Queen’s Park Football Club was established in 1867, making it the oldest football club in Scotland. It can be argued that no single club has had such an influence on the game of football in Britain—and in turn, the world—than Queen’s Park. They invented the passing game (as opposed to the tactic of a ‘rolling-maul’ like that used in rugby, the primary tactic employed by all other football clubs of this early era), as well as the crossbar on goals, the half-time interval and free kicks.
Having been established in 1871, the [English] Football Association Cup competition predates the Scottish Cup by two years. In these early years, Queen’s Park was invited to participate in the FA Cup and reached the final in 1883/84 and 1884/85, losing to Blackburn Rovers in both. Although other Scottish clubs were invited to participate in early editions of the FA Cup (including Cowlairs, Hearts, Partick Thistle, Rangers, Renton and Third Lanark ), Queen’s Park are the only Scottish club to have ever played in the final.
In Scotland, Queen’s Park won the first three Scottish Cup finals and had amassed ten Scottish Cup final victories between 1873 and 1893. The club’s record would only be surpassed by Celtic in 1922/23 and Rangers in 1935/36. This means that, despite not having won the competition for 125 years, Queen’s Park remain in the third position for all-time Scottish Cup victories.
Another distinguishing feature of this historic club is the fact that Queen’s Park was, until November 2019, an amateur side, reflected in the club’s Latin motto, Ludere causa ludendi, ‘To play for the sake of playing’. So committed had Queen’s Park been to retaining their amateur ideals, that they resisted joining the Scottish Football League when it formed in 1890. Eventually, in 1900, Queen’s Park applied for membership into the SFL and were admitted directly to the top tier. But that season saw Queen’s Park beaten by Celtic in the Scottish Cup final, heralding the end of the amateurs’ dominance of Scottish football.
The Queen’s Park kit did not feature a regular badge until 1928, which has more-or-less remained the same ever since. This badge is heraldic in nature, featuring a black and white hooped shield (reminiscent of the iconic Queen’s Park home shirt, from which their nickname, ‘the Spiders’, is derived) tilted anti-clockwise. The shield is topped by a helmet, from which emerges mantling, a torse and a crest of a lion rampant in red. The club motto is displayed on a scroll beneath the shield.
Given the club’s illustrious history, I found the Spiders’ badge one of the most difficult to redesign. Being that they are the oldest club in Scotland, I found it essential to include the year of their formation, as well as the club’s initials and the Latin motto. I have included all of these features in a typeface of my own design, inspired by the script in several medieval illuminated manuscripts. As a centrepiece, I have included an illustration of a Victorian era football.
Both of the kit redesigns are based on historic Queen’s Park kits. The home kit features the club’s traditional tight black and white hoops (in use since 1873). In particular, this kit is inspired by the 1927/28 home kit and variations on said kit used until 1960. The away kit is inspired primarily by the home kit worn from 1872 to 1873, with dark blue and white hooped socks. This similar dark blue and grey colour scheme was also used in the home kit between 2016 and 2018 to commemorate the club’s 150th anniversary.
As ever, I am indebted to Dave at Historical Football Kits for some of the historical information used above.
