In the 1970s the College of Arms, which controls heraldry in England and Wales, designed badges for some of the clubs in the Football League. Can you identify the club from the badge?

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https://preview.redd.it/ks1k540clzgc1.png?width=457&format=png&auto=webp&s=5fa18a319482f33bcdbdb49c16f03478d87191cd

https://preview.redd.it/tld3m10clzgc1.png?width=473&format=png&auto=webp&s=9cc06afdd9ea81521d25f494fef7e853fcbd8b87

The badges were granted between 1975 and 1979. At the time (as now) most English football clubs had emblems based on [heraldry](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heraldry), but often ignored or misapplied the rules of heraldry. For example, many clubs used the coat of arms of the town they were from, which actually belonged to the local council. This caused problems, firstly because most club badges had no legal protection, and second because some clubs didn’t actually have any right to the badges they were using.

The Football League and College of Arms therefore came up with a plan – the Football League would be given a coat of arms, and then be granted heraldic badges which could be licenced to the clubs within it. Clubs were invited to submit suggestions for badge designs, and the results are above. The Football League didn’t make much use of its coat of arms, but apparently used to fly them as a flag from the old Wembley Stadium in the early 80s.

The plan didn’t work, obviously, but some clubs still use designs influenced by these badges (or just submitted their exising design to be used as a badge). The process also led to the coat of arms of the FA being updated (see below), including the two lions supporting the shield in the colours of the England kit. I’ll link to the full article I got all this from later, so as not to give the game away!

https://preview.redd.it/lsk6360clzgc1.png?width=650&format=png&auto=webp&s=e5db6eb80f99cfe29da5e6f9dd3a30a5819965d5

by SilyLavage