David Blay

[Get The Badge In ⚽🛡️ @G3tTheBadgeIn]

Dentists and Dynasties:
Next up on #GetTheBadgeIn is... @BarnetFC!

I've started following them quite closely on National League TV. Several of their players are ex-Ipswich (Nick Hayes & Myles Kenlock). They also have an amazing badge that will be instantly recognisable to anyone who remembers Year 8 History - The Wars of the Roses. So many clubs feature either the white rose of York (Think: Leeds) and dozens feature the red rose of Lancaster on their badge (Think: Man City). Barnet shows both together with crossed swords in reference to the 1471 Battle of Barnet.

But before we go down that foggy road, let’s look behind the scenes at the club’s foundations. Once again, it is another ‘company team’ from the Industrial Revolution that helps get the ball rolling (I do wonder, if football had been invented today, where would the teams come from? Internet start-ups? (Hashtag United), Lidl Athletic? Tesco Metro FC? Deliveroo United (known for great deliveries into the box…?).

Anyway. Barnet.

Originally, the club began as New Barnet FC, formed by ex-scholars of Cowley College and Lyonsdown Collegiate School and known as “The Hillmen” (Barnet sits on a ridge that overlooks London – hence the ‘High’ in High Barnet). However, it was Alston Works AFC that would go on to cement Barnet’s footballing legacy.

Alston Works AFC was established by the employees of Alston Works, a dental manufacturing giant in Barnet. By 1891, they had grown into Europe’s largest producer of dental equipment, renowned for quality innovations such as the “Twentieth Century Chair,” the UK’s first pump chair. The team, therefore, were known as "The Dentals" and wore amber and black kits, representing the company colours. These distinctive colours would be retained to the modern day. In a neat coincidence, their current kit sponsors are TIC Health, a private provider of medical screening and diagnostic services. An echo of an echo here. Sort of.

In 1907, Alston Works AFC moved to Underhill Stadium, where they played their debut match—a 1–0 victory over Crystal Palace—a positive start at a ground that would serve as Barnet’s home for over a century (and may host them again – see the end).

So that’s the team – what about the badge?
The club’s crest, designed in the 1950s, is packed with imagery. The green hill on the crest is a nod to High Barnet, with the yellow and black flags referencing the club’s colours.

As already mentioned, the rest of the badge symbolises the rival Houses of Lancaster and York and the 1471 Battle of Barnet. During the battle, King Edward IV led Yorkist forces against the Earl of Warwick, who had betrayed Edward and switched to fight for the Lancastrians. On the morning of the battle, Warwick ordered his men to attack through dense fog – and ended up brawling with a friendly unit who were flying the flag of the Earl of Oxford (a large yellow star) that looked too much like Edward IV’s flag (a large yellow sun) for their liking. The Yorkists looked on with amusement. This, understandably, unnerved the remaining Lancastrians, who accused each other of treason, and many simply gave up and left the field.

In the confusion, Warwick himself decided to make a run for it. However, before the battle, he had been persuaded by his younger brother, ‘the Marquess of Montagu,’ that it would be more inspiring to their men if they left their horses behind and fought on foot alongside the rank and file. This decision proved fatal. Both brothers were caught and killed by the Yorkist army. Lesson: Never listen to your younger brother.

So that explains the battle. As for the club’s nickname, ‘The Bees,’ opinion is split, but it is almost certainly due to a) their black and orange colours inherited from the Alston Works dental factory, and b) the presence of several large apiaries (beekeeping farms/hives, apparently – I had to Google that word) near their original Underhill ground. Their stadium today, located in Harrow, is called ‘The Hive,’ in a neat reference. That said, the move away from Barnet was never popular, and there are plans afoot by many of the team’s fans to move ‘Back to Barnet’ and redevelop the old Underhill site. The plans for the new stadium look great – let’s hope it all goes through.

They’re currently competing fiercely for promotion to League 2 – let’s hope they can do it, they’’ll be buzzin if they do, #BarnetFC🐝

[David Blay @dblay5]

@imo_omar @MoArsenal86 I guess djimi traore was better than Henry as well then

[David Blay @dblay5]

@AlbertSpeer1939 @zooweecara05 @therabbi81 @joeldavisx The fucking irony of this

[David Blay @dblay5]

@WestHamPlace You’re not exactly neutral though are you. Also I don’t think arsenal fans are assuming neutrals should support us, but when it’s Man U fans supporting city that makes no sense. Or spurs hoping they’re own team loses

[David Blay @dblay5]

@Joey7Barton Ruining it for everyone or ruining it for racist sexist inbreeds like yourself

[David Blay @dblay5]

@OfficialVizeh Abou diaby

[David Blay @dblay5]

@Ayomikun9138141 @brownmiki6 @EbereCFC I know. Was more making a joke comparing that to the original stat

[David Blay @dblay5]

@Ayomikun9138141 @brownmiki6 @EbereCFC Only conceded 19 goals in 300 games. Pretty decent stat for vieira tbh

[Arsenal @Arsenal]

😅 Ready to relive it all again, Gooners?

Step right this way 👇

[David Blay @dblay5]

@Mozehan @footballtweet If it was any means necessary, we’d have got at least one of them pen shouts

[Jack @WorkTheSpace]

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[F1® Manager @F1Manager]

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[David Blay @dblay5]

@ThePremInside It does make sense. Dier is not good

[David Blay @dblay5]

@talkSPORT How does this guy go from saying arsenal are a small club to the third biggest in the country? Can’t make up his mind

[David Blay @dblay5]

@ltarsenal @ArsenalDyl It’s probably he wanted to leave. He was always gonna be a backup player so probably wanted to leave for first team football. Similar to Martinez

[David Blay @dblay5]

@Arsenalian66 This is literally the worst take I’ve heard. What’s the alternative, not be in the champs league and be a worse team?

[David Blay @dblay5]

@jordon_jardine @F1Manager I know mate, genuinely can’t wait

[Football Daily @footballdaily]

🗣 "In my opinion they've done nothing wrong, let's be honest, other clubs would do the same thing, it's not an Arsenal thing. Every team in the Premier League would look after themselves and if they say they wouldn't then they're lying."

@MicahRichards on the NLD postponement