Vandalian Football League - Twin Ports F.C. (9/18)

[crashcarson15]

 

I’ve been sitting on a lot of this project for a while now, and want to get it out there.

 

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been captivated by the idea of “creating” my own country or whatnot — and that’s what I’ve done with Vandalia. Located off the coast of the Carolinas and named after Queen Charlotte, like the proposed colony of Vandalia, it’s an island nation that remained loyal to the crown into the 1900s, when it peacefully separated.

 

The country was first settled under William & Mary in the 1690s, with the first settlement at Fort Nassau — still the largest city and metropolitan area in the country today. Other old, major cities are Stratford and Carsonville, both in the northwest, while Winchester was an important hub for many years. As industrialization came along in the 1800s, Marlborough, Darlington and Port Adelaide grew in importance, becoming the centers of industry in Vandalia.

 

The colony’s capital was initially at Fort Nassau, but due to tensions between the largely-Catholic north and largely-Protestant south, was moved to Winchster during the early 1800s. It remained there after independence until a new, planned national capital was established in 1949 at Albany, just north of Marlborough.

 

I’ve included a map of the country, with all seven counties and major cities, in the spoiler tag below.

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

Because the country stayed with the United Kingdom into the 1900s, it developed a separate sporting identity from the United States, instead opting to focus on soccer/football, what became the most popular game in other places around the world — that’s where this series focuses.

 

In 1898, the recently-formed Vandalia Football Association sponsored a colony-wide football tournament, open to all teams that entered. The tournament, an emulation of the famous FA Cup in England, was titled the Victoria Cup, after the reigning monarch, and still carries that moniker to this day.

 

In fact, the first football league to span Vandalia wasn’t introduced until 1911 at the founding of the Vandalia Football League, where 16 charter members formed the league. The next year, the Southern Football Alliance, later the Commonwealth Football Alliance, formed as a rival league. The Victoria Cup, however, remained the highest honour in the land, and VFL members sought a way to unify the Cup with the League.

 

The result was a 1924 merger between the leagues, and for the first time in 1926, the Victoria Cup was awarded through the VFL. However, the Victoria Cup Final had become such an important part of Vandalian football that a four-team, Page playoff system was introduced. When the top division expanded to 18 teams in 1971, that figure was expanded to a five-team setup, but the Page-McIntyre playoff persists to this day, with the Victoria Cup Final hosted at a neutral site each season.

 

The VFL had traditionally had a closed promotion and relegation system between its second division and clubs in the third tier, much like the Football League in England, however, in 2003, a Third Division was introduced. The 44 teams in the VFL at that time were granted status as “permanent members,” meaning they cannot be relegated past the Third Division. A club can earn that status by spending 10 consecutive years in the top two tiers, which two sides have already done.

 

You’ll see them later, but the most powerful clubs in today’s VFL come from the two largest metropolitan areas — Mariners FC from Carsonville and Royal Nassau from Fort Nassau are the two biggest clubs in the country — but due to the playoff system, there’s an increased diversity in Victoria Cup winners.

 

 

Anyway, I’ll launch into the clubs competing in this year’s First Division in a sec…

[crashcarson15]

 

Lake Wonder F.C.

Place: 18th

Victoria Cups: 0

Location: Lake Wonder, Orange County

Elected to VFL: 1987

Rival: Trafalgar Beach F.C.

Nickname: Pirates

 

It’s been a particularly bad season for the club that calls a resort city home. Lake Wonder is one of the newest clubs in the VFL, founded in 1958 and elected to the league during the 1980s, due to the nature of the city — the Wonderland resort opened in the 1920s, but grew in popularity during the post-war 1950s to the point where Lake Wonder, its support city, started to pick up in population. Numerous pushes came over the years to elect the Pirates to the VFL, but a merger of two clubs in 1987 opened up the slot for Lake Wonder to join the league.

 

During third-tier matches against Trafalgar Beach in the 1970s, the club’s supporters started carrying and displaying pirate flags at the derbies to work “against” the Admirals — it gave the club the nickname and crest it carries to this day. The quartered blue-and-white kits also stem from the 1970s, when a former Bristol Rovers player crossed the pond to manage the side.

