Leyton Orient Football Club, the east London club nicknamed “The O’s,” has carried a crest built around two red wyverns facing each other over a football since the mid-1970s. The current badge, which also features the club’s foundation year, was introduced in 1976 and has remained the club’s visual identity ever since, with the “Leyton” prefix restored to the name in 1987.
Design and History
The crest currently used by Leyton Orient dates from 1976, when a competition to design a new club crest was held in the Walthamstow Guardian newspaper [1]. The design replaced the club’s previous badge with two wyverns or dragons facing each other over a football, a motif introduced to incorporate the club’s links with the City of London and the Thames [2]. The wyvern is described as the mythological defender of the Thames and sea, through the old Orient Shipping Company, and has adorned the club’s badge since 1976 [3].
Before the 1976 redesign, the club had used other emblems. The first club logo appeared in 1952 and featured the heraldic coat of arms of the Leyton area [4]. In 1965, manager Dave Sexton designed a simple blue and white striped shield badge, but it was changed six months later because it was the wrong colour [5]. The 1976 crest has remained in use with the addition of “Leyton” when the club reverted to being Leyton Orient in 1987 [5].
Meaning and Symbolism
The two wyverns on the badge carry dual meaning. The wyvern is the mythological defender of the Thames and sea, referencing the old Orient Shipping Company from which the club took its name [3]. The design also incorporates the club’s links with the City of London, whose own crest features dragon supporters [2]. The badge features two red wyverns guarding a football, with a stylised representation of the Thames as a nod to the old Orient Shipping Company [6]. The football in the centre is inscribed with “1881,” the year the club was founded [7].
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