ReBrand: Bonnyrigg Rose AFC

graphic

The Midlothian town of Bonnyrigg was first home to a club called Bonnyrigg Swifts, who were established in 1874. The Swifts gained the nickname ‘the Rose’ and in 1881, a new club, Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic Football Club, was born of the Swifts. For the vast majority of their history, the Rose competed as a junior side, having won the Scottish Junior Cup on two occasions: 1966 and 1978.

In the twentieth century, the Rose joined the Scottish Junior Football East Region Super League and were crowned league champions on four occasions (2008/09, 2011/12, 2015/16 and 2017/18), making them the most successful side in the league’s history. With each Super League championship, the Rose qualified for the first preliminary round of the Scottish Cup. Their most successful outing took place in the 2016/17 competition. Having defeated Glasgow University and Burntisland Shipyard (the latter result of 14-0 being the competitions largest margin of victory since 1984, when Stirling Albion dealt Selkirk a 20-0 dismantling), the Rose proceded to the first round proper of the Scottish Cup. There, they defeated Highland League side Turriff United 4-1 in a replay. In the second round, the Rose faced and defeated another Highland League outfit, Cove Rangers.

By the third round, the Rose and Beith were the only junior sides remaining in the competition. There, they issued a shock defeat against SPFL side Dumbarton in a replay at Dumbarton’s home ground. The rose proceeded to the fourth round as the only remaining junior side, though their draw would prove too great a challenge. Playing at Hearts‘ home ground of Tynecastle, the Rose lost 1-8 against cup-holders Hibernian in January 2017 and exited the tournament.

After their 2017/18 season, the Rose joined the East of Scotland Football League and in their inaugural season, won their conference (B) and qualified for the league’s championship playoff. They competed against other conference winners, Penicuik Athletic (Conference A winners) and Broxburn Athletic (Conference C winners) in order to gain the prize of promotion to the Lowland Football League. Ultimately, the Rose defeated both of their opponents and on 14 June 2019, Bonnyrigg Rose gained admittance into the Scottish Football Association.

The Rose went from strength to strength in the Lowland League, finishing second-top in their inaugural season and third in 2020/21. The 2021/22 season proved to be Bonnyrigg’s finest, finishing with 28 wins, three draws and three losses, enough to secure their place as Lowland League champions and gaining a spot against Highland League champions Fraserburgh in the first round of the SPFL League Two play-off. The Rose prevailed 3-2 on aggregate, setting them up for a two-leg play-off against League Two bottom-dwellers, Cowdenbeath. Bonnyrigg defeated Cowdenbeath 4-0 over two legs and entered the SPFL for the 2022/23 season.

I’m going to come out and say it – I don’t like the current Bonnyrigg Rose badge. I find the club’s name to crammed together (it doesn’t even reflect the club’s actual name: Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic Football Club). Additionally, the typeface differs from that used in the club’s year of foundation. I also find the other features (the rose and the footballs) jarring. But this is the badge of a junior side and I’ve seen worse. Still, the Rose have climbed the ladder in phenomenal fashion and are now part of the Lowland League. Therefore, a redesign is in order. My design is simple and clean, incorporating a stylised (and more symmetrical) rose and opting to remove the footballs.

Bonnyrigg Rose’s home kits have long featured red and white hoops. For these kits, I have decided to borrow from the schemes for both the home and away kits of the 2018/19 season.

ReBrand: Spartans FC

graphic

In 1951, the Spartans Football Club was established by Elliot Wardlaw and Jimmy Beaumont, two former Edinburgh University players. It was their intention that the club would field graduates of the university, though the constitution soon allowed for the admission of ‘other interested parties’.

Upon their founding, the Spartans were admitted into the East of Scotland Football League, where they would compete for more than six decades and amass nine league championships (including a spell of three consecutive championships between 2009 and 2011). It was also during this time that the Spartans pulled off some impressive Scottish Cup runs – advancing to the fourth round in the 2003/04 season after defeating Buckie Thistle and league sides Alloa Athletic and Arbroath. Eventually, this run would end at the hands of top-tier side Livingston. The club would reach the fourth round on two more occasions — in 2005/06 and in 2008/09 — defeating many league sides in the process.

In 2013, the Spartan’s long stay in the EoSFL ended when they became founding members of the Lowland Football League. During that first season, the club topped the table for the first time. Their greatest Scottish Cup performance came in the 2014/15 competition. By the fifth round (the round of 16), the Spartans were the only non-league side remaining. On 7 February 2015, the Spartans drew 1-1 with Berwick Rangers, forcing a replay. Ten days later, the Spartan’s run would end in England, with a 1-0 loss away at Berwick.

After winning the Lowland League in the 2017/18 season, the Spartans qualified for the League Two play-off semi-finals. As Lowland League champions, they faced the Highland Football League champions, Cove Rangers. Cove proved too strong over two legs and the Spartans went away losing 2-5 on aggregate.

For the badge redesign, I sought to capture and build upon the boldness and strength of the current badge. I decided upon a minimalist badge, incorporating a depiction of the Spartan helmet alone. Within the crest of the helmet is found the club’s initials and the year of the club’s founding.

The home kit incorporates the traditional Spartans strip of a white shirt with red shorts and white socks. The top features red details in a scheme resembling the handsome Admiral strips from the early 1980s. The away kit also incorporates a bold 1980s athletic feel, making use of the badge’s blue and red colour scheme while presenting the redesigned badge in white.

