ReBrand: East Kilbride FC

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The original East Kilbride Football Club was established in 1871, making it one of the earliest association football clubs in Scotland, after Queen’s Park (1867), Kilmarnock (1869) and Stranraer (1870). East Kilbride’s early years, like many football clubs at that time, were precarious, with the club folding and reforming on several occasions. Ultimately, the club folded for good after about a decade and the town of East Kilbride went unrepresented at the senior level for more than a century.

In 2010, the local junior sides Stewartfield FC and Jackton Boys Club merged to form a new club, taking the defunct East Kilbride FC name. For the 2012/13 season, East Kilbride competed in the South of Scotland Football League before becoming members of the Lowland Football League in its inaugural season the following year. Since joining the league, East Kilbride have proven very formidable, coming second in 2014/15, winning the league in 2016/17, coming second again in 2017/18 before securing their second league championship in 2018/19.

Having won the Lowland League on two occasions, East Kilbride were eligible to compete in a play-off against the Highland Football League champions for a chance at gaining a place in the Scottish Professional Football League. In 2017, East Kilbride beat Buckie Thistle with an aggregate score of 4-3 in order to advance to the League Two play-offs against last-place Cowdenbeath. The first leg, which took place at East Kilbride’s home ground of K-Park, ended with no score. The second leg ended 1-1 after extra time, forcing a penalty shootout to decide which would compete in the SPFL the following season. The shootout proved heart-breaking for East Kilbride, who lost 5-3.

The club’s second chance at promotion to the SPFL came following their latest league championship (2018/19), though the Kilby lost to the Highland League champions, Cove Rangers with an aggregate score of 5-1 (Cove went on to gain promotion to the SPFL with a 7-0 aggregate victory over Berwick Rangers).

The club’s current badge is attempting to do a lot. It draws its colours from the 1871 club’s colours of gold and dark blue and employs a number of local symbols. The use of the oystercatcher, the cross and the colour red represent St Brigid of Kildare, after whom ‘Kilbride’ is named. The current badge also features the date of the original club’s founding as well as the Latin motto, a priori, meaning ‘from the earlier’, which is yet another reference to the original club.

While I appreciate the symbolism of the current badge, I feel it tries to do too much in its current form. In order to comply with an ancient heraldic Scottish law, my redesigned badge takes the form of a roundel. The central image is an oystercatcher atop a football. The outer circle includes the club’s name, the Latin motto and the years of the founding of the original and current East Kilbride FC.

For the home kit redesign, I have gone with the traditional East Kilbride harlequin-style shirt of gold and dark blue and for the away kit I have made use of the current away colour scheme of red and white, though instead of opting for harlequin-style featured in the current away kit, I have gone with bold, thick hoops.

ReBrand: Clyde FC

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Clyde Football Club was established in 1877. The club’s first home ground was called Barrowfield Park, located near the Glasgow district of Bridgeton, on the northern bank of the River Clyde, from which the club took its name.

In 1891, Clyde joined the Scottish Football League and their first league match resulted in a dominant 10-3 victory over Vale of Leven. By 1898, the club had outgrown their home at Barrowfield and relocated to Shawfield in Rutherglen, where they would compete until 1986.

During the first half of the twentieth century, this modest club, nicknamed ‘the Bully Wee’, had become a formidable side within Scottish football. Clyde won the final of the Scottish Cup three occasions (1938/39, 1954/55 and 1957/58) in six appearances.

By the late 1960s, many urban areas in Glasgow were being cleared for new developments. Large swathes of the population in these areas were forced to relocate to more remote regions of the city. A significant number of Clyde’s supporters resided in Bridgeton, Dalmarnock, the Gorbals, Oatlands and Rutherglen, all of which experienced significant population reduction during this period. Clyde’s support dwindled and the club has bounced around the lower divisions ever since their last spell in the top tier, which ended in 1975.

In addition to bouncing around the lower tiers of Scottish football, Clyde has moved their home several times since leaving Shawfield in 1986. And although they are now based in Cumbernauld (where they have played since the middle of the 1994/95 season and some nine miles north of the River Clyde as the crow flies), they retain their original name.

At the end of the 2018/19 season, Clyde finished second in the League Two (the bottom tier of the Scottish Professional Football League) table, qualifying them for the League One play-offs alongside third-placed Edinburgh City and fourth-placed Annan Athletic. In the play-off semi-final, Stenhousemuir, who finished second-bottom in League One, were drawn against Annan, while Clyde faced Edinburgh City. After dispatching Edinburgh City with a 4-0 aggregate score over two legs, Clyde faced Annan in the two-leg play-off final. Annan came out ahead in the first leg with a 1-0 victory over Clyde, but the Bully Wee made up the difference with their 2-0 victory in the second leg, securing their promotion from the bottom tier.

To celebrate their centenary in 1977, a version of the current Clyde badge came into regular use, though some version of it may have appeared as early as 1934. This badge features a ship in full sail encircled by a floral wreath. My redesign is an update of this badge. To commemorate their three Scottish Cup victories, I have included three sails for each of the ship’s three masts.