 

Since election in 1987, Lake Wonder has enjoyed three stints in the First Division, however, it appears that this third one is coming to a close after a five-year period. A year ago, when the Wonderland Stadium hosted the Victoria Cup Final, the Pirates’ owners invested heavily into the squad, only to see them struggle to a 13th-place finish. Without the revenue to keep most of the players on high wages around, the team suffered in 2015/16 and has won just thrice in 31 matches. With three contests left in the season, the outlook is grim for Lake Wonder.

 

Home kit

 

Road kit

[XenonDesigns]

Great work so far! Really looking forward to this!

[Niiklaz]

I like this start. This will be interseting!

[sparkychewbarky]

Great concept...well written...love the Pirates.

Yeah...to be at an Admirals vs Pirates match would be a bucket-list kind of thing.

Looking forward to this.

[crashcarson15]

 

Edwardsborough Rovers F.C.

Place: 17th

Victoria Cups: 1 (1968)

Location: Edwardsborough, Lancaster County

Elected to VFL: 1924, 2003

Rivals: Jonesborough United F.C., Gonzaga Academical F.C., Silver Creek Rangers

Nickname: Blues

 

Also not enjoying a particularly great year is Edwardsborough, who sits 17th and three points from safety with just three matches to play. Rovers are a historic club; they were founded in 1894, where they dominated the Lancaster County scene for years, and rose to national prominence in 1915, when they reached the semi-final of the Victoria Cup, the only non-VFL or SFA club to do so since the founding of either league. Rovers parlayed that into election to the SFA in 1916, when the VFL’s Scarborough merged with the SFA’s Williamsport, and were among the 18 CFA members that merged into the VFL in 1924.

 

For the next 40 years, Rovers spent a majority of its time bouncing between the First and Second Division as a “yo-yo club,” often spending no more than a few years at each stop. However, in 1968, the club soared up the table, finishing third and going on to win its first, and only, Victoria Cup — they remain the only club from Lancaster County to ever win the Cup.

 

Fortunes turned sour though, and after a prolonged spell near the bottom of the Second Division in the late 1980s, the club was voted out of the VFL in 1991, when Trafalgar Beach was elected, and spent 12 years reorganizing itself at the amateur level. The move was a blessing in disguise, however, as in 2003, Rovers were one of four clubs elected back to the League permanently, quickly rising to the First Division in 2008, where they’ve remained since. That tenure looks likely to end this season, though, with most Rovers supporters surely willing to play in the relegation play-off this year.

 

Kits are all-blue with orange accents, inspired by Edwardsburg, a nearby high school to South Bend. The crest is a little non-sequitur and not important, and is a re-worked version of something I did for a Miami MLS club a couple years ago. Couldn’t think of anything really, so went with that. Sponsor is Edwardsborough National Bank, because I figured a couple clubs needed “local” sponsorship in this league.

 

Home kit

 

Road kit

[crashcarson15]

 

Gonzaga Academical F.C.

Place: 16th

Victoria Cups: 2 (last: 1937)

Location: New Mantua, Georgian Isles

Elected to VFL: 1924

Rivals: Edwardsborough Rovers F.C., Jonesborough United F.C.

Nickname: Accies

 

Like Hamilton Academical in Scotland, Gonzaga Academical’s club derives from one of a university. The story goes back to the 1800s, when Jesuits established Gonzaga College on a small, largely-uninhabited island in the Georgian Isles. They named the school after St. Aloysius Gonzaga, the city that grew around it New Mantua, after the city in Italy the Gonzaga family controlled, and the island it was on was renamed St. Aloysius Island by the end of the 19th century.

 

As was mentioned, the Accies grew out of a school team from students at Gonzaga in the late 1880s. They were successful in various tournaments and competitions throughout the northeastern part of the colony early on, and when the Alexandra Cup — the national amateur championship — was introduced in 1901, the Gonzaga College team thrived, winning six titles in the first 15 years. After World War I concluded in 1919, the school took the club professional, quickly finding success in the Victoria Cup, winning the Georgian Isles championship and a berth in the final stage for three consecutive seasons.

