fleur-de-lis

Edusport Academy was established as a residential football academy in 2011 with the aim of developing young French players and giving them the opportunity to improve their English language skills. The purpose behind refining these skills was to give the young footballers an edge in entering into the professional game in Britain.

The academy continues to operate as such, but in 2014, applied successfully to become members of the South of Scotland Football League, becoming the first private academy to participate in a senior league recognised by FIFA. The following season, Edusport applied to the Lowland Football League, but was rejected. This did not deter the club for long, as they were crowned champions of the South of Scotland League in 2017, gaining promotion to the Lowland League.

In 2018, club founder Chris Ewing launched ‘Our Football Club‘, an online membership scheme, giving supporters the opportunity to have a more democratic voice in the affairs of the club. With this, Ewing expressed the goal of establishing the senior Edusport team as a separate club in its own right with the ambitious aim of reaching the top tier of Scottish football by 2025.

In 2019, the club was rebranded as Caledonian Braves FC, complete with a new badge. The original badge employed the colours of the French tricolore and featured a small Saltire within its central football, representing the link between France and Scotland. While I appreciated the aim of this badge, I found it somewhat difficult to see as more than a relatively weak corporate brand. For a start, I found the colour scheme of ‘Edusport’ reminiscent of the uninspiring SportsDirect.com logo. Additionally, the original badge featured text within a shield – a ‘no-no’ under ancient Scottish heraldic law. For my first redesign, I went for a roundel which featured the club’s name with the French definite article le (l’). I also included the French name for Scotland, Écosse, which is recognised quite readily in Scotland. The centre of this first redesigned badge featured a stylised ‘EA’ monogram and a red circle representing a football.

I assume the current badge is the result a great deal of consultation with the club’s stakeholders. It futures the club’s name as part of a shield. The centrepiece of the current badge is an eagle in dark blue, behind which is what seems to be a fleur-de-lis in a lighter blue (perhaps a reference to the club’s French connection). The football and saltire from the original badge is found on the breast of the eagle. Being that this new badge continues to violate ancient Scottish heraldic law, I decided to have another shot at this redesign. The new design is very similar to my redesign of the original badge. Instead of the ‘EA’ monogram, the centre of the badge features a similar design to that of the current badge. The fleur-de-lis is depicted in red, with its side petals crossing over the eagle’s wings and the triple stalk acting as the eagle’s tailfeathers. I decided to omit the saltire as ‘Caledonian’ seems a sufficient reference to Scotland.

The kits are based upon previous incarnations of Edusport kits, with thick blue and black hoops on the home kit and red and dark red hoops on the away kit. To me, these seem simple, clean and dramatic.

Keith Football Club was established in 1910 in the small Banffshire town from which it gets its name. The club competed on a junior level until it was admitted into the Highland Football League in 1924.

Throughout their history, Keith have experienced sporadic regional success. They have won the Highland Football League on seven occasions, including three consecutive seasons, between 1979 and 1981. The club boast ten Highland League Cups, including another span of three consecutive victories between 1974 and 1976. Keith have also been Aberdeenshire Cup holders on eight occasions and have won the Scottish Qualifying Cup (North) four times. But the club’s experience of the Scottish Cup might leave a bad taste in some supporters’ mouths, with a notable 1-10 defeat to Rangers in the 1995/96 Scottish Cup, which drew national attention for all the wrong reasons.

The current Keith badge is what I would describe as, ‘nothing to look at’. Not only does it violate ancient Scottish heraldic laws, but it also features the club’s initials, which is unfortunate due to their sharing of these initials with a more famous institution. For my redesign, I have decided to incorporate the symbols found in the Keith coat of arms. The first, in the upper-left position, symbolises the ancient Kirkton of Keith and the historical tenure of the Lordship of Regality, the land upon which the town of Keith is located. This Regality—granted by King William I, or ‘William the Lion’, who reigned from 1165 to 1214—was held by the Cistercian Abbey of Kinloss. As a result, this part of Keith’s history is represented by the Cistercian Order’s blue field with fleur-de-lys.

The upper-right position features a crowned lion from the Ogilvy coat of arms. This represents James Ogilvy, 5th Earl of Findlater and 2nd Earl of Seafield, and Fife, who united and enlarged the communities of Old and New Keith to form the settlement of Keith in 1750. The bottom position features a shell which represents the Duff coat of arms, also relating to James Ogilvy. These symbols have all been adapted to the colour scheme of Keith FC and are enclosed within a circle, indicating the club’s name and year of foundation.

As the club has used their signature maroon home strip for many years—this giving the club its nickname, ‘the Maroons’—I decided to use maroon as the primary colour of the home strip, highlighted with light blue vertical stripes and accents. The away strip is again dominated by maroon and has white accents.

ELIJAH WADE ARTEFACTS

a digital portfolio

ReBrand: Caledonian Braves

ReBrand: Keith FC