Building on my SPFL badge redesigns, I’ve made a wee map of Fife with the new badges and some club information.
Kingdom of Fife
Kingdom of
graphicReBrand: Cowdenbeath FC
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The exact year that Cowdenbeath Football Club was established is unclear. The current club had its genesis in the union of two local clubs (Cowdenbeath Rangers and Cowdenbeath Thistle), which took place in 1881. It has been suggested by the club’s historian, David Allan, that the club retained the name ‘Cowdenbeath Rangers’ until 1882, when the club merged with a Raith Rovers FC (not to be confused with the current Raith Rovers). What is known with certainty is that the current club has been playing as Cowdenbeath FC since at least 1882.
Regardless of whether they were established in 1881 or 1882, Cowden is the oldest of the four surviving professional football clubs in Fife (which includes the aforementioned Raith Rovers, established in 1883, Dunfermline Athletic, established in 1885 and East Fife, established in 1903).
Cowden competed in the Fifeshire Football Association from its inaugural season in 1882/83, losing that first Fife Cup 4-1 to the original Dunfermline Football Club. Two years later, against the same Dunfermline, the club would win the first of its 25 Fife Cups with a scoreline of 4-0.
In 1905, Cowden were admitted into the Scottish Football League and, despite having not won any major honours, competed in Scottish league football until the end of the 2021/22 season. Cowden ended up at the bottom of the League Two table and lost their place to Bonnyrigg Rose over two legs. As a result, the clab was relegated to the Scottish Lowland League for the 2022/23 season.
The Cowdenbeath kit did not feature a badge until the 1984/85 season. This badge was based on a design that had been used in the club’s programmes since 1970. The current badge is a variation of this 1984 badge, with the notable addition of a winding wheel, pickaxes and shovels, which call back to the mining history of the town.
The aim for my badge redesign was to create something simple, clear and significant. I omitted the shield entirely, incorporating the badge within a roundel. I did away with the stereotypical Scottish symbolism of the thistles and lion rampant, as well as the two crosses (symbols which I believe may be associated with the club’s ancestors, Cowdenbeath Rangers, Cowdenbeath Thistle and the original Raith Rovers), the meanings of which seem to have been obscured over time.
At the centre of my redesigned badge are a crossed hammer and pickaxe, which reference the town’s mining history. A football is superimposed over these symbols and below is found a banner bearing the Cowdenbeath town motto, Stent nae stent (Scots for ‘Effort always effort’, the term ‘stent’ having a particular association with mining shifts). For the colours, I opted for a light blue and gold, which stands out from the blue of the traditional Cowdenbeath home shirt.
The home kit design was inspired primarily by the 1974/75 and 1981/82 home kits. The away kit—as a play on the club’s enigmatic nickname, ‘the Blue Brazil’—is based on Brazil kits from 1954 onward, as well as several historical Cowdenbeath away kits.
As ever, I am indebted to Dave at Historical Football Kits for some of the historical information used above.
ReBrand: East Fife FC
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The history of football in the conurbation of Levenmouth, East Fife dates from as early as 1879, when junior side Cameron Bridge Football Club was formed. A number of other junior clubs were formed in the late nineteenth century, most notably, Leven Thistle (in the late 1880s), Methil Rovers (1893) and Buckhaven United (1890-91, and then again in 1897). In 1901, Methil Rovers folded and the following year, Leven Thistle, who had changed home ground numerous times, settled in their final home, Town Hall Park, Methil.
As a result of local demand for a senior football club in Levenmouth, East Fife Football Club was established in early 1903. This new club purchased Leven Thistle’s Town Hall Park and renamed it Bayview Park. Soon after, Leven Thistle decided to close up shop. Buckhaven United continued to compete as a junior side until 1912.
After applying for entry into the Scottish Football League on a number of occasions, East Fife joined the reformed Scottish Second Division in 1921 with the incorporation of their Central Football League (which the club had first joined in 1909) into the SFL.
East Fife holds a special place in the history of Scottish football. The Fifers have appeared in three Scottish Cup finals (1926/27, 1937/38, 1949/50), reigning victorious against Kilmarnock in the final replay before a crowd of 92,716 at Hampden Park on 27 April 1938. Until Hibernian defeated Rangers in the 2015/16 Scottish Cup final, East Fife was the only non-top tier club to have ever achieved the honour. It’s also worth noting that East Fife has also won the Scottish League Cup three times (1947/48, 1949/50, 1953/54), a first among all Scottish clubs.
The club’s first kit consisted of a shirt of green and white hoops, similar to those first adopted by Celtic that same year. In 1911, the green and white was swapped for black and gold, which has remained the club’s primary colour scheme ever since.
The Fifers first began using a badge on their kit in 1950. This original badge consisted of a shield, divided into thirds. The top portion of the shield featured the club’s initials, while the middle featured a Saltire and the bottom featured a thistle. This badge was used until 1970, when it was replaced by the club’s initials alone. Some variation of the initials remained until 1991, when the first version of the current badge was introduced. Like the 1950 badge, the current badge features a Saltire, with the addition of a superimposed football.
