Scottish Borders

Vale of Leithen Football Club began its life as Leithen Vale Football Club in 1891, making it one of the oldest clubs in the Scottish Borders (a region traditionally dominated by rugby). The ‘Leithen Vale’ name was used only for the club’s first two matches (a victory against Gala Harp and a loss to Peebles Hibernian) before the change to Vale of Leithen. It has been suggested that the name change was made in order to bring to mind the successful Dunbartonshire club Vale of Leven FC (the original Vale of Leven was established in 1872 and folded in 1929, winning the Scottish Cup on three consecutive occasions between 1877 and 1879).

The Vale became full members of the Scottish Football Association in 1897 and competed in the Borders Football League at that time. By the 1910s, the Vale was playing in the Eastern Football League and for the 1923/24 season, joined the new East of Scotland Football League. The club would be crowned EoSFL champions the following season, but would not win the league again until 1977/78 (and then again the following season). The club’s final EoSFL championship came in 1986/87.

In 2013, the Vale became founding members of the Lowland Football League alongside Dalbeattie Star, East Kilbride, Edinburgh City, Gala Fairydean Rovers, Gretna 2008, Preston Athletic, Selkirk, Spartans, University of Stirling, Threave Rovers and Whitehill Welfare. The club’s best performance in the Lowland League came in 2013/14, when they finished in the sixth position.

Vale of Leithen’s current badge is one of my favourites in the Lowland League. According to legend, the town of Innerleithen was established in 737 CE by the Irish monk St Ronan (often referred to as St Ronan the Silent or St Ronan of Locronan), who travelled up the River Tweed (of which the Leithen Water is a tributary) in a coracle. St Ronan is the figure depicted in the current badge, with a crosier in his right hand and a lantern in his left, bringing the ‘light’ of the Christian faith to Innerleithen. This resembles the official blazon of Innerleithen.

While I appreciate each of the design features of the current badge, for my redesign, I decided to make several changes. For a start, I determined that the club’s name feels a bit cramped within the circular portion of the badge – St Ronan’s crosier is nearly touching the ‘E’ of ‘VALE’. Inspired by the handsome ‘KEEP FAITH’ banner, I incorporated the same banner above the circular badge. I was resistant this depiction of St Ronan, especially since it does not resemble many other depictions of the saint and that the boat in which he travels is not suggestive of an Irish coracle (the aesthetic of which does not lend itself to minimalistic illustration).

Instead of a depiction of St Ronan in a boat, I decided to go with the sole image of a lantern to represent the saint. The lantern in my redesign is inspired by one found in a JaJa postcard illustration of the Innerleithen coat of arms from the early 1900s. Being that the Vale is one of the oldest clubs in the Borders, I also decided to include the date of the club’s founding.

The colours for the kit redesigns are taken from the Vale’s traditional kit colour schemes.

Gala Fairydean Rovers Football Club was established in the Borders town of Galashiels in 1894. Thirteen years later, in 1907, the club split into Gala Fairydean and Gala Rovers, with the Rovers acting as the reserve side for Fairydean. With the outbreak of the First World War, both sides ceased. In 1919, Fairydean alone resumed competition, becoming a founding member of the East of Scotland Football League four years later. It would not be until 1947 that the Gala Rovers name resurfaced, this time, as an amateur side.

Fairydean experienced relative success in the EoSFL, with their most fruitful period taking place in the 1960s. During this time, the club claimed six league championships (1960/61, 1961/62, 1963/64, 1964/65, 1965/66 and 1968/69). Fairydean went on to win the EoSFL championship twice more, in 1988/89 and 1990/91.

Over the coming years, Fairydean applied unsuccessfully to the Scottish Football League on four ocassions. Eventually, in 2013, Fairydean and Rovers merged, forming the modern incarnation of Gala Fairydean Rovers. That same year, the new club was granted membership in the new Lowland League.

At some point during their time as Gala Fairydean, the club began to use a badge which featured the coat of arms of the Burgh of Galashiels. This coat of arms includes two foxes seated at the base of a plum tree, looking upward and a version of this image can be found in the current badge. The current badge also includes a hovering football, the Latin motto, UNITAS EST FORTITUDE (‘unity is strength’) and two red stripes over a black field, representing, in my best estimate, the traditional home kit of Gala Fairydean.

For my redesign, I decided that I wanted to retain the elements from the coat of arms and the Latin motto (which I find especially apt given Gala Fairydean Rovers’ history), but I was not convinced with the way that they are presented in the current badge. I opted to tie the foxes, the plum tree and the football together, with the former resting atop a redesigned, Victorian-styled football in gold. As I don’t feel as if the current badge’s foxes much resemble foxes, I went with a more ‘maximalist’ colour scheme. I also chose to include both the current club’s date of formation as well as the original Gala Fairydean Rovers’ date of formation. The Latin motto has been moved to the outer circle in gold.

For the kit redesigns, I opted to go with some version of the current kits, bringing back the home kit’s red and black vertical stripes (which are absent from the club’s kit at present).

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design & illustration

ReBrand: Vale of Leithen FC

ReBrand: Gala Fairydean Rovers FC