Coat of arms of the Football Association

Coat of arms of the Football Association
Coat of arms of the Football Association
	The heraldic achievement granted on 9 January 1979
Versions
	Coat of arms granted on 30 March 1949 and currently used by the FA

Last updated March 22, 2023

The Football Association, the governing body of association football in England, was granted a coat of arms on 30 March 1949. This was similar to the royal arms of England and features three blue lions on a white background, together with ten Tudor roses. On 9 January 1979 the association received a second grant of arms, expanding the coat of arms to a full heraldic achievement by adding a crest, supporters and motto. This grant also gave the association the right to use a separate heraldic badge, based on the FA Cup trophy. The association continues to use the earlier coat of arms and there is no evidence that the full heraldic achievement has even been used.

First grant of arms

The Football Association (FA) was founded in 1863. At first, its influence on the game of association football was limited but the first FA Cup competition in 1871 changed things and by the end of the century the organisation was generally recognised as the national body for the sport. The association now manages the men's, women's and youth national teams.^[1]

In its early years the FA used various symbols on its products, for example medals, including the royal arms of England and the royal arms of the United Kingdom. By the late 19th century the FA was using a distinctive badge on the shirts of the England men's national team. This was three blue lions on a white field (properly described as Argent three lions passant guardant in pale azure) and was sometimes depicted with a crown above (royally crowned). This was similar to the royal arms of England which show three yellow lions on a red background.^[2]^: 38

The FA petitioned the College of Arms for its own coat of arms, which were granted on 30 March 1949. These were based on the unofficial form used previously, though ten Tudor roses were added between the lions. The coat's formal description is Argent semy of Tudor roses three lions passant guardant in pale azure.^[2]^: 38 The reason for the use of 10 roses is not known; it has been suggested that 11 roses would be more suitable, representing the number of players in a football team. Some have queried whether the officials at the College of Arms were unfamiliar with the game or if the roses were intended to represent the 10 regional divisions in the FA at the time of award.^[2]^: 39–40

The 1949 coat of arms was combined with the Jules Rimet trophy, a football-globe and a union flag, to create the official insignia for the 1966 World Cup, hosted by England.^[3]

Second grant of arms

On 9 January 1979 the FA received a second grant of arms, expanding their original coat of arms into a full heraldic achievement by the addition of a crest, supporters and motto. The crest was a blue cap of maintenance, upon which was perched a peregrine falcon holding a Tudor rose stem in its mouth (On a cap of maintenance azure turned up argent a peregrine falcon rising belled and jessed holding in the beak an English wild rose slipped and leaved all proper.). The supporters were lions with their upper halves white and lower halves blue (replicating the England football kit colours).^[2]^: 39 The lions were depicted standing, each with a foot rested on a football and a Tudor rose on their shoulder (On each side a lion party per fess argent and azure charged on the shoulder with a Tudor rose and with the interior hindfoot resting on a football proper.). The motto, below the coat of arms, is "Play the game". In addition to the achievement the grant awarded the FA a separate heraldic badge, depicting the FA Cup in a wreath of olive leaves (A representation of the Football Association Cup encircled by a chaplet of olive leaves proper). There is no evidence that the FA made use of the full heraldic achievement or badge and correspondence between The Heraldry Society and the FA indicates that the latter were unaware they were entitled to use them and could not locate copies of either of their grants of arms.^[2]^: 39

Modern use

Because of their use on national team football shirts and other FA products the coat of arms is familiar to many English people. The Heraldry Society have said that "it is probable that, after the Royal arms, it is the most widely recognised shield in England".^[2]^: 39 The coat is the subject of the England football song "Three Lions".^[2]^: 39

The coat of arms has been trademarked by the Football Association. They were central to a 1997 court case by the FA against sweet manufacturer Trebor Bassett who had used photographs of England players, wearing shirts bearing the arms, on cards given away with packets of candy sticks. The court found in favour of Trebor Bassett, determining that the use of the trademark was incidental and not deemed to be "affixed" to the product under the terms of the Trade Marks Act 1994.^[4]

Related Research Articles

Heraldry is a discipline relating to the design, display and study of armorial bearings, as well as related disciplines, such as vexillology, together with the study of ceremony, rank and pedigree. Armory, the best-known branch of heraldry, concerns the design and transmission of the heraldic achievement. The achievement, or armorial bearings usually includes a coat of arms on a shield, helmet and crest, together with any accompanying devices, such as supporters, badges, heraldic banners and mottoes.

