Club badges are a crucial part of a football club’s identity, telling others all about them as well as looking back at where they’ve come from. Badges change and develop over the years, with each alteration offering a new story about where the club is at that specific moment in time. When it comes to Aston Villa, the football club is one of the oldest in the country, having been founded in 1874, playing its matches at Villa Park in the West Midlands and with a badge that offers a sense of where the club sits in its relationship with England as a whole.
The Early Badge
As is the case with many football clubs that were formed when the sport was still in its infant stages, Aston Villa was formed out of a cricket club that was looking for something for its players to do during the winter months. The club’s first crest didn’t come into being until 1880, when a red lion was used. It had a tail that went as high as the head, as well as its claws out that touched the same height. Facing to the right, it almost looked as it was trying to fend someone off in much the same way that the players were fending off their opponents.
Although the lion is thought of as being an English symbol thanks to the Three Lions that adorn the England football team’s badge, the Lion Rampant is actually more closely associated with Scotland. Aston Villa’s President was William McGregor, who wanted to show his Scottish links by using the Lion Rampant on the badge in a manner that was traditionally drawn. They looked to keep it as simple as possible, placing the red lion on a white background to show the Lion Rampant in all its glory and setting the stage for future badges.
Losing the Lion Then Bringing it Back
Nowadays, the idea of seeing an Aston Villa badge without a lion would be an entirely alien concept for football supporters. Back in 1886, however, that is exactly what the club chose to do. The lion was removed and a classic crest with a black outline was introduced. It boasted a geometric pattern that was divided up into four quarters, with two of them being red and yellow with jagged lines whilst the other was blue with yellow rhombus shapes going from one corner down in a diagonal line.
Underneath the crest sat a white ribbon with the word ‘FORWARD’ in place. In spite of the traditional and, frankly, boring nature of the crest, it remained the one that Villa used for the following 70 years. It wasn’t until 1956 that Villa decided to bring the Lion Rampant back to the club’s badge, this time putting it on a crest that had a golden outline and a sky-blue background. Beneath the crest the ribbon shape remained, this time with the word ‘PREPARED’ written in gold. That remained the club’s badge between 1956 and 1970.
Introducing Club Colours
The 1956 badge saw the Lion Rampant facing to the left instead of to the right, which remained the case when a new badge was brought in in 1970. This time, though, the Lion Rampant was changed from red to yellow. It was on a more narrow crest that had the club’s light blue and burgundy colours in striped lines down it, with the words ‘ASTON VILLA F.C.’ in yellow on a burgundy background on the top. The ribbon on the bottom was light blue with the word ‘PREPARED’ written in yellow to maintain that consistency.
That badge remained the club’s offering for a decade, but in 1973 another option was also introduced. A Circle was brought in, with the left-facing Lion Rampant still in place but turned back to red. It was on top of a royal blue background, outside of which was another circle that continued the burgundy colouring. ‘ASTON VILLA F.C.’ was still in place inside the outer circle written in yellow. In the 1980s things changed again, this time thanks to the fact that the club was sponsored by Mita and the company wanted to put their name front and centre.
As a result, the badge became bright pink in nature, with Mita dominating the bottom in white writing and the Lion Rampant, still left-facing, in a circle beneath ‘ASTON VILLA F.C.’ At the same time, another logo was used during the 1980s, which was the Lion Rampant looking to the left in the middle of a circle, coloured burgundy on a light-blue background. It was circled by a thin yellow line, separating it from a thick burgundy circle in which the words ‘ASTON VILLA F.C.’ were written in yellow, with the F.C. being at the bottom.
The More Modern Era
In the 1990s, the club chose to offer a brighter, more intense logo. The Lion Rampant remained left-facing, but it was changed to be more of a burgundy on a brighter blue background in a circle that was surrounded with a yellow line. The words ‘ASTON VILLA F.C. remained in place, but the yellow they were written in was thinner, with another yellow circle on the outside. Then in 1992 the striped crest that had been used in the 1970s returned, with the colours being softened to the point that they almost looked washed-out.
Next, the club decided to redraw the Lion Rampant with its eyes and claws more visible, keeping the crest with the blue and burgundy lines but removed the ‘F.C.’ and putting ‘ASTON VILLA’ in a burgundy bar at the top. Underneath the Lion Rampant was the word ‘PREPARED’, with everything in yellow. A further redesign took place in 2007 when the club’s American owner, Randy Lerner, was involved. The stripes were removed with a solid blue background being used instead, with the crest surrounded by a burgundy line.
This was the first logo for decades that didn’t have the words ‘ASTON VILLA’ in place, instead having ‘AVFC’ at the top of the crest above a yellow Lion Rampant. The word ‘PREPARED’ at the bottom was in burgundy, whilst a single white star, representing the club’s European Cup win, was in place above the lion’s paw. In 2008 the colour palette was altered again, adding more of a purple-hue to the blue whilst the burgundy was less overt. Pretty much everything else about the design remained virtually the same.
Today’s Badge
In 2016, Aston Villa streamlined the club badge once more. The word ‘PREPARED’ was removed from the bottom, allowing the Lion Rampant to be much bigger within the crest. It was still left-facing and continued to have the single star above its paw, with the claws having been enlarged. In 2023 a redesign saw the round medallion brought back, with the Lion Rampant switched back to its original right-facing direction. The burgundy was made stronger, with that also being the colour of the lion, with the star now the same colour.
Introducing: Aston Villa Football Club’s new crest from the 2023/24 season. 🟣
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) November 10, 2022
The Lion Rampant and the star sat within a circle that was sky-blue in colour, surrounded by a burgundy circle that boasted the words ‘ASTON VILLA’ at the top and ‘1874’ at the bottom, both in a yellowy-orange huge. In 2024, another change was made and the Lion Rampant went back to facing left, its colour returned to yellow and the star was white once more.
Setting new standards. Every season. 👊
Introducing the new 2024/25 Aston Villa home kit. 🔗
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) July 23, 2024
The crest was burgundy with a white line inside another burgundy one, whilst ‘ASTON VILLA’ was at the bottom in burgundy whilst ‘1874’ sat between those words and the lion, written in white.