A red Port Vale crest? Yes, it happened twice!
In 2013, Port Vale asked supporters to decide whether the club should return to an updated version of the crest used by the club in the 1950’s. But how many fans knew that a red and gold version of that crest was also produced by the club?
Thanks to Vale fan Stuart Dean, OVF have been handed a photo of the the club’s well-regarded 1950’s crest, but in this altogether different red and gold colour scheme…
The three crests are shown below (from left to right) the “original” 1950’s crest, the proposed 2014-2015 season crest and the “red” version:
But how did that red version come about? Stuart told OVF that the red crest was actually used on the club blazers issued to the players with this particular crest coming from the blazer belonging to long-standing full-back Stan Turner.
But why use the red and yellow colours? Well, the 1950’s club crest was based on the Burslem coat of arms and one possible explanation could be that the crests on the blazers were based exactly on the Burslem crest.
The coat of arms was awarded to Burslem in 1876 and specified that “The shield was divided into four gold and red quarters with two vertical and two horizontal stripes interlaced and counterchanged…”
Reference: potteries.org
This theory would appear to make sense as OVF can reveal the club did used another red and gold crest earlier in its history. In its formative years, a red and yellow version of the original Burslem coat of arms was adopted as the club’s first crest.
However, as crests were not widely used by clubs (for instance, most clubs didn’t put badges on shirts until after WW2. The first Vale crest to appear on the players’ shirts was in 1952) the red and yellow design was not as commonly associated with the Valiants as much as the black and white version
You can find out more about Port Vale’s crests over the years with our dedicated OVF feature – “A brief history of Port Vale crests”
Click on this link to read it – https://www.onevalefan.co.uk/content/history-port-vale-club-crests/