Today (re)presenting the very latest essential & freshly-arrived addition to the football club badge collection in the form of the rather desirable object featuring the crest of Blyth Spartans, another of those mighty, inspiring & irresistible names from outside the confines of the Football League, but titans nonetheless to rival any of the so-called big (& formerly successful) clubs of the north east, & immeasurably more romantic.
As for the badge/crest, in design & graphic terms – what a corker.
Blyth Spartans first came to my attention during their giant-killing run to the Fifth Round of the 1977-78 FA Cup (on the way to which they'd won at Second Division Stoke City), where, presenting a huge dilemma, they were drawn to meet another of that season’s giant killers (having eliminated a pair of First Division teams in thrilling fashion, thrashing both Bristol City & Newcastle United in replays) in the shape of Wrexham, the team I supported in the sense of actually going to watch them: ordinarily, favouring the real minnows would have been a no-brainer - especially aesthetically considering their sporting of a most stylish green, white & black kit - but for this crucial & insurmountable distinction.
As events transpired, only the travesty of the failure of a corner flag to remain stuck in a frozen pitch, resulting in a retaken corner kick from which Wrexham salvaged a very late, face-saving equaliser, prevented Blyth from continuing their march upon Wembley as they subsequently succumbed in a replay before a massive crowd at Newcastle (where Wrexham had already drawn in the previous round, of course), but the name has resonated down the years since & Blyth continue to be numbered amongst the favourites, those teams whose result is sought, whatever fortunes they enjoy or suffer.
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