Who Are Ya? | Ten Things You Didn’t Know About…Shrewsbury Town.

Posted on 07/04/17

                                                                                          

For fans across the football universe who indulge in some of the finest  football there is to offer from major cities across the globe it can be easy to miss a thing or two. Here we take a look at English Sky Bet League One side Shrewsbury Town who have a story or two to tell.

 

1-      The club are nicknamed Salop, meaning ‘from Shropshire’ the county in which Shrewsbury is based. In 1972 it became the official county nickname but has been that of the football club for some time.  Salop is taken from the Latin translation of ‘Floreat Salopia’. Other nicknames include simply ‘Blues’ or ‘Town’.

 

2-      The club badge has changed a few times over the years causing some controversy between club and fans. Originally they used the Loggerheads in 1907 and was used on and off up until 1960 when a generic football design was used for the decade. They returned to the Loggerheads in 1970 until 1986 when the club rebranded to a new nickname ‘the Shrews’ from Salop and a cartoon shrew was used as the club badge. Fans campaigned and in 1992 they reverted back. In 2007 to coincide with their stadium move the crest changed to a lion used until 2015 when a campaign to once again bring the Loggerheads back won, with fans voting in numbers, 92% looking to return to tradition. The badge used between 2007 and 2015 of a Lion turned out to be a picture freely available on ‘clip art’.

 

3-      Due to its location Shrewsbury have a number of local rivalries. Their main two are midlands based clubs in Walsall and Wolverhampton Wanderers. However the most fierce is with Hereford FC (formerly Hereford United) and was ranked 19th in the Telegraph’s twenty fiercest rivalries in England and is known as the ‘A49 Derby’ due to the shared road. Others include Chester FC (formerly Chester City), Wrexham, and Port Vale. Games against Kidderminster Harriers and Crewe Alexandra are also popular.

 

4-      Football in the town has been played way before any club was founded during the 19th  century, with the game being traced back as far back as 1562 where two people were sentenced to prison for playing a match on All Saints Day. A club was formed in 1872 and had quite the reputation for being tough opponents. A match against Wellington in 1885 saw four opposition players taken off injured after some crunching tackles.

 

 

5-      New balls please! Former home ground Gay Meadow was based right on the river Severn, which caused problems following poor shooting. When a shot cleared the stand behind the goal a gentleman would take a rowing boat on to the river in order to fetch stray footballs.

 

6-      The clubs colours are blue and orange and are iconic in English football. Different to any other but this wasn’t always the case. The club was officially formed in 1888 and wore a standard blue shirt, white shorts and black socks. Two years later a similar style to that of Blackburn Rovers’ blue and white halves was worn before they experimented briefly with stripes. The blue base was used until 1978 when yellow stripes were introduced. They had previously used yellow on the socks and in some patches on the shirts in the early seventies. Other than three years in the late eighties where white was used as the home shirt, Salop have remained blue and yellow since.

 

 

7-      Since 2007 the club has shared a close sponsorship with ‘Greenhous’.  When the club moved to its new home the New Meadow in the same year its name became christened the ‘Prostar Stadium’ due to a deal with the kit manufacturers. After the deal ended its name returned to the New Meadow before Greenhous took up the deal in 2010 and it became ‘Greenhous Meadow’. It was announced in November that the deal will end at the end of the current 2016/2017 season

 

8-      Although an English team, their close proximity with Wales meant they use to compete in the Welsh Cup. They are in fact the most successful English club to have competed in the competition winning it six times, the last time coming in 1985 when they beat Bangor City 2-1 at Gay Meadow in front of 1,507 supporters. Other English clubs in the Welsh Cup included Hereford United, Chester City, Crewe Alexandra, Tranmere Rovers and Bristol City.

 

 

9-      Bobby Charlton’s last ever appearance as a player came at Gay Meadow in a charity match against Zambia in 1978. Charlton who had won the European Cup with Manchester United and the World Cup with England was invited to Shrewsbury Town as a guest.

 

10-   Notable former players and managers for Shrewsbury include ex-Wales international Kevin Ratcliffe, Sunderland manager David Moyes, Graham Turner. The clubs record appearance holder is Mickey Brown with 418 league games and the record goalscorer is Arthur Rowley with 152, including 38 goals during the 1958/1959 season alone.

Shrewsbury Town Home, Away, Third and Goalkeeper Shirts from the current 2016/2017 season are available here at Vintage Football Shirts by clicking the link below or here.

 

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