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Monuments on the teams crest

There are many teams that display in their crests the city's affiliation

Monuments on the teams crest There are many teams that display in their crests the city's affiliation

The relationship between football teams and the cities to which they belong is the starting point of modern football, from the founding of clubs to the development of the first professional leagues. And it is precisely this overlap that has led many clubs to have the same symbols that historically characterize cities in their crest, a way of identifying even more of a given team's local identity. And although we live in a time during which club crests are rapidly veering toward minimalism, there still remain many logos that depict in them the landmarks that define their city.

The United Kingdom's strong connection

The link between city monuments and clubs is very much alive and well in the United Kingdom, both among well-known clubs and those with great appeal still playing in the lower leagues. Such is the case with West Ham, which-in the old crest used prior to the move from Upton Park to the London Stadium-presented Boleyn Castle, or the castle in which Anne Boleyn, Queen Consort of England and Ireland from 1533 to 1536, is said to have lived, and on whose ashes the Hammers' historic stadium would be built. Also presenting a castle, at the top left of its coat of arms, is Norwich City; this is Norwich Castle, erected between 1066 and 1075 at the behest of William the Conqueror. Destroyed by fire, on the other hand, is the Crystal Palace, which gives its name to Crystal Palace, whose construction was erected in London in 1851 to host the first World's Fair before disappearing completely in 1936.

Sunderland's logo shows a monument of the city in one of the four quadrants in the coat of arms. It is the Penshaw Monument, a memorial building in the style of an ancient Greek temple. Among the many castles on the British Isle, one of the most famous is featured on the Hibernian crest. It is the imposing Edinburgh Castle, one of the symbols of the Scottish capital, which is prominently featured on the lower part of the badge alongside a harp, reminiscent of the club's Irish identity, and a sailboat, symbolizing the port of Leith, located north of the city.

Peeping through the Everton logo, however, is the Everton Lock-Up, commonly known as Prince Rupert's Tower; a cylindrical building erected in 1787 that served as a temporary prison. As of 2019, Bristol City has a new logo featuring the iconic robin, but formerly it featured the breathtaking Clifton Suspension Bridge opened in 1864 over the River Avon and connecting Clifton, Bristol and Leigh Woods, Somerset. Crest belonging to the working class is that of Motherwell FC, with at the bottom the profile of Motherwell Ravenscraig Steelworks, the city's largest steel mill, closed in 1992. Precisely because of this strong connection to it its players are nicknamed the Steelmen. It shows the distinctive spiral-shaped spire of St. Mary's Church, on the other hand, Chesterfield FC, just as Brechin City FC has the city's cathedral in its coat of arms. Then there is the Angel of the North on the shield of Gateshead FC, a modern sculpture made of steel by the English artist Anthony Gormley from 1994 to 1998 and depicting a twenty-meter-tall angel with outstretched wings that, flexed forward, give, according to the author, the sense of an embrace. 

Peculiar, however, is the legend behind Lincoln City's Leprechaun-shaped coat of arms. According to folktales, two mischievous imps were sent by Satan himself to do an evil work on Earth. After causing chaos in northern England, the two headed to Lincoln Cathedral, where they destroyed tables and chairs. Stopping them was an angel who emerged from a hymnbook. One of the goblins confronted him by throwing rocks at him, while the other hid under the broken tables and chairs. The angel turned the first imp into stone, then gave the second one a chance to escape. The Lincoln Imp, as it is now called, is a sculpture located on a wall inside the city's Cathedral is that over time has become its symbol. 

From Paris to Madrid, cities in the crests

The Eiffel Tower is such a symbolic monument for the city of Paris that both Paris Saint-Germain and Paris FC have included it in their social symbols in a rivalry that thus also arrives on their game jerseys. Moving to Germany, here is Cologne presenting on its crest the two 157-meter-high cusped Towers of the Church of Saints Peter and Mary, or the city's cathedral. 

Flying to Spain, Atletico Madrid is linked to the capital through the depiction of the Bear and the Arbutus in the crest. The statue, placed in the Puerta del Sol, is the symbol of the city, the tree identifies fertility, and the city's aristocracy is represented by the bear. UD Salamanca, on the other hand, chose the bridge over the Tormes River, built by the Romans around the 1st-2nd centuries B.C. on which is the profile of a bull, an animal symbolic of that area of Spain. 

Looking at home, how can we not mention Pisa, which features the Tower of Pisa inside its shield. In the logo of Cittadella, on the other hand, the walls of the Venetian city peep out, while in that of Trapani here are the Five Towers. Finishing in the minor leagues, then, here is US Breno with the presence of the castle of the same name rising above a hill in the center of the town.