Accrington Stanley F.C.

“Accrington Stanley (@ASFCofficial), who are they?”If you’ve ever heard this question from the legendary 1980s Milk Marketing Board advert, you might already know the response: "Exactly!" But behind this unfortunate reference—which I’m sure annoys every true Accrington fan every time it’s brought up—lies a team and a history steeped in the very essence of Britishness.

They face the mighty Mariners (@officialgtfc) on 3rd December, so let’s visit the Crown Ground and #GetTheBadgeIn.

In 1891, a group of Lancashire workers met in the Stanley Arms pub and formed a football team. They took the name of their hometown and the name of the pub. Accrington Stanley was born (according to legend).

Their story has never been a straightforward one. Financial struggles forced the original club to fold in 1966, but a new version of the club emerged in 1968, starting from scratch and clawing its way back up the leagues. The Milk Board advert in 1989 brought Stanley into the national spotlight, but the real turning point came in 2001. The club benefitted from a clever sell-on clause when former Stanley star Brett Ormerod was sold to Southampton for over £1 million. Ormerod had begun playing for the club part-time while working in the local cotton mill—this lad couldn’t be more Lancashire if he tried. The windfall from his sale was enough to propel the club into the Football League in 2006, where they’ve proudly competed ever since.

What about the badge, then? Well, it’s another club that borrows from its town’s Coat of Arms. Accrington Stanley’s crest, though, is a beauty—it isn’t just a badge; it’s a visual history book of a badge. There’s a lot to investigate here.

Let’s start near the top of the shield with the lion. It is the family symbol of the De Lacy family, mates of William the Conqueror who fought with him at Hastings. As a thank-you for their help, they were awarded huge chunks of England—Accrington was swept up in their holdings.

To the right of the lion sits the stag with the green background, and this links directly to the printing rollers and paper at the base of the badge. This is the family crest of the Hargraves family and is much more modern. This family founded the Broad Oak Printworks in 1792 near Accrington and quickly turned it into an industrial powerhouse. They pioneered the art of calico printing, which printed colourful styles and patterns onto women’s cotton. The Hargraves didn’t stop there and busied themselves with all sorts of innovations: from printing blocks to printing rollers, from a seven waterwheel-powered machine to a steam one, and using sodium hydroxide to alter the cotton to give it more reflection and a softer finish (called mercerisation, after local lad John Mercer who discovered it). Accrington was the Silicon Valley of the 19th century.

The strange-looking ship-shaped thing in the middle of the badge is also linked to the cotton industry. It is a spinning cotton. Innovators like John Bullough improved the Lancashire Loom, making weaving more efficient and accessible using spinning devices like this one. These advancements helped mills in Accrington become the powerhouse of the Industrial Revolution—the beating heart of Britain’s power.

Above the knight’s helmet at the top of the shield sit some oak branches, which is a nod to the town’s name—Accrington is derived from Old English meaning "acorn farmstead." The red branch is twisted over into a rough A shape, just to firmly plant the point in your mind.

What I love most about the crest is how modern it is—and by modern, I mean within the last 200 years. Most heraldic badges like this hark back to the Normans and the De Lacys’ lion. This one does too, but the rest of it is pure Accrington industrial might.

Accrington, and the men and women who worked its mills, were the workhorses of Empire. No Hargraves, no Hong Kong. No Accrington, no Auckland.

Innovation, resilience, and sheer hard graft. This team is more than just a milk advert.

@AccStanDC, @Samileasmithson, @ben_kay8,  @jessicafarry, @RawMilkZine, @ASFCcommunity, @LivTaylorxx_, @ASWFCofficial, @DarrylPorrino, @AccyForza, @clarkyinjury