Darlington FC

This is a glorious badge, for a club representing a town with a glorious past. Did Darlington build the modern world single-handedly? If they didn’t, they gave it a damn good go.

So, let’s do the National League North outfit the honour and #GetTheBadgeIn.

Firstly. The team. The club. The Darlos.

Founded in 1883, they initially played in local leagues until becoming one of the founding members of the Third Division North in 1921. In 1925, they won that league and were promoted to the Second Division of English football (today's Championship), where they finished 15th in 1926 — which remains the highest league position they’ve held.

But that isn’t to say they've done nothing for the last century. They have numerous league titles, a League Cup quarter-final appearance, and won the FA Trophy in 2011.

During the 2010s, the club fell into administration after taking on too much debt as they moved to a modern, all-seater 25,000-capacity stadium. Alas, the bankruptcy cost them their league place, and they fell to the ninth tier before fighting their way back up to the National League North (and having to argue the point to get their name back!).

So that's the club — a once-regular EFL name that went bust and has had to claw its way back, showing much grit and determination along the way.

Two attributes the town has demonstrated through its history — which leads us nicely back to that fantastic badge.

Let's begin with the top. The Quaker hat. Iconic. Worn by that feller who sells oats — and not too dissimilar to those worn by the pilgrims who sailed to America (think: Thanksgiving). So, who, or what, actually are the Quakers? And what do they have to do with Darlington?

Quakers, otherwise known as the Religious Society of Friends, were a protest movement against the established church. They believed that anyone could connect with God, and that all it took was faith, prayer, and Bible study. You didn't need fancy church buildings or hierarchies of bishops and priests in expensive silks mooching about the place — you could be a good Christian with nothing but the clothes on your back.

Quaker meeting houses (their churches) are completely plain — simple benches and whitewashed walls — anything else was a waste or a distraction for the higher purpose (this picture is of inside the Darlington Meeting House. They don’t even need a meeting house at all, and many groups hire space or meet outdoors (weather allowing, one presumes). This disturbingly pious and principled behaviour put the willies up the rest of the Church establishment, and they were persecuted as a result.

Laws were passed banning them from universities and government jobs. They were forced out, and many moved to the USA — where William Penn, probably their most famous emigrant, founded Pennsylvania (after himself — which was not very Quakerish, to be fair).

However — and here is the irony whenever anyone persecutes and excludes a minority — they often end up doing rather well in the areas left open to them.

Banned from government and the church (two traditionally lucrative areas in the Medieval/Early Modern era), these Quakers — who had their homeland in the East and Northeast of England, with a large cluster in Darlington — diverted their energies into trade and industry.

And they did exceptionally well. They formed a close network across the nation, willing to help each other out and lend money. Their ethos of trust and honour made them famously good business partners. Their commitment to plain living meant they saved an absolute fortune — and had plenty left over to invest in business opportunities.

And this is where the Darlington FC badge crosses from the Quaker's hat to the railroad — and it does so with the aid of one particular local Quaker family: the Peases.

Starting as humble wool merchants, the family quickly emerged as one of the wealthiest in the area. When they formed a bank, this wealth multiplied.

They became some of the most influential investors in the region. Magnificent halls, art galleries, and bridges were built in and around the town. They also involved themselves in local politics, and many family members became MPs and important abolitionists against the slave trade.

Then, in 1818, came the meeting between Edward Pease and Scottish railroad engineer Robert Stephenson (associated with The Rocket, one of the earliest successful steam locomotives). The problem being solved was how to get Durham's vast quantities of coal from the interior to the coast for export. Stephenson believed a railway would be perfect — Pease backed him.

The Stockton and Darlington Railway Company was formed, with two-thirds of the shares sold to local Quakers and the rest to Quakers further afield. This technology would go on to change the world – and make the local Quakers richer still.

Darlington FC released a third kit this year which had the map of this railway etched onto it (I've only just discovered it — otherwise I’d have bought one instantly). The railway would go on not just to transport coal, but to operate the first passenger steam train service in the world.

Edward Pease's son took the next step and expanded the railway to a small farm he had bought on the coast, with the intention of turning it into a port. Its intended name was Port Darlington. It later took on the name of the nearby settlement: Middlesbrough.

So there we have it. The Quaker hat and the steam train. Two halves of a shield, but very closely related.

Darlington FC — I dare any team to carry more revolutionary history on its crest as they take to the pitch.

Darlington — the cradle of the railways, forger of the modern world, and home to a sleeping EFL giant.

History isn’t done with Darlington yet.