Traditions of Derry City F.C. - Crests

Crests

Although the club did not traditionally sport a crest on the club jersey as the concept had not yet become popularised (probably due to the complications and vast time-consumption involved in mass-producing intricate designs before greater technological advancement occurred), throughout the years playing in the Irish League - and for most of the first season in the League of Ireland - Derry City used the coat of arms of the city, rather than having an exclusive crest of their own. This crest often appeared on club memorabilia such as scarves, hats and badges. The symbols on Derry's arms were, and still are, a skeleton, a three-towered castle, a red St. George's cross and sword. The sword and cross were devices of the City of London and, along with an Irish harp embedded within the cross, demonstrated the link between the two cities (The city's official name under UK law is, of course, Londonderry), in particular, the association with the Honourable the Irish Society which had been granted lands in and around the city in the past. The castle was thought to relate to a 13th or 14th century keep belonging to the local native chieftains. There were many theories about the skeleton; the most popular being that it is that of a Norman de Burca knight who was starved to death in the castle dungeons in 1332. This was accompanied by the Latin motto, "Vita, veritas, victoria", meaning "Life, truth, victory."

However, in April 1986, just under a year after the senior rebirth of the club and its entry into the League of Ireland, the club ran a competition in local schools to design a new crest for the football club. The winning entry was designed by John Devlin, a fourth-year student at St Columb's College, and made its debut on 5 May 1986 when Derry City entertained Nottingham Forest at Brandywell Stadium for a friendly match. The crest depicted a simplified version of the city's Foyle Bridge, which had opened 18 months previously, the traditional red and white candystripes associated with the shirt of the club bordered by thin black lines and the year in which Derry City was established as a club, as well as a football in the centre representing the fact that the club is a footballing entity. The club's anme featured in Impact font. This crest lasted until July 1997, when the current crest was unveiled at Lansdowne Road when Derry City played Celtic in a pre-season tournament. The modernised crest, once again, featured a centred football, the club's name and the year of founding. The famous red a white candystripes were present along with a red mass of colour filling the left half of the crest, separated from the right by a white stripe. Known cultural landmarks or items associated with the city are absent from the badge. The origins of this crest are not fully known and the reason for the change in 1997 has never been explained by the club, although it is likely that the club simply wished to develop a fresher, more contemporary image with a minimalist design and also because the Foyle Bridge was no longer as novel, trendy or innovative a feature as it were in the mid-to-late 1980s.