The redesigned home kit is inspired in part by the 2012/13 home kit. For the away kit, I decided to go with an all-red number (used as the third kit colour scheme as recently as the 2019/20 season), a reference to the left-wing political movement known as ‘Red Clydeside’, a major figure of which, James Maxton, served as an MP for the Bridgeton district for more than two decades.

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

ReBrand: Motherwell FC

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Motherwell Football Club was established in 1886 at the merging of two Motherwell-based teams: Glencairn FC (established in 1877 and named after the soldier and politician John Glencairn Carter Hamilton, 1st Baron Hamilton of Dalzell) and Alpha FC (established as the Alpha Steam Crane and Engine Works team in 1881).

In 1893, Motherwell became founding members of the Scottish Second Division. By the middle of the 1920s, ‘the Steelmen’ (a reference to the town’s association with heavy industry), were proving themselves in the top tier. Between 1926 and 1934, Motherwell finished every season among the top three in Scottish football. Most notably, they topped the table in the 1931/32 season, becoming the first non-Old Firm club since Third Lanark in 1903/04 and the last until Hibernian in the 1947/48 season to be crowned Scottish champions. Other significant honours include Motherwell’s Scottish League Cup victory of 1950/51 as well as their two Scottish Cup victories in 1951/52 and 1990/91.

Prior to using their current badge (which has been in use since 1982), between 1969 and 1982, Motherwell’s kit featured two versions of the club’s initials, ‘MFC’. The current badge features three fir trees (which represent Fir Park, Motherwell’s home ground since 1895) above a football and the silhouette of the famous Ravenscraig Steelworks (which closed in 1992).

In keeping with Motherwell’s heritage, for my redesign I employed a similar colour scheme and a banner and shield that resemble those found in the current badge. I also updated the fir trees with a wee bit more definition and replaced the steelmill with a cogwheel. The cogwheel represents both the steel industry and the motto found on the Motherwell coat of arms: INDUSTRIA (Latin for ‘diligence’, ‘purpose’ or ‘industry’). The Roman numeral X at the top of the shield is a memorial for Phil O’Donnell, who died of cardiac arrest at age 35 on 29 December 2007, while playing for Motherwell against Dundee United at Fir Park.

For the shirts, I decided to go with a pronounced chevron design on the home strip and some thin red hoops on the away strip. The away kit also features a white version of the badge.

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

ReBrand: Hamilton Academical FC

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Hamilton Academical Football Club was established in 1874 by, as the name suggests, pupils and the rector of Hamilton Academy (1588-1972).

Although the academy’s colours were blue and green, the Accies played in red and white so as to distinguish themselves from the earlier Hamilton Football Club (which folded in 1878).

The Accies competed as founding members of the Lanarkshire Football League from 1893 until, following the resignation of Renton Football Club (1872-1922) in 1897, they were elected to the third division of the Scottish Football League. Since that time, the Accies have reached two Scottish Cup finals (1910/11 and 1934/35), though their spells in the top flight have been mixed. Their best ever top tier performance came in the 1934/35 season, when the Accies finished in fourth place with 48 points, behind Hearts (50), Celtic (52) and Rangers (55).

More recently, at the end of the 2013/14 season, the Accies gained promotion from the Scottish Championship to the Scottish Premiership, joining Dundee in the top tier for the 2014/15 season. Because of 2013’s launch of the Scottish Professional Football League and the restructuring of the Scottish league system, the Accies, who came in just behind Dundee in the Scottish Championship, had another opportunity for promotion by competing in several playoff rounds. There, they faced the Scottish Premiership‘s Hibernian in the second leg of their playoff schedule, playing away at Easter Road with a 0-2 deficit for which they had to make up in order to gain promotion. The Accies performed brilliantly, leading 1-0 at half time and adding a second goal in the 90th minute. After extra time, the score remained 2-0, leaving an aggregate score of 2-2 over two matches, forcing a penalty shootout. In the end, the Hamiltonians were victorious, sending Hibs down to the Scottish Championship and gaining promotion to the top tier for yet another shot at the top tier since their consecutive promotions and relegations in 2008 and 2011, respectively. The Accies’ stay in the top tier would last until the end of the 2020/21 season, when the club finished at the bottom of the table and were relegated to the Scottish Championship.

The Hamilton Academical kit did not feature a badge until 1979, when the current badge was introduced. This badge features a shield with three white cinquefoils derived from the Clan Hamilton coat of arms. The shield is encircled by a ring with the club’s name and founding date. For my redesign, I’ve drawn heavily from the original crest of Hamilton Academy, creating a minimalist ‘HA’ monogram within a shield, topped with a singular white cinquefoil.

I went with the Accies’ classic red and white hoops (used for most home shirts from at least 1876) for the home top and a historical and [an unintentional, though admittedly Inter Milan-esque] black and blue-striped away top. The away strip and both pairs of shorts feature the ‘HA’ monogram alone.

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

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design & illustration

South Lanarkshire

ReBrand: East Kilbride FC

ReBrand: Clyde FC

ReBrand: Motherwell FC

ReBrand: Hamilton Academical FC