Throughout this work we have had teams originating from cricket clubs, schoolteachers and pupils. Wolverhampton Wanderers, however, were founded by a headmaster, his teachers, their pupils, and the local cricket club. The new headmaster at St Luke’s School, Blackenhall, was a fan of what was to become the beautiful game, and in 1873 introduced football to the school. 1877 and the teachers and pupils were about to join the Whitmore Reans team when it was suggested that St Luke’s should have a team of their own. After trouble finding a ground to play on some of the members who also played for the Wanderers Cricket Club suggested amalgamating, and sharing the Villiers Street ground with the cricket club. So the name became Wolverhampton Wanderers Cricket and Football Club. As has happened so often before, the football clubs become more popular than the cricket clubs that give birth to them, and of course, nowadays we know the club as just Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club.
In 1886 Wolves played a game at the Molineux Pleasure Gardens, a name now synonymous with the club. At the time Wolves were playing in blue and white, plus red and white stripes, until 1891 when they adopted the gold and black colours to commemorate the motto from the town’s coat of arms “Out of Darkness Cometh the Light”. Which brings us nicely to the football club’s first badge which was, in fact, the Wolverhampton coat of arms. (PIC 1) Wolverhampton was incorporated as a borough in 1848 and was granted arms in 1898, in celebration of fifty years as a borough. Wolverhampton itself was founded in AD 985 by St Wulfren, sister of King Edgar, and she is represented by the cross in the shield. Surrounding the cross are a woolpack, symbol of the old woollen trade, a representation of the town’s Saxon Pillar Stone, an open book for the old grammar school, and a padlock for the lock industry. On the crest is a black beacon which stands for the Black Country of which Wolverhampton forms a part. The cross keys are the symbol of St Peter, patron saint of the town, the keys being representative of the keys to heaven. On the scroll or banner under the shield is the motto that the clubs colours refer to “OUT OF DARKNESS COMETH LIGHT”.
A number of scriptures in God’s word the Bible refer to darkness and light, with Satan the Devil, God’s adversary, being the darkness, and God himself is the light. During the early days of football, some clubs wore badges only on important occasions such as FA Cup finals and the like. Such as in 1960 When Wolves beat Blackburn Rovers 3-0. (PIC 2) By 1974, as with many clubs, new more-modern designs were being given a run, and Wolves adopted a modern-looking leaping wolf above the club’s initials W W. (PIC 3) 1979 and two more wolves were added. The club’s initials remained, although the two are separated with the wolves in the middle of the shirt and the initials on the left. (PIC 4) In 1982 we can see the first outing of the even more modern looking black wolf head that remains to this day, and it has the first mention of the club’s nickname taken from the shortening of the city’s name Woolferhampton. (PIC 5) The 1990s show a return to the more original looking badge with the club’s colours on a shield, and the black wolf head with the club’s name in a scroll above, and the formation date below. (PIC 6) Into the Millennium we go with the club’s most hideous badge. (PIC 7) A stylised octagon in the same shape as the wolf head and, oh let’s just move on to the present badge. (PIC 8) 2002 and the present badge has the modern black wolf head with its menacing eyes coming out of the light or gold background, once again alluding to the motto of the town arms. The bigger eyes make it look even more menacing than the original.
Wolves favourite son is the late Billy Wright, Born, FEB/1924, Died, SEPT/1994, a defender and captain in the good old days of the 1950s. Billy was also capped by England 105 times and was highly blamed and criticised for the humiliating defeat by the USA during the 1950 World Cup, but got his own back in his last game for his country when England beat the USA 8-1. So revered is Billy Wright at Wolves that they erected a statue of him two years after his death that stands outside the Billy Wright Stand at Molineux. I was not invited to the unveiling but I am sure Graham Hughes was, who along with lots of Wanderer’s information and pictures, sent a copy of an invitation to the unveiling. (PIC 9) Thank you, very much Graham for your help. The invitation shows the badge Billy would have worn, that of the coat of arms we began with. Mentioned in those arms was St Wulfren who lends her name to the city and is from the Anglo-Saxon, Wulfruneheantun. The name breaks down to Wulfren and heantun meaning, Wulfrun’s homestead on the hill. Molineux has been the home of Wolves since 1889 and after a number of renovations, now holds 32,000 punters. Local rivals are, West Brom, Birmingham and Aston Villa. If you would like to discover more on Wolves then wander to www.wolves.co.uk
