It was one of those “Where were you when…?” moments. I was sat at my desk in 60 Poland Street and went onto the official site as I did frequently throughout the day.
Prior to the announcement on the website, I didn’t know that we were looking at a new badge. No survey’s, no competitions, nothing. I combed through the spiel.
(Paraphasing)
“… carefully designed… appealing to the new generation of Fulham fans… a strong brand/identity…”
Then at the end of the piece was the 'logo'. Crudely, almost unapologetically it was there on my screen. I didn’t know what to think.
Perhaps I am being melodramatic here but I just felt a bit empty. With love for your club comes a love for the badge too, and on seeing this cold, irrelevant ‘logo’ I thought that I could never love it, (the ‘logo’ that is). It seemed detached from
my football club.
***My thoughts now***
I cannot say that I have ever warmed to our current badge, but I guess that I am more sympathetic to it than a lot of our fans. Design-wise I still don’t like it (though in its all black state it is at its most acceptable). Despite this however, when you do see it, perhaps in the paper, on the TV or on a passer-bys shirt, you feel the warmth of familiarity. It entices you to read the extract, watch the screen, or maybe even give a friendly fraternal nod.
For many fans, including myself, the Fulham Metropolitan Borough Council crest that had graced our shirts since the late 1940’s (albeit with a break from 1972-77) is the Fulham badge we relate to, even in its many guises. Whenever I visited my grandparents in Parfrey Street I would love walking past the blocks of flats down Fulham Palace Road to ogle at this beautiful crest.
To some extent I can see the club’s motives behind the launching of a new badge back in 2001, though the nonsense about
copyright issues was unnecessary, patronising and untrue.
It wasn't the first time that we had changed our badge.
The Fulham Metropolitan Borough Council crest was introduced in 1947.
Prior to that our first ever badge - introduced in 1931 - featured an image of the Cottage, and as mentioned, between 1972 and 1977 we wore the 'retro' FFC badge, synonymous with our 1975 Cup Final appearance.
***My efforts*** (see below)
I won’t bore you too much with marketing waffle as I think they’re pretty self-explanatory. For me, as with many, Craven Cottage is Fulham FC and vice-versa. It forms our quirky nickname. It is unique.
The Cottage is the focal point, but with the first 3, FFC can be clearly seen in keeping with the current logo and (font aside) the ‘retro’ logo worn at the Cup Final.
I’ve purposely kept them in their simplest form. No bevel and embossing or Sky Sports wizardry. Let me know what you think regarding the whole issue.
Cheers for now,
Paul
Many thanks for those who gave opions to my initial efforts regarding a new badge for Fulham FC.
With the launch of the new replica kit for 2009-10 it would seem that it is our badge again that will prevent many from buying it.
Listed below are some opinions of TFI and fulhamfc.com forum users of the Fulham FC badge, their favourites and my efforts. It would seem many believe that the initials FFC are an integral part of our badge, though many do not like the format of the current one. Is it the red perhaps?
