25 Of The Best Club Badges From The Old North American Soccer League (NASL)
By Chris Wright
After taking a gentle stroll through the best badges South American, Asian and African football have to offer, we thought we’d do something a little different this week and mosey back through time to the now-defunct NASL’s heyday to have a cheeky peek at their finest logos, crests and insignia.
Tally ho and away we go…
1. New York Cosmos
Old school cool…
2. Atlanta Chiefs
Hang on. We can’t help but feel like we’ve seen this before somewhere…
3. Golden Bay Earthquakes
Lovely bit of topographic typography there…
4. Chicago Sting
Nothing says “fearsome bumblebee” like a little straw boater…
5. Montreal Manic
About as manic as a two-hour instructional seminar on photocopier toner…
6. Tampa Bay Rowdies
The club’s official slogan was “The Rowdies are…a kick in the grass!”
7. Detroit Express
Nice to see what Roger Rabbit’s car was up to before it was famous…
8. Edmonton Drillers
Gonna drill you silly…
9. The Caribous of Colorado
Who, lest we forget, played in the greatest kit EVAH…
10. California Surf
Fine, fresh, fierce; they’ve got it on lock…
11. Jacksonville Tea Men
Historically apt, yes. Good name for a football team, not particularly…
12. Calgary Boomers
Just 11 guys going boom boom all over the pitch…
13. Oakland Stompers
Either it’s a wine reference or that is one seriously grim case of haemorrhoids…
14. Minnesota Kicks
Isn’t that the same little lad from “Charley Says”?
15. Portland Timbers
Shiver me timbers…
16. Los Angeles Aztecs
Suddenly got a hankering for half a Terry’s Chocolate Orange…
17. San Diego Sockers
In case it went over your head, we think “Sockers” may be a clever pun on “soccer”…
18. San Francisco Gales
Oh mist rolling in from the Pacific Ocean…
19. Washington Whips
Naff name, swish logo…
20. Team Hawaii
Hopefully all their results were listed as 5-0 for comedy’s sake…
21. Cleveland Stokers
Thank God they didn’t go with “The Steamers”…
22. Washington Diplomats
Johan Cruyff’s former employers, no less…
23. San Diego Jaws
Der dum, der dum, derdumderdumderdumderdum….
24. Memphis Rogues
That’s one angry pachyderm…
25. Tulsa Roughnecks
(All images via Sports Logos)
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Ahahaha….some wonderful badges there! Love the designs of badges and this blast from the past was great!
Lmao at#16…I was thinking Chocolate Orange n’ all!! Fantastics annotations in all the pics again. Once again, thanks for making a Monday Morning bearable.Love you Pies!!
No Seattle Sounders logo? It’s a design classic:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Seattle_Sounders_logo.png
@Sam: Sorry compadre. It was on the shortlist but didn’t make the final 25.
The kid on the Sockers badge (number 17) looks like he is wearing a shirt saying “COCK”.
Please do the old Aussie soccer league (NSL) there were some crackers back then. Incorporate with the best Oceania has to offer?
@Jimmy: Perhap, perhap…
Was there a rule that if they incorporated a soccer ball it had to be the “iconic” star-ball? Part of identity-building for the league?
And that Timbers badge is beautiful. Far nicer than the one they’re sporting nowadays. I’m also partial to the Gales “modern” look for some reason.
Good stuff.
What Jimmy said!!!
Newcastle Breakers for life!!!
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/36/Newcastle_Breakers_Logo.png
Hahahah shameless plagiarism by a South African :P From Kaizer Chief’s Wikipedia page: “Kaizer Chiefs were founded on 7 January 1970 shortly after the return of Kaizer “Chincha Guluva” Motaung from the USA where he played as a striker for the Atlanta Chiefs of the North American Soccer League (NASL). He combined his own first name with the Atlanta Chiefs to create the name of Kaizer Chiefs.” And pinched their badge.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaizer_Chiefs_F.C.
@LadyB – some ‘non-wiki’ research will inform you that Kaizer Motaung was granted permission by Atlanta Chiefs to use their badge.
@slim.charles Fair enough :) Posted that on tea break, but there is a history of that sort of thing here in SA
Some of these teams were made up of English teams that came over in the summer, Cleveland Stokers were actually Stoke City. I wonder how Pele got on against them on a wet, Tuesday night.
@LadyB Please enlighten me which other sport team in SA has copied another team’s badge? (Ajax CT don’t count because Ajax Amsterdam own 51% of them)
P.S. I’m from SA so just curious
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I grew up in Montreal and got to see the Manic get beaten (often) by many great players: Pele, Beckenbauer, Moore, etc. Unfortunately by going to see these games I also had to suffer watching the Manic attempting to play against these greats and i didn’t make for many happy memories. At least now I can have a bit of hope as i now follow Melbourne Heart….wait a minute….
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