With my redesign, I decided to move away from the above monogram, as well as the current shield, in favour of a round badge. I included the Saltire in my latest redesign as it is the only consistent feature among East Fife’s historical badges. (The omission of a Saltire within a shield also avoids a potential confrontation with the Court of the Lord Lyon.) The Saltire is enclosed in a circle, behind a gold fishing net, a reference to the prevalent fishing industry in East Fife. The historic burgh seals of every settlement on the coast in East Fife feature either the Firth of Forth, fishing boats, fishing nets or fish (or a combination of several of these), including the burgh seal of Buckhaven, Methil and Innerleven, the locale of East Fife FC. The fishing net also acts as a goal net, receiving a football. Lastly, I placed a star in the outer ring, commemorating East Fife’s 1937/38 Scottish Cup victory.
For the home kit, I went with the club’s traditional black and gold vertical stripes with black shorts. I also included black and gold hooped socks, last worn in 1939. For the away shirt, I employed red with dark red herringbone stripes.
As ever, I am indebted to Dave at Historical Football Kits for some of the historical information used above.
ReBrand: Dunfermline Athletic FC
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The history of association football in Scotland is tied inextricably to cricket. Along with clubs such as Kilmarnock, St Johnstone, St Mirren and potentially Heart of Midlothian, Dunfermline Athletic was established as a winter sporting pursuit in the cricket off-season.
The original club was called Dunfermline Football Club and was established in 1874. In order that non-cricket club members could join, Dunfermline FC broke away from the cricket club and became Dunfermline Athletic FC in 1885.
Dunfermline Athletic, or ‘the Pars’, as they are known, had a shot at their first major honour when they reached the final of the 1949/50 Scottish League Cup at Hampden Park. There, they faced their fellow Fifers, East Fife, who had won the competition two years earlier. The Pars were unlucky that day, losing 3-0, but a decade later they would have another opportunity at silverware.
On 26 April 1961, the Pars defeated Celtic 2-0 in the Scottish Cup final replay. Celtic would return the favour by defeating the Pars 3-2 in the 1964/65 final of the same competition. But the Pars’ tenacity brought the Scottish Cup back to East End Park after the club defeated Hearts in the 1967/68 final. It should also be noted that the Pars beat holders Celtic, fresh off of their illustrious 1966/67 season, in the first round of the 1967/68 Scottish Cup.
The Dunfermline Athletic kit did not include a badge until the 1958/59 season, when the club employed the skills of Dunfermline High School art teacher Colin Dymock. Dymock’s badge was thoroughly modern in shape, colour and design. It took the shape of a downward-pointing triangle and featured Malcolm’s Tower, a local landmark, as its centrepiece. This original badge was dropped from the kit in 1962.
The Pars’ shirt featured an encircled ‘DAFC’ monogram for the 1971/72 season and then from 1977 until 1986, home shirts featured the club’s initials alone. For the 1986/87 season, the club began to use a slight variation on Dymock’s 1958 badge design, and similar badges have adorned the breast of the Dunfermline Athletic shirt ever since.
The current Dunfermline Athletic badge is a cracker. When the first version was introduced in 1958, it would have been ground-breaking (and perhaps polarising). But it has become a cherished staple of the Dunfermline Athletic identity. That being stated, I find the badge very unrelatable. Malcolm’s Tower, named after Malcolm III of Scotland (Gaelic: Máel Coluim mac Donnchada, who reigned from 1058 to 1093), is a very historically significant site as it marks the move of the seat of royal power from Forteviot in Strathearn (modern-day Perth and Kinross) to Dunfermline. A crude depiction of the tower has featured in the Dunfermline coat of arms for centuries. But all that remains of the tower today is a foundational ruin and its precise design is unknown. As a result, Dymock’s design is simply an interpretation of what the tower might have looked like, and in a fragmented, modern style.
The challenge of redesigning such a unique and iconic badge has been floating around in my mind for a while now. I struggled while considering what iconography I might employ. Given my perception of the unrelatable nature of the 1958 badge, I wanted to offer something either more familiar or entirely different. I opted to retain the iconic triangular shape of the badge, but instead of Malcolm’s Tower, I decided to make use of one of Dunfermline’s most physically prominent and handsome landmarks: the clock tower of the City Chambers. With its striking green roof of oxidised copper and its skilful combination of French, Gothic and Scots baronial architectural styles, I believe that the clock tower proves to be a very fitting centrepiece for the redesigned badge. I also incorporated the zig-zagged white cloud stripes from the 1958 badge and lightened the blue background to sky blue.
For the home shirt, I decided to continue with the Pars’ long tradition of black and white vertical stripes (in near-constant use since 1909), but with a pattern that echoes the triangular badge. For the away strip, I decided to make use of red (the predominant away strip colour over the last two decades) with a black gingham pattern (inspired by the 1996/97 home strip).
As ever, I am indebted to Dave at Historical Football Kits for some of the historical information used above.
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