Welcome to 2016; Atherton Collieries centenary year. We are pleased to introduce the new centenary badge which will be used on all forms of social media as well as on the front of this years matchday programmes. It will feature regularly over the course of the year to help us celebrate a special year.
The badge has been designed to replicate the one found on the earliest team photograph we can currently find. This photograph, taken in 1919 features on the front of the tomorrow's Ashton Athletic programme.
This photograph was unearthed over the summer when the club did a second research day at Leigh Library. There was so much information gathered, and we gradually became overfaced and tired. It was worth it though, as we discovered a league title we had won and weren’t aware of, as well as seeing the club’s original badge.
When the club was founded in 1916, it did so under the banner of the Atherton Collieries Joint Association, hence the letters ACJA appearing on the badge. The Joint Association was set up for the miners of the town and consisted of a cricket club and football club amongst a whole host of other things.
Members of the Joint Association also received medals, similar to the one pictured which is believed to be from early 1920’s.
Again, the distinctive ACJA letters can be read.
The new badge is purposefully more symmetrical than that found on the medal to make it feel more like a football crest. The black and white colours remain as does the round design, to make it feel like our current crest.
We spent a lot of time messing around with different designs, and after a few weeks we decided that this was our winner of sorts.
We hope you like it too.
