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.