By Eddie McAteer, Sports Editor
After a 100-day wait, the Premier League returns tonight, giving us hope that University sport is closer to a return. One team that will look a little different when we return is UBAFC, who have designed a new club badge for their much-anticipated return to the pitch.
The University’s men’s football team will wear a new badge on their shirts next season after almost two months of thought and alterations.
The club announced their sleek new design via a collection of Instagram posts at the end of May and followed them up with some explanatory slides on Facebook and Twitter, outlining the creative process.
Kit Secretary, Tom Bradley, and Club Captain, Will Straw, say there were well aware that the club needed a new badge. They were equally aware that creating a new crest for any club is a tricky process, as famously demonstrated by Leeds United back in 2018, who put forward a new crest to mark the club's centenary year - much to the dismay of Leeds fans.
In addition to this, UBAFC had the added pressure of not straying unrecognisably from the University identity.
20-year club veteran Alan Tyers was 'delighted' with the design
In order to remain synonymous with the University, Tom and Will decided to combine the original University coat of arms and its new corporate logo. They retained the traditional geometric shield and added the icons from the new University logo.
The creators truly made the badge their own by adding the ‘UBAFC’ banner at the top of the shield and by changing the colour from the brighter Pantone 187 to the more claret-like Pantone 208. The new design gives the badge a ‘sleek, sporting look’, Tom told Epigram.
The process of presenting their creation to club members and staff involved multiple steps. They began by presenting some badge concepts to the 14-man committee who were then asked to vote on the aspects they liked most.
Following the committee meeting, they had to pass the badge by 20-year club veteran Alan Tyers, who recently coached the team to the Western 1A title. Tyers was ‘delighted’ and with his backing, and the committee’s support, they were then able to release the badge to the rest of the club.
In addition to the new badge, new kits were also designed for the club’s teams. The new claret home kit, in particular, is a return to tradition following on from last seasons bright red kit. On away days, the team will wear an all-white kit with claret sleeves in true UBAFC fashion.
Overall, Tom says the response to the new club crest has been positive. Him and Will have had some very positive messages across social media which they believe has given them momentum to work on other projects for the club.
Featured: UBAFC
What are your thoughts on the new badge?