The Arms of Canada, also known as the Royal Coat of Arms of Canada or, formally, as the Arms of His Majesty the King in Right of Canada, is, since 1921, the arms of dominion of the Canadian monarch and, thus, also the official coat of arms of Canada. It is closely modelled after the royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom, with French and distinctive Canadian elements replacing or added to those derived from the British version.

The coat of arms of Prince Edward Island was begun when the shield and motto in the achievement were granted in 1905 by royal warrant of the King Edward VII.

The coat of arms of Saskatchewan is the heraldic symbol representing the Canadian province of Saskatchewan.

The coat of arms of Nova Scotia is the heraldic symbol representing the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. It is the oldest provincial achievement of arms in Canada, and the oldest British coat of arms in use outside Great Britain. It is blazoned as follows: Argent, a saltire azure charged with an escutcheon of the Royal Arms of Scotland.

The royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom, or the royal arms for short, is the arms of dominion of the British monarch, currently King Charles III. These arms are used by the King in his official capacity as monarch of the United Kingdom. Variants of the royal arms are used by other members of the British royal family, by the Government of the United Kingdom in connection with the administration and government of the country, and some courts and legislatures in a number of Commonwealth realms. A Scottish version of the royal arms is used in and for Scotland. The arms in banner form serve as basis for the monarch's official flag, the Royal Standard.

The coat of arms of Quebec was adopted by order-in-council of the Government of Quebec on 9 December 1939, replacing the arms assigned by royal warrant of Queen Victoria on 26 May 1868.

The royal arms of England are the arms first adopted in a fixed form at the start of the age of heraldry as personal arms by the Plantagenet kings who ruled England from 1154. In the popular mind they have come to symbolise the nation of England, although according to heraldic usage nations do not bear arms, only persons and corporations do. The blazon of the arms of Plantagenet is: Gules, three lions passant guardant in pale or armed and langued azure, signifying three identical gold lions with blue tongues and claws, walking past but facing the observer, arranged in a column on a red background. Although the tincture azure of tongue and claws is not cited in many blazons, they are historically a distinguishing feature of the arms of England. This coat, designed in the High Middle Ages, has been variously combined with those of the Kings of France, Scotland, a symbol of Ireland, the House of Nassau and the Kingdom of Hanover, according to dynastic and other political changes occurring in England, but has not altered since it took a fixed form in the reign of Richard I of England (1189–1199), the second Plantagenet king.

The coat of arms of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, was designed by Robert Watt, the Chief Herald of Canada at the time, for the City of Toronto after its amalgamation in 1998. The arms were granted by the Canadian Heraldic Authority on 11 January 1999.

The coat of arms of Ireland is blazoned as Azure a harp Or, stringed Argent. These arms have long been Ireland's heraldic emblem. References to them as being the arms of the king of Ireland can be found as early as the 13th century. These arms were adopted by Henry VIII of England when he ended the period of Lordship of Ireland and declared Ireland to be a kingdom again in 1541. When the crowns of England, Scotland and Ireland were united in 1603, they were integrated into the unified royal coat of arms of kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland. The harp was adopted as the emblem of the Irish Free State when it separated from the United Kingdom in 1922. They were registered as the arms of Ireland with the Chief Herald of Ireland on 9 November 1945.

A Royal Badge for Wales was approved in May 2008. It is based on the arms borne by the thirteenth-century Welsh prince Llywelyn the Great, with the addition of St Edward's Crown atop a continuous scroll which, together with a wreath consisting of the plant emblems of the four countries of the United Kingdom, surrounds the shield. The motto which appears on the scroll, PLEIDIOL WYF I'M GWLAD, is taken from the National Anthem of Wales and is also found on the Welsh designs for £1 coins minted from 1985 until 2000. The badge formerly appeared on the covers of Assembly Measures; since the 2011 referendum, it now appears on the cover of Acts passed by the Senedd and its escutcheon, ribbon and motto are depicted on the Welsh Seal.

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The lion is a common charge in heraldry. It traditionally symbolises courage, nobility, royalty, strength, stateliness and valour, because historically the lion has been regarded as the "king of beasts". The lion also carries Judeo-Christian symbolism. The Lion of Judah stands in the coat of arms of Jerusalem. Similar-looking lions can be found elsewhere, such as in the coat of arms of the Swedish royal House of Bjelbo, from there in turn derived into the coat of arms of Finland, formerly belonging to Sweden.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blazon</span> Art of describing heraldic arms in proper terms

In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct the appropriate image. The verb to blazon means to create such a description. The visual depiction of a coat of arms or flag has traditionally had considerable latitude in design, but a verbal blazon specifies the essentially distinctive elements. A coat of arms or flag is therefore primarily defined not by a picture but rather by the wording of its blazon. Blazon is also the specialized language in which a blazon is written, and, as a verb, the act of writing such a description. Blazonry is the art, craft or practice of creating a blazon. The language employed in blazonry has its own vocabulary, grammar and syntax, which becomes essential for comprehension when blazoning a complex coat of arms.

Cornish heraldry is the form of coats of arms and other heraldic bearings and insignia used in Cornwall, United Kingdom. While similar to English, Scottish and Welsh heraldry, Cornish heraldry has its own distinctive features. Cornish heraldry typically makes use of the tinctures sable (black) and or (gold), and also uses certain creatures like Cornish choughs. It also uses the Cornish language extensively for mottoes and canting arms.

The coat of arms of Oxford is the official heraldic arms of Oxford, used by Oxford City Council.

The coat of arms of the London Borough of Hillingdon is the official symbol of the London Borough of Hillingdon. They use elements from the coats of arms of the four previous districts. It is described as:

Arms: Per pale Gules and Vert an Eagle displayed per pale Or and Argent in the dexter claw a Fleur-de-lis Or and in the sinister claw a Cog-Wheel Argent on a Chief Or four Civic Crowns Vert.
Crest: On a Wreath of the Colours issuant from a Circlet of Brushwood Sable a demi-Lion Gules with wings Argent the underside of each wing charged with a Cross Gules and holding between the paws a Bezant thereon a Mullet Azure.
Supporters: On the dexter side an Heraldic Tiger Or gorged with an Astral Crown Azure and charged on the shoulder with a Rose Gules charged with another Argent barbed and seeded proper and on the sinister side a Stag proper attired and gorged with a Circlet of Brushwood and charged on the shoulder with two Ears of Rye slipped in saltire Or.
Motto: Forward.

The coat of arms of the Prince of Wales is the official heraldic insignia of the Prince of Wales, a title traditionally granted to the heir apparent of the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, formerly the Kingdom of Great Britain and before that the Kingdom of England.

References

↑ "The History of The FA". www.thefa.com. Retrieved 29 September 2021.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Phillips, David Llewelyn (Spring 2015). "Badges and 'Crests':The Twentieth-century Relationship Between Football and Heraldry" (PDF). The Coat of Arms, the Journal of the Heraldry Society. XI part 1 (229): 35–50.
↑ Tennent, Kevin D.; Gillett, Alex G. (5 August 2016). Foundations of Managing Sporting Events: Organising the 1966 FIFA World Cup. Routledge. p. 38. ISBN 978-1-317-24060-0.
↑ Nafziger, James A. R.; Ross, Stephen F. (2011). Handbook on International Sports Law. Edward Elgar Publishing. p. 451. ISBN 978-0-85793-630-1.

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[1] "The History of The FA". www.thefa.com. Retrieved 29 September 2021.

[phillips-2] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Phillips, David Llewelyn (Spring 2015). "Badges and 'Crests':The Twentieth-century Relationship Between Football and Heraldry" (PDF). The Coat of Arms, the Journal of the Heraldry Society. XI part 1 (229): 35–50.

[3] Tennent, Kevin D.; Gillett, Alex G. (5 August 2016). Foundations of Managing Sporting Events: Organising the 1966 FIFA World Cup. Routledge. p. 38. ISBN 978-1-317-24060-0.

[4] Nafziger, James A. R.; Ross, Stephen F. (2011). Handbook on International Sports Law. Edward Elgar Publishing. p. 451. ISBN 978-0-85793-630-1.

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