 

This success was quickly realized and the Accies were snatched up by the Commonwealth Football Alliance in 1922, and when the CFA merged with the VFL in 1924, Gonzaga was elected to the League and they haven’t left since. The Accies were wildly successful early on, winning promotion in 1926 and winning two Victoria Cups during a 21-stay in the top flight, taking home the title in 1932 and 1937, when they became the first club to win after being the No. 4 seed in the playoff. Since their relegation in 1947, however, the Accies have largely been an “elevator” club, just making the playoff once in 1971.

 

They’re a club with a proud history, and their crest reflects that — the bird on the crest comes from the Gonzaga family coat of arms, while the eight-pointed star reflects the eight times GAFC has won the biggest prize it was competing for, the two Victoria Cups and six Alexandra Cups. The Accies enjoy fierce rivalries with Edwardsborough and Jonesborough, and are constantly proud of their island identity. An unofficial flag, based on the quartered element in the middle of the Gonzaga coat, is often used and highlighted on the kits. The club is fully supporter-owned, and the kit sponsorship from Football Manager reflects that. They’re currently sitting 16th, in line to partake in the relegation playoff, but have a favorable run-in that could see them completely safe by April 23’s final day affairs. It’s one of my favorite concepts, so I’m looking forward to seeing how y’all receive it!

 

Home kit

 

Road kit

[fumbler]

Not so much about your designs as i am very interested in your country and it's history, why are your counties all seperated by straight lines? Are there no rivers or lakes in Vandalia?

 

Would also like to see a North v South or East v West type set up also.

[crashcarson15]

On 4/10/2016 at 11:49 PM, fumbler said:

Not so much about your designs as i am very interested in your country and it's history, why are your counties all seperated by straight lines? Are there no rivers or lakes in Vandalia?

 

Would also like to see a North v South or East v West type set up also.

Easy answer is that I (1) haven’t labelled rivers or lakes on the map and (2) that none of the county boundaries rely on them.

 

Harder one is that the “Urbanization Act” of the 1950s created districts for municipalities (cities, towns and townships), with them being setup by a 1x1 grid.

 

Getting back to this project with a new post in a second…

[crashcarson15]

 

Harbour Square F.C.

Place: 16th

Victoria Cups: 3 (last 1954)

Location: Fort Nassau, Orange County

Elected to VFL: 1924

Rivals: Chatham A.C., Forest Park A.F.C., other Fort Nassau clubs

Nickname: Jacks

 

Our first of five clubs from the country’s largest city — and the birthplace of Vandalian football — is struggling this year, having recently dropped into the relegation playoff spot with a couple bad recent results. Harbour Square are an old club, founded in 1897, and have three Victoria Cups, scattered throughout a 20-year period in the 1930s, ’40s and ’50s. The club is located in the Harbour Square district of the city — the old, original port area — and holds a fierce rivalry with Chatham, the closest club both geographically and in size to Harbour Square.

 

They’re nicknamed the Jacks because of their proximity to the city’s historic (and still active) port, and their bright kits were inspired by Watford’s 1930s turquoise kits — just with Harbour Square opting to keep the colour instead of dropping it.

 

The crest is pretty simple and minimalist, with the three circles representing the three Victoria Cup crowns. They play in an old stadium in an old part of town, with a solid charm about them. For the kits…

 

 

[fumbler]

On 4/22/2016 at 4:17 AM, crashcarson15 said:

Easy answer is that I (1) haven’t labelled rivers or lakes on the map and (2) that none of the county boundaries rely on them.

 

Harder one is that the “Urbanization Act” of the 1950s created districts for municipalities (cities, towns and townships), with them being setup by a 1x1 grid.

 

Getting back to this project with a new post in a second…

 

Thanks for the explanation.

[crashcarson15]

 

Hanover F.C.

Place: 14th

Victoria Cups: 0

Location: Hanover, Saint Mary’s County

Elected to VFL: 1920

Rivals: Darlington F.C., Cheshire Park A.F.C.

Nickname: Steeds

 

Alright, finally getting back around to this with one of my favorite kits of the series. We return with Hanover, located a little southeast of Darlington, and named (of course) after the German city of the same name.

