cow

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.

Turriff United Football Club was established as a junior side in 1954. Along with Formartine United and Strathspey Thistle, Turra were admitted to the Highland Football League in 2009.

Turra’s senior honours consist of three Aberdeenshire Shields (2010/11, 2012/13 and 2014/15) and at the end of the 2014/15 Highland League season, the club finished second top. Turra also made it to the fourth round of the Scottish Cup in 2012/13, losing to league-side Greenock Morton in an away replay at Cappielow Park in December 2012. In 2016, Turra took part in the Scottish Challenge Cup. During their campaign, the club overcame the St Johnstone U20s as well as league-side Montrose, before losing at home to Hibernian in the third round.

For the badge redesign, I used a minimalistic ‘TU’ monogram, featuring a cow’s head in the ‘T’. This, alongside the wheat which forms the outer circlet, are featured in the town’s coat of arms. The cow’s head also represents the legendary ‘Turra Coo’.

The story of the Turra Coo dates back to the 1910s, when the Liberal government unveiled the National Insurance Act 1911, compelling employers make national insurance contributions. In Turriff, local farmers felt that they were at a disadvantage and protests were held. A farmer called Robert Paterson refused to make these contributions and was fined £15 and arrears. Paterson paid the £15, but continued to refuse to pay the national insurance arrears. Local sheriff George Keith was ordered to seize property amounting to £7 from Paterson’s farm. Keith selected a white Ayrshire-Shorthorn cross dairy cow. This cow was to be auctioned off in order to raise the funds to pay off Paterson’s arrears, but on the intended day of the auction, a large protest erupted with locals decorating the cow with ribbons and painting the words ‘Lendrum to Leeks’ (Lendrum being the location of Paterson’s farm and leeks being a reference to Chancellor David Lloyd George’s Welsh origin) on the cow’s side. Due to the unrest, the sale of the cow did not proceed at that time.

Subsequently, Paterson and seven others were taken to Aberdeen to be put on trial for disorderly conduct, though all were acquitted. The Turra Coo was later sold in Aberdeen, but the community of Turriff rallied together to buy back the coo and return it to Paterson. The return of the cow in 1914 proved to be a major public event in Turriff, with some 3000 people gathering to celebrate. Since that time, the Turra Coo has become a local icon, with a roadside monument dedicated at Lendrum in 1971 and a sculpture in the town centre, unveiled in 2010. In 2014, Turriff United introduced a mascot based on the Turra Coo.

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design & illustration

ReBrand: Wick Academy FC

ReBrand: Turriff United FC