Washington Commanders

How did an Anglo-Saxon called Hwæsa, pottering about 1200 years ago outside Sunderland, end up being dragged into a #Trump made culture war in 2020? Let’s find out…

Coming up is a #NFLPreseason game between my Cincinnati

@Bengals and the Washington @Commanders. All season long I will try to give the historical and symbolic meaning behind the badges of the teams we play. So let's get started with the capital's team...

The Washington Commanders. Formerly the Redskins. Three-time Super Bowl winners. One of the most iconic teams in the #NFL .

But why today are they called the Commanders?

I don’t want to get too much into why they switched. To do so risks attracting the swivel-eyed loons of the MAGA personality cult in the States (who are doing their absolute best to destroy their supposedly sacred constitution). And nobody has time for that. As a huge fan of the USA, it just makes me incredibly sad to see what is happening to it. So let’s move on.

Yes, we all know that it was deemed by many to be inappropriate and distasteful to the memory and legacy of Indigenous peoples in the USA (who, let’s not forget, suffered genocide — at the hands of both pathogens and politics brought by European settlers). So a change was made. Was it the right change? Who knows. Personally, making these sorts of name changes comes about five millionth on my list of “Things to do to make the world a better place”. I’d much rather we had grown-up discussions about how to make the world materially better than just navel-gazing and arguing semantics. But alas. Here we are.

So, the Commanders it is. And, to be fair, there’s actually a lot more thought behind the name than first meets the eye. So let’s give this newly named franchise the honour and respect they deserve and #GetTheBadgeIn to see what lies behind the new name.

The Washington Commanders.

Firstly, they have retained the burgundy and gold of the Redskins. Good. Keeps some continuity with the past.

What about the rest? Well, the name Commanders does make sense. Washington is home to the President — the Commander-in-Chief. It is home to the Pentagon — the world’s largest military HQ (for now, China is building a bigger one). And the city itself takes its name from George Washington — the most famous of all American commanders. So Commanders ties in.

But there’s actually a lot more going on with the badge and the jersey.

The badge is that “W”. What at first appears to be a bit of a cop-out comes in military-style print — the sort you’d expect to see stencilled in white on a green ammo box in the Vietnam War or something similar.

Then there’s the very subtle positioning of the name “Commanders” on the jersey. It has dual symbolism. The word appears sandwiched between two lines. Fine.

The first symbolism is the way it mimics the name badges seen on military uniforms, tying it again nicely into the martial theme.

But the second part is much, much deeper. And to a British fan, much more satisfying. This is because embedded in the jersey is an old English coat of arms.

And that takes us back to our good friend Hwæsa.

Pottering around, probably about 1200ish years ago near modern-day Sunderland, he settled down and formed a little village near the River Wear. The meaning of the name is a little disputed, but the most likely is that Washington came from Hwæsingatūn — meaning “the estates of the descendants of Hwæsa”. From that name we get, through various evolutions, the modern English “Washington”.

After the Norman invasion, the area was, a century or so later, gifted to a noble by the name of William de Hertburn. He changed his name to William de Wessyngton to reflect his new home town and built a stately home — an updated version of which still stands, called Old Hall.

This was the seat of the Washington family.

And here’s where the connection is made. The Washington family was given a coat of arms — a shield. A simple one at that: it featured two red lines running in parallel and, above them, three stars.

Centuries later this coat of arms was taken by the Washington family to the New World, and George Washington — aka President Washington — flew the flag at his home estate in Virginia. Today, that same coat of arms is the flag of Washington D.C.: two parallel red lines and three stars.

What do we see on the Washington Commanders’ jerseys? The “Commanders” name, sandwiched between the two lines taken from the Washington coat of arms — and, on the back of the jersey near the neck, three stars. (which -remarkably – is the same number of NFL era Super Bowls they’ve won – I guess when they win a fourth the designers will need to make a decision!)

From the Potomac to the playbook.

This is the team of Washington. This is the team of America’s Commanders. And long may it continue to be so.