Grimsby Town FC

I grew up in Suffolk, but my dad's family is all from Grimsby. My dad grew up as a Grimsby Town FC fan and always looks out for them, even today. They've just hit a good spell of league form—last weekend's away win at AFC Wimbledon was their fifth consecutive away win, a record last achieved in 1952!

So, in their honour, let's #GetTheBadgeIn and see what the Mariners have to teach us...

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At its height, Grimsby was the biggest fishing port in the world, a hub of industry that shaped not just the town but British culture itself.

The badge pays homage to this maritime legacy, featuring a fishing trawler as a symbol of the town's historic fleet, along with black and white stripes representing the team's colours. The shape of the crest also is that of a trawler. In the 1950s, there used to be around 400 trawlers operating from Grimsby alone. It must have been a sight to see them all leave or come back—if only Instagram was around then. I bet we'd have some incredible images of this.

Grimsby's impact on British life really took off in 1848 when the railway connected it to London and other major cities. Suddenly, fresh fish from Grimsby could be sold almost anywhere within 24 hours of being caught. Other innovations added to this remarkable industry. The 1880s saw the first steam trawlers operating from Grimsby, allowing them to be bigger, faster, and fish further from shore. The Grimsby Dock Company built cranes and gates that used hydraulic power—supplied by the Grimsby Dock Water Tower, which at a height of 61m dominates the skyline and is tall enough to generate the hydraulic force needed to operate the dock's machinery.

To accommodate this surge in catch, the Grimsby Ice Factory was built in 1901. It used revolutionary methods and produced 1,200 tonnes of ice a day to keep the fish fresh. Though now abandoned, the factory is currently seeking funding to transform into a modern leisure facility, with restaurants and a cinema. Let's hope they achieve it; it would be a remarkable use for the site.

The speedy supply of fresh fish directly contributed to the rise of fish and chips as Britain’s national dish—a status cemented during the Second World War when fish and chips were never officially rationed. Supposedly, the government felt this would cause too much pushback and risk riots or even revolution (George Orwell once wrote that fish and chips acted like a drug, keeping British people happy with their miserable existence!).

That said, prices did rise during the war because thousands of trawlers had been taken into service with the Royal Navy Patrol Service. Tens of thousands of trawlermen served alongside thousands of, usually white-collar, urban professionals from the Royal Navy Reserve, operating within the Royal Navy Patrol Service. I should mention that Lowestoft in Suffolk also became a large base for the RNPS. This branch of the navy was the most dangerous to serve in during the entire war. Grimsby men risked life and limb in those small trawlers, defending Britain’s shores and clearing mines to secure the coasts.

Grimsby Town FC itself also boasts its own pioneering history. Blundell Park, the club’s home ground, is the oldest stadium in the English Football League still in use, and the club was the first in Britain to hire a foreign manager—a Hungarian, long before the Premier League made international managers fashionable.

Today, their mascot, Harry the Haddock, is an inflatable fish that fans have been bringing to games for decades. Their official on-pitch mascot is Mighty Mariner, a white-bearded trawlerman.

The Mariners’ badge is a story of a town that embraced new technology, fed a nation, defended its coastlines, and delivered the greatest and most iconic British dish of all time.

There’s a lot to like in that badge.

My Grandad would be proud.

@officialgtfc, @FPL_Fish, @phillipnorton, @JohnTondeur, @RichMariner, @therealbenno, @onthisGTFCday, @Mightymariner