Peterhead Football Club was established in 1891 by a number of local football enthusiasts. The passion of this young club caught the attention of the town’s Feuars Managers and a plot of land was gifted to the club within Peterhead’s Raemoss Park. Recreation Park, as it this original home ground was called, opened that same year. Although the stage was set for competition, Peterhead would have to wait until their admittance into the small Aberdeenshire Football Association (consisting of only six sides) in 1900 before playing competitive football.
In 1931, Peterhead would join the larger Highland Football League, where they would be crowned champions three times in four seasons (1946/47, 1948/49, 1949/50) and then twice more, in 1988/89 and 1998/99. The club also won the Highland League Cup on five occasions (1962/63, 1965/66, 1967/68, 1980/81 and 1988/89).
After competing for over a century as a non-league side, Peterhead would gain admittance into the Scottish Football League in 2000. Their application was aided by their relocation to Balmoor in 1997.
In 2013/14, Peterhead topped the Scottish League Two table, gaining promotion to League One. Their stay in League One lasted only three seasons, though they came close to returning to the third tier after finishing second in the 2017/18 League Two season. This led to a play-off, in which the club was defeated by fellow League Two side, Stenhousemuir over two legs, despite the latter having finished the season 22 points behind Peterhead. Undeterred, Peterhead returned to the third tier after winning League Two in the 2018/19 season.
Peterhead adopted their nickname ‘the Blue Toon’, from their town, which itself probably comes from the fact that the historical fishermen of the port town were known for wearing blue worsted stockings. Accordingly, blue has been Peterhead FC’s primary colour since their early days.
The club’s kit first featured a badge in 1947. This badge consisted of the club’s ‘PFC’ initials within a shield and was used for one season before being revived during the early 1960s. Several variations of the club’s initials appeared on their kits at various points in the 1980s.
In 1989, when Peterhead won the Highland League title (their first such honour since 1950), the club adopted a new badge to celebrate the achievement. This badge featured of a version of the Peterhead coat of arms. In 1993, the club became a limited company and adopted their current badge. This badge consists of a downward-pointing triangle with a wavy top, representing the sea. Within the triangle is an illustration of a football and a fish—the fish representing the town’s fishing industry—superimposed over a net. The badge also features an outer ring and the club’s nickname.
For my redesign, I wanted to create something more unified and balanced than the current badge. I decided to omit the triangle so as to avoid any resemblance to the much older Dunfermline Athletic badge. I illustrated a new football, encircled by two haddock fishes for the centrepiece of the badge. I also included blue and white waves to represent the sea.
For Peterhead’s home shirt, I employed a blue and white colour scheme, with the waves on the body of the kit echoing the waves in the badge. The home socks are all blue, calling back to the blue worsted stockings from which the Blue Toon gets its nickname. The away shirt colour scheme of red, white and black is taken from many historical Peterhead away strips.
As ever, I am indebted to Dave at Historical Football Kits for some of the historical information used above.