ReBrand: Wick Academy FC

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Wick Academy Football Club was established in 1893. The club’s name comes from the former Pulteneytown Academy (which closed in 2016) in Wick. The club’s link to the actual academy was tenuous and was only maintained when John Davidson, a teacher at Pultneytown Academy, was elected the first club captain (Davidson was listed as ‘leader’ in the minute of this first meeting).

It appears that Wick Academy, or the Scorries, as they are known, did not play competitive football until the formation of the Wick League in 1896. In 1911, the Scorries became members of the Scottish Football Association and continued to play in various regional leagues, most notably, the North Caledonian Football League, where they were crowned champions on five occasions between 1979 and 1987.

In 1994, the Scorries were admitted into the Highland Football League. For their first fourteen seasons in the Highland League, the club was never able to break into the top half of the table. Something of a breakthrough happened in the 2008/09 season, when the Scorries achieved ten successive league wins, finishing the season in the fifth position. Over the next few seasons, the Scorries slipped back down the table, but in the 2011/12 season, better fortunes would return. The Scorries climbed back into the top ten, finishing eighth and qualified for the 2012/13 Scottish Challenge Cup. Unfortunately, they would go on to exit in the first round after a respectable 2-4 home defeat to league-side Raith Rovers. This early exit did not prevent the club from achieving their highest-ever league finish, ending the season third in the table, only two points behind Formartine United and four points behind Highland League champions, Cove Rangers.

The current Wick Academy badge is simple and strong. The ship is derived from the Wick coat of arms and the open book is representative of the academy (I assume the whole design is derived from the crest of Pulteneytown Academy, but I cannot claim this with certainty). For my redesign, I incorporated the existing elements of the badge, but retooled them for a bolder look.

The home kit features Wick Academy’s traditional vertical black and white stripes. The colours of the hoops of the away kit are derived from the flag of Wick’s historic county of Caithness, which was adopted in 2016.

ReBrand: Strathspey Thistle FC

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Strathspey Thistle Football Club was established as a junior side in 1993. The name was chosen so as to reflect the club’s belonging to the Strathspey community and not only to Grantown-on-Spey, where the club is based. During their sixteen-year spell as a junior side, the Strathy Jags won several honours, though never topped the table.

In 2009, the club became a senior side and gained admittance into the Highland Football League. Since that time, the Strathy Jags have been unable to break out of the bottom three in the league table, but being among the most recent club to join the league (alongside Formartine United and Turriff United), it is still ‘early days’.

The current badge is simple and requires no explanation. For my redesign, I incorporated elements of the current badge, bringing the club’s name into the heart of a stylised thistle image.

The home shirt below is based on an early Thistle home shirt by Umbro.

ReBrand: Nairn County FC

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Nairn County Football Club was established in 1914 and gained admittance into the Highland Football League that same year. Due to the disruption caused by the First World War, the cllub would not play its first Highland League match until 1919.

Nairn County’s first significant honour came in the 1956/57 season, when the club won the first of their seven North of Scotland Cups. Their second North of Scotland Cup came in the 1962/63 season. The following year, Nairn County repeated this feat, with the addition of their first of two Highland League Cups. The club’s greatest honour came in the 1975/76 season, when they were crowned Highland League Champions after a hard-fought victory in extra time in a play-off against Fraserburgh.

More recently, Nairn County advanced to the third round of the 2012/13 Scottish Cup, having bested Preston Athletic and league side Clyde, before bringing Forfar Athletic to a replay, which the Wee County lost 2-3 at their home ground of Station Park. But the club wouldn’t end the season empty handed, winning the North of Scotland Cup after defeating Wick Academy 1-2 in extra time.

In designing a new badge for the club, I wanted to go for something bolder, opting for an ‘NC’ monogram topped by a silhouette of a more anatomically-correct dolphin than the one in current use.

The kit redesigns are based on the current colours used by the club, with their classic ‘maize yellow’ and black v in the home shirt and their blue and white scheme for the away kit. The upward-pointing chevron on the shirts echoes the Nairnshire coat of arms.

ReBrand: Fort William FC

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Fort William Football Club was established in 1974, making the club the second-youngest in the Highland Football League (after Strathspey Thistle, established in 1993). From their formation, Fort William had campaigned unsuccessfully to gain admittance into the Highland Football League. They would not participate in a competitive league until joining the North Caledonian League in 1983.

In their first season with the NCL, Fort William finished second-top in the league table. By the end of the following season, they were crowned league champions. After this success, the club was finally granted a place in the Highland League.

Fort William’s time in the Highland League can be characterised as rocky. They have yet to achieve any honours and in 2018, all six club directors resigned. The club has survived, but the 2018/19 season is not proving especially fruitful, having won two points from two draws and having been deducted nine points to finish December at the bottom of the table with -7 points and a -149 goal difference after 21 matches.

Things are looking quite bleak for Fort William these days, but here’s hoping that the club can find some inspiration to fight on and produce some significant results.

For the badge redesign, I decided to retool the current badge, which features a version of the Fort William coat of arms. The minimalism of the current badge is to be admired, though I have several issues with it. The first is that the Lochaber axes, crossed to form a Saltire – well, they don’t much resemble axes to me. Additionally, the Fort William coat of arms features a chaplet of oak branches, not of what appears to be olive branches. Lastly, the football takes the place of the crown found in the actual coat of arms. Cards on the table, I am not a monarchist, but the Fort William coat of arms is more about the town’s history than the present, with Fort ‘William’ having been named after William of Orange. Although the initial fort had been constructed during the rule of Oliver Cromwell, by the eighteenth century, it was used as an outpost against Jacobite forces.

For my redesign, I decided to include all of the traditional elements of the Fort William coat of arms and place a football, similar to the one in the current badge, at the centre. In order to avoid a clear association with ‘one side’ or the ‘other’ (read: Scottish sectarianism), I have also included two small white cinquefoils in the outer circlet, symbolising the Jacobite history of the region.

For the home kit redesign, I went with something that calls back to the club’s formation in 1974. The away kit makes use of the current black-dominated away colour scheme.

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design & illustration

A’ Ghàidhealtachd

ReBrand: Wick Academy FC

ReBrand: Strathspey Thistle FC

ReBrand: Nairn County FC

ReBrand: Fort William FC