Crystal Palace of the English Premier League have updated their club badge to pay tribute to their origins in 1861 and their historic role in the development of modern football.
The new badge changes the original year 1905 to 1861, when the original football team was formed by Crystal Palace cricketers. The rest of the badge remains largely unchanged.
The club was founded by Crystal Palace, seven of whose members were involved in the founding of The Football Association in 1863 and the adoption of the rules of the game. The team also played in the inaugural FA Cup 150 years ago.
Extensive research into digital archives and other materials from 19th century newspapers has established a direct lineage between the early amateur teams and the professional clubs formed by Crystal Palace in the early 20th century, making Crystal Palace the oldest surviving club in the professional league.
Crystal Palace's place in football history was determined after five years of research by historian Peter Manning, who found evidence that the original amateur team was in line with the professional club founded in 1905. Although the team went on hiatus for a few years at the end of the 19th century, the professional club's 1906 handbook recognised the historical relationship with the previous amateur club and proudly listed the names of some of the Crystal Palace players who had been selected for the England squad in the early 1870s.
The Crystal Palace Company, which owns and operates the Crystal Palace, a vast steel and glass building on 200 acres of land in Sydenham, founded the cricket club in 1857 and the football club was born here.
Manning said: "The Crystal Palace football team started out as an amateur team playing in blue and white and eventually became a professional team owned by the Crystal Palace Company in 1905 and switched to playing in red and blue. The football club, Crystal Palace and Crystal Palace Company all share the same DNA."
Steve Parish, the chairman of Crystal Palace, said: "As a lifelong supporter of Crystal Palace, I am proud to discover that our history dates back to the Victorian cricket team of 1861 and that we played a central role in the inaugural FA conference, which shaped the game we all love. We recognize that our unique history began in 1861 and that it deserves to be inscribed in our famous crest."