ReBrand: Edinburgh University AFC

graphic

Edinburgh University Association Football Club was constituted formally in 1878 and has been a member of the Scottish Football Association since the same year.

The club’s honours include the 1883 Edinburgh Shield (which is now known as the East of Scotland Shield) awarded by the East of Scotland Football Association. The club has also won the Queen’s Park Shield (a tournament for Scottish universities and colleges, with the shield itself donated by Queen’s Park to the Scottish Amateur Football Association in 1921) a record 26 times, including a run of eight consecutive wins from 1974 to 1982.

Having been eligible to compete for the Scottish Cup since their admittance into the SFA, Edinburgh University’s best performance came in 2006, when they beat Vale of Leithen to qualify for the first round of the competition. The club then defeated Highland League outfit Keith, proceeding to the second round where they met Cowdenbeath. The Uni lost to the league side 5-1, thus ending their run.

The club was the most successful university side in history until passing into senior football with their admittance into the Lowland League in 2014. Since that time, the Uni has yet to make a significant impact, with their best finish being 6th in the 2015/16 season.

The club’s current badge is a version of the university crest. This might well be used in order to comply with the university’s branding policies, but I thought that I would change it up ever so slightly, as that is my task here. I have designed a slight variation on the crest, doing away with the black outlines, and incorporating a unified design style for each of the heraldic symbols of the university. I have also included two Victorian-styled footballs as well as the year of the club’s founding. The shield is enclosed within a ring which features the club’s name.

For the kits, I have gone with the club’s traditional colours with some additional features. The outer ring and all text is omitted from the shorts.

ReBrand: Livingston FC

graphic

The history of Livingston Football Club is one of the most tumultuous in all of Scottish football.

The club began its life in 1943, as the works team of Ferranti, who had set up a factory at Crewe Toll, Edinburgh for the manufacturing of gyro gunsights for Spitfire aircraft during the Second World War. The original club name was Ferranti Thistle FC. They played under that name until 1974, when the club gained admittance into the Scottish Football League.

Because their home ground, the former City Park, did not meet the SFL’s requirements, and because of controversy arising from a team bearing the name of a commercial company, Ferranti Thistle moved to the Commonwealth Stadium (later called Meadowbank) and changed their name to Meadowbank Thistle FC. The team struggled in the lower divisions for many years and in 1995, they relocated to Livingston, changing their name to Livingston FC in the process.

After this move to West Lothian, Livingston FC began to show promise. By 2001, the club had gained promotion into the top tier and in this first campaign, the Livi finished third in the table, which meant that they qualified for the UEFA Cup (now the Europa League). Livingston would meet further success when they defeated Hibernian in the final of the 2003/04 Scottish League Cup on 14 March 2004. But Livingston’s victory was bittersweet, as the club had entered administration on 3 February, eventually emerging in May 2005. That same month, Livingston avoided relegation narrowly. Ultimately, their stay in the top tier was ended when they finished the 2005/06 season at the bottom of the table.

In 2009, Livingston entered into administration for a second time and were in danger of outright liquidation. As a result of breaching rules on insolvency, the SFL took the decision to demote Livingston to the Third Division (the bottom tier). In the two subsequent seasons, Livingston won consecutive promotions, reaching the First Division in 2011.

In 2013, the SFL was replaced by the Scottish Professional Football League, and the First Division was renamed the Scottish Championship. At the end of the 2015/16 season, Livingston were relegated to League One (the third tier). But their stay in League One lasted only one season, with the club gaining promotion back to the Championship in 2017. In the 2017/18 season, Livingston secured second place in the Championship table. This gave them the opportunity to gain promotion to the top tier for the first time since 2006 via playoff, which they achieved in a 3-1 victory over Partick Thistle over two legs.

When redesigning Livingston’s badge and kit, I kept this challenging history very much in my mind. Because of the abundance of thistles among Scottish football club badges, I opted to omit the thistle image from the new badge (and save it for clubs with ‘thistle’ in their names, like Partick Thistle and Inverness Caledonian Thistle).

Being that the club has been based in Livingston since 1995, I wanted to capitalise on that local identity. The acorns represent West Lothian (whose coat of arms features an ‘oak tree fructed’) and the three cinqfoils are taken from the Livingston family coat of arms. The crossed pickaxes represent Livingston’s historical shale mining industry.

The Latin in the outer ring, Fortiter Omnia Vincit (‘Bravely Conquers All’) is the club motto, which was included in the club’s badge from 1995 until 1999. I feel this motto is especially appropriate given Livingston’s unlikely survival over the years. The lion rampant has featured in the Livingston badge since 1999 and I believe it is fitting for a Scottish club and accompanying the motto above.

For the home kit, I went with a black body and gold details, a colour scheme used numerous times since the club’s 1995 move. The away strip is more adventurous, calling back to the Ferranti works team who manufactured gyro gunsights for Spitfire. The scheme is based on the Types A.1 and C.1 roundels used on Spitfires during the Second World War.

As ever, I am indebted to Dave at Historical Football Kits for some of the historical information used above.

ellliottt

design & illustration

Lothians

ReBrand: Bonnyrigg Rose AFC

ReBrand: Spartans FC

ReBrand: Edinburgh University AFC

ReBrand: Livingston FC