Club logos, a thing that some die hard fans are taking very seriously while most generic football fans couldn’t care much less. Despite being a fan of the club with arguably the most boring logo of all Italian clubs, I’m in the former category. I’m not really that interested in the logo of Napoli to be fair but club heraldry does fascinate me in general. Heraldry is most definitely one of the reasons that the middle ages were just a wee bit cooler than the 21st century.
As both a historian an an animal lover I chose to make the first stroll along the club logo path pass four of my favourite animals in Italian football crests. Geeky? Not in the slightest.
The Lazio logo shown at the top of the article oozes class, tradition, and history. The old Roman eagle is spreading its wings protecting its minions from harm and guiding them to victory. As much as I dislike the fascists’ use of the antique Roman symbols I must admit that these symbols do have a valid role in contexts where power, pride, and might should be felt – football logos is one of those contexts. The Lazio logo is a home run uniting the pride of the past with the passion of the present.
The Pescara dolphin is very different to the Lazio eagle. It’s not exactly fear invoking. Instead it’s cuddly to an extent where you will be excused of you storm the pitch to hug a random Pescara player the next time you’re at the Stadio Adriatico. I wonder if they have one of those mascots walking around on the pitch in the half time break – the awww… factor would be sky rocketing (except for the fact that a dolphin with legs might look more freaky than cute).
That said it’s also a logo that in a easily understandable way underlines the maritime heritage of the city.
While Avellino is a local rival to Napoli I find it reasonable to include their logo in this walk through. I like the aggressive focus on the contrasting green and white and the writing around the wolf has a neat beginning of the 20th century feeling to it. In fact it’s more the writing than the animal that makes this logo cool, but the wolf also has an emblematic ring to it. The logo is better than the players these days.
Yes! Brescia’s logo is fantastic. The lion may suffer a bit from the “animal doing karate syndrom”, but the whole layout and clarity of the crest saves it from becoming laughing stock. The dark blue paired with the golden is classy and the angled bar makes a good reference to the club’s jersey making it instantly recognizable as belonging to Brescia and no one else.
I don’t know if the lion historically has something to do with the city of Brescia, but even as a generic symbol of power and pride it works splendidly when put into such clear cut surroundings.
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9 comments
2 pings
Andrew says:
January 22, 2011 at 3:00 pm (UTC 1)
Got to love some geeky logo action, hoping there will be more to this series?
TT says:
January 23, 2011 at 5:36 pm (UTC 1)
Thank you and you can rely on the that. It’s a huge subject.
Somnath_Sengupta says:
January 24, 2011 at 5:53 pm (UTC 1)
Very interesting choice of topic.
Indian club Pune FC has a lizard in its logo…I wonder any other club has something like that..
TT says:
January 25, 2011 at 8:06 am (UTC 1)
I hope by “interesting” that you don’t mean “too strange”. :-p But anyway – a run through of the most strange animals in football logos would be great. I’m sure that there must be some fantastic ones out there. It’s gonna take some extraordinary stuff to lure me away from the Italian focus however.
Mark says:
February 1, 2011 at 9:46 am (UTC 1)
Hahahaha! the “Animal doing karate syndrom” comment was priceless.
Michał says:
February 5, 2011 at 9:17 am (UTC 1)
Nice bit. My other favourites are Roma’s wolf, Pizzighettone’s lion, Bari chicken and Geona’s creature. Logos making me laugh are A.C. Bellaria Igea Marina seagull[ ?], A.C. Pistoiese red riding hood lion and the proper Animal doing karate syndrom – A.C. Chioggia Sottomarina
TT says:
February 6, 2011 at 10:28 am (UTC 1)
Thanks for the input. I’m pretty sure that A.C. Pistoiese’s logo sports bears and not lions however. But their capes are great nontheless. :p
ursus arctos says:
May 23, 2011 at 8:13 pm (UTC 1)
Yes, Pistoiese has bears.
Two of them, in fact.
TT says:
May 25, 2011 at 1:32 pm (UTC 1)
I guess I better return to this matter soon. It’s such a great topic. Though I’ve been a bit disappointed that Brescia have broken the great link between their shirt and their logo by playing without the angle big parts of this season.
Tweets that mention Favourite football fauna – animals in club logos | Pondering Calcio -- Topsy.com says:
January 22, 2011 at 3:55 pm (UTC 1)
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Lars Aabjerg and Andrew Gibney, Lars Aabjerg. Lars Aabjerg said: *NEW (not at all geeky) POST* up on PC: http://ponderingcalcio.net/http:/ponderingcalcio.net/favourite-football-fauna-animals-in-club-logos [...]
Goodbye and good riddance » Pondering Calcio says:
July 5, 2011 at 8:57 pm (UTC 1)
[...] have also chosen to change the very same crest that I elected as the coolest in Italy in my “animals in football logos“. Come on guys – you’ve had it for 25 years, and just as it gains world fame on [...]