 

In contrast to Darlington, which is an industrial city, Hanover is the old university town of Saint Mary’s County — and the intense rivalry between the two clubs is predicated on this idea. But unlike their nearby neighbors, Hanover has never experienced the on-pitch success their rivals have, sitting as one of the “bigger” clubs to have never brought home a Victorian Cup. For the majority of their existence, the Steeds have been an “elevator” club, with a third successive season in the top flight confirmed with a 14th-place finish this term.

 

The kits echo one of my favorite in football history, and that’s Bayern’s first German-title winning getup, with red sleeves set into a white body. It’s one of my favorite looks — we typically see white sleeves and colored bodies, not the other way around — and I wanted to make sure we got it used here. The crest is pretty straightforward and went for a “university” look with the block font, including the Saxon steed as a nod to the city’s namesake in Germany.

 

 

[Jvhn177]

All the kits look good, most especially Harbor Square, Could we see an updated map with the team logos on it?

[crashcarson15]

14 hours ago, Jvhn177 said:

All the kits look good, most especially Harbor Square, Could we see an updated map with the team logos on it?

Yeah, sure — and you get Darlington on here, which is coming next.

[crashcarson15]

 

Darlington F.C.

Place: 13th

Victoria Cups: 5 (last 1988)

Location: Darlington, St. Mary’s County

Elected to VFL: 1911

Rivals: Regents Park A.C., Hanover F.C.

Nickname: Darlo, Steelers

 

Darlington is our first of 12 charter members we’ll see throughout this series, and have one of the strongest histories of all clubs in Vandalian football. They played in the first Victoria Cup final, running out losers, and have gone on to win five since — four of which came before 1930, the last of which came during a renaissance in the 1980s. From that standpoint, think of them like Aston Villa: Really good in the early days, still a massive support, but largely lacking in modern-day honors.

 

While Darlo’s nearest geographic rival is Hanover, the club’s history dictates their greatest rivalry is with Regents Park, from Port Adelaide. The two largest clubs in St. Mary’s County, Darlo and Regents Park have met nearly every year, as both are generally stalwarts in the top flight and have similar industrial backgrounds; steel is the big industry in Darlington, while Port Adelaide is the country’s largest port city. Both are among the best-supported sides in the league (think Sunderland and Newcastle from that standpoint), though their on-pitch track record in the last handful of years doesn’t match that.

 

Darlo’s visual identity was something I struggled with, but I ultimately returned to where I started: with black kits. The “dirty” industrial nature of the city made black kits an obvious choice, with black shirts and socks and white shorts being the club’s “traditional” kit. However, in the 1980s, all-black kits were introduced, and after the club’s first Victoria Cup in 59 years, the kits were there to stay.

 

 

[mbannon92]

You're doing some really solid work here, Alex! Darlington is one of my favorites so far. The split color pinstripes are a really nice look, and the simple hammer and axe on the kits is really classy. I can imagine that all black with the sublimation looking great on the pitch.

[crashcarson15]

 

Kingsbridge F.C.

Place: 12th

Victoria Cups: 0

Location: Kingsbridge, Oakland County

Elected to VFL: 1937, 2015

Rivals: Belvedere Town A.F.C., Irvington F.C.

Nickname: Roses

 

Ah, time for the smallest club in the top flight these days, Kingsbridge. The song they play after every win — “Everything’s Coming Up Roses” — perfectly describes how things are going for this suburban Carsonville club that’s got a strong history given their status. In 1937, the Roses were elected to the VFL for the first time, where they stayed for 39 years. They only spent five of those in the top flight, never surviving a season there, before being voted out in 1976.

 

They continued to play non-league football until the introduction of a national third tier in 2003, from which they won promotion to the second tier in 2005. They stayed there for 10 years, hitting the threshold for “permanent league status,” as they won promotion to the top flight in 2015, where they succeeded and survived for the first time in the club’s history this season.

 

As such, Kingsbridge are away from their two main rivals — cross-river Belvedere Town are in the third division and Irvington are a second-tier club — and despite being a suburb of Carsonville, they don’t have a strong rivalry with any of the