Bolton Wanderers Football Club, based in Bolton, Greater Manchester, has used a series of crests since its founding in the 19th century. The club’s current primary crest, introduced in 2013, is a reworking of a popular design worn by the team from the late 1970s into the early 2000s.
Design and History
The club’s original badge was the town crest of Bolton. During the Ian Greaves era as manager, the club moved away from the town coat of arms to a “BWFC” design. That design was tweaked on several occasions toward the end of the 1990s before the introduction of a ribbon-style emblem. The ribbon-style crest, featuring the club’s initials in the shape of a ball with red and blue ribbons beneath, was introduced following the club’s move to the Reebok Stadium in 1997. The ribbons controversially replaced the Red Rose of Lancaster, coinciding with the club’s 125th anniversary in 2002. [1] [2]
In June 2013, Bolton unveiled a newly designed club crest to coincide with the launch of their latest home kit. The club described the design as “more modern, cleaner and dynamic,” created following feedback from supporters who expressed an overwhelming desire to see the long history of the club reflected in the crest. The new design reintroduced the Lancashire rose alongside the founding year of the club, 1877, in a reworking of the club’s popular crest from the late 1970s. The year 1877 marks when the club changed its name from Christ Church FC to Bolton Wanderers. The club stated that the new crest’s compact design meant it would be reproduced both more effectively and more prominently on a variety of Bolton Wanderers elements. The existing ribbon-style crest remained in place as the club’s stadium crest. [3] [4] [5]
The 2013 crest was a modern version of the badge that featured on Wanderers’ kit between the 1976/77 and 2001/02 campaigns. The earlier late-1970s version had the club’s initials formed in a circle with the name “Bolton Wanderers” encircling the badge; the reworked 2013 version removed the full club name, leaving the initials above a banner with the Lancashire rose. [1] [6]
Meaning and Symbolism
The current crest features the blue letters BWFC (Bolton Wanderers Football Club) arranged to form a football shape. A red scroll and the red rose of Lancashire sit underneath the ball, with the year 1877 appearing below the rose. The Lancashire rose reflects the club’s historic location within the county of Lancashire. [3] [7]
Separately, the club has used an elephant motif with the town motto “Supera Moras,” meaning “Overcome Delays.” The motto was originally used on the Bolton Wanderers crest during the 1920s, when the club won the FA Cup three times in six years, including the first final at Wembley in 1923. In 2014, the elephant and motto returned on the club’s new Macron match shirts after an absence of more than 40 years, appearing on the back of the shirt under the collar. [8] [9]
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