wood, as it is better known. As an actor myself, when I think of Swansea I think of the Welsh accent. There is something about the accent that makes me go all weak at the knees. It would not matter to me if she looked like a dragon, becuse if she was a Welsh dragon and had the accent then I’d be putty in her wings. Swansea City was formed just two years before the birth of its favourite son in 1912. They were founded at Vetch Field and remained there until 2005. After which, they moved to the new 20,750 capacity Liberty Stadium. Before the old football stadium was built, children would play football on the dirt ground which had vetch growing on it. Vetch is a cabbage-like plant, used as cow feed. By 1911 the field was available for rent as the owners of the land, Swansea Gas Light Company, had failed to use a Parliamentary sanction to utilize it for the installation of a Gas Plant. A committee of the Swansea League, which had been formed in the same year, rented the field and the present football club emerged. Vetch Field was an 11,742 capacity ground, so they have nearly doubled that.
The present badge worn on the shirts is a modern stylised swan in the shape of an S for Swansea and dates from around 1998. (PIC 1) The club’s name lies under the swan. The club seemed to have taken their lead to do this from the local County Council who themselves adopted a new stylised crest in 1996. (PIC 2) While the football club has stayed swan-like, the council seemed to have gone down the Angry Birds route, as this swan looks ready to take a very big bite out of some Cardiff fans backside. “DINAS A SIR ABERTAWE” means in Welsh what it says at the top, City and County Of Swansea. Many fans at Swansea missed the old badge for a while after it was replaced. (PIC 3) This badge has the club’s name in the roundel, with a swan standing on top of a castle, and the sea in the background. To find the origin of the older and more traditional looking badge we have to look at the Swansea coat of arms, which was also the badge they wore when they first ran out onto the cabbage patch. (PIC 4) What looks like a swan standing on top of a castle is, in fact, an osprey in the coat of arms. The osprey is a seabird also known as a sea hawk, and it has a very long association with Swansea. An osprey was used in the early seals of the town. It stands at the top of the shield or at the crest as it is known in heraldry, as in the crest of a wave. The castle in the shield is a symbol of the city’s medieval fortifications, a part of which still remains. The small lion in the small shield is from the arms of the de Braos family. The blue and white wavy lines you may have already guessed symbolise the fact that Swansea is a seaport. The supporters are made up of a lion and a dragon, the red lion is again from the arms of the de Braos arms, and the red dragon shows that the city is in Wales. The motto “FLOREAT SWANSEA” simply means Swansea Flower. The arms became official in 1922, but were used for many years before and the osprey, as legend has it, goes back to the early seals of Swansea. Swansea’s rugby team is known as the Ospreys. Swansea City’s nickname, however, is an abbreviation of Swansea “The Swans”, which is, of course, the reason they have a swan on the badge. Many thanks go to, Major RC Pike, ISM, T.D for replying to my letter begging for information from the club. Thanks Reg.
Swansea is believed to have inherited its name from the father of King Canute, the king who proved to his government and people that he was not a god but just a man, by showing he had no power over natural forces, and could do nothing to stop the tide from coming in when waves started lapping at his feet. Nobody really knows for sure where this happened, but an old favourite music haunt of mine in Southampton was the Canute Pub. It was down by the docks and it has a plaque commemorating the event. That is good enough for me. Many believe the opposite that he did, in fact, try to turn back the waves, but now you can correct them. Again I digress, it was his dad, Sweyn Forkbeard, a vicious Viking who plundered his way to Wales and claimed an area called Sweyn’s Ey, Viking talk for Sweyn’s territory and Sweyn’s Ey slowly became Swansea. To discover more on “The Swans” then migrate to www.swanseacity.com
