Charlton Athletic

I'm up early today to catch the train down to Roots Hall to catch @SUFCRootsHall take on @CAFCofficial in their last pre-season friendly.

So, let’s #GetTheBadgeIn for Charlton Athletic — a club born on the bend of the Thames, with a great nickname - they've had some good times and today are looking to rebuild back to where they were in the 90s and early 00s. So let's see what we can see down in the Valley...

Charlton were formed in 1905 by a group of teenagers in south-east London. They became known later as the Addicks. Why I hear you cry? Well, here is the legend:

In Chalrton's early days the visiting team would be treated to haddock and chips after the match, courtesy of local fishmonger Arthur Bryan, who ran a shop at 77 East Street. He also held the catering contract during Charlton’s first season at The Valley.

One version of the tale has the shop owner attending early games with a haddock nailed to a post, using it to advertise his takeaway to the crowd. Whether apocryphal or not, it stuck. The name ‘Addicks’ — a corruption of ‘haddocks’ in the local accent — became a cherished part of the club’s identity.

This is an incredible story and if Charlton to this day don't offer visiting teams, and their coaching staff, a fish dinner - then they absolutely need to.

(Surely Birdseye or someone needs to sponsor a pre-season friendly cup involving Grimsby (Harry the Haddock), Fleetwood (Cod Army), Chalrton ('Addicks) and Southend (Shrimpers?)... Someone is missing a trick here).

Charlton's ground, The Valley, was built with the help of volunteers in the 1910s and 1920s, carved out of an old chalk pit by fans using picks, shovels, and wheelbarrows. In the early days, the pitch was prone to flooding and even had a duck pond in one corner.

From the very beginning this was a club built on hard work. Charlton turned professional in 1920 and became a mainstay of the English football league system. Their golden era came just before and after the Second World War. Under manager Jimmy Seed, they reached the FA Cup final twice — losing in 1946 but winning it the year after, defeating Burnley 1–0 at Wembley.

During that post-war period, Charlton wore a badge featuring a robin perched on a football in the centre of a quartered shield — each quarter marked with the letters C A F C. That crest, used in the 1946 final, reflected the club’s nickname at the time: The Robins. Though it never appeared again on shirts after the 1940s, the design has made occasional comebacks on retro merchandise.

In the early 1960s, club officials felt the time had come for a more modern identity. In 1963, they ran a competition for supporters to design a new club crest. The winning entry depicted a hand gripping a sword — it stood out, it was simple, and unlike anything else in English football at the time. Though a fanzine article in 1998 claimed the design came from the Percival family crest (A noble family with connections to nearby "Charlton House" - the most famous of whom, Spencer, was the only British Prime Minister to have been assassinated). Although this claim apparently has no real connection to the original design and was dreamt up after the fact.

The real symbolism was clearer: the sword stood for strength and daring. It reflected Charlton’s hard-edged, working-class identity, and perhaps hinted at the kind of fight the club would come to embody. On the back of the new badge the club experimented with new nicknames — including The Valiants (a nod to both the sword and The Valley), The Crusaders, The Rockets, and The Red Devils. None of them stuck. In the end, fans kept using The Addicks, and that was that.

The now-familiar badge — with the hand and sword placed inside a red ring with the club’s name — made its debut in a match against Millwall on 10 August 1968. It was briefly dropped during the 1970s, replaced by a plain “CAFC” monogram, but this proved too bland and short-lived. The sword returned in 1975 and has remained ever since.

Considering it's age the logo is a modern gem - looks easily like it could have been designed today by some marketing team after months of development, "fan engagement" and prototypes (and millions of pounds in fees).

In 2002, a full-page article in the matchday programme claimed the local council had questioned whether the sword was an appropriate symbol for a “friendly” football club. Supporters were asked to vote on alternative designs, including crests based on the Addicks and the Robin. It turned out to be an April Fool’s joke, but the reaction was telling — fans overwhelmingly backed the sword.

In 1985, The Valley was closed due to safety concerns. The club began a ground-share at Selhurst Park with Crystal Palace, but many supporters refused to accept it. Instead, they formed the Valley Party, a single-issue political group that stood in local elections to demand the return of their stadium. They didn’t win seats, but they forced the issue onto the political agenda. By 1992, Charlton were back home.

That same spirit carried into the Premier League era. Under Alan Curbishley, Charlton became one of the most stable clubs in the top flight between 1998 and 2007. They weren’t flashy, but they were consistent — a team built on smart recruitment, good coaching, and solid leadership. Players like Scott Parker, Claus Jensen, Richard Rufus, and Darren Bent played some of their best football at The Valley.

But things fell apart after Curbishley’s departure. The club endured relegations, ownership turmoil, frequent managerial changes, and a general feeling of drift. The Valley remained proud, but there was an unmistakable sense of decline.

Until now.

After more than a decade in League One, Charlton have finally returned to the Championship — bringing cautious optimism back to SE7. Supporters have reason once again to believe that better days might lie ahead.

Meanwhile, the surrounding area of Charlton continues to evolve. Once industrial, now a mix of old terraces and new flats, it sits just along the Thames from Greenwich and the O2 Arena. But The Valley remains untouched — hemmed in by houses, flanked by old roads and railway lines, and echoing with the sound of generations past.

Charlton Athletic might not have global fame, a billionaire owner, or flashy branding. But it does have history. It has character. It has a sword held aloft. — and if all else fails - on the way home they can have haddock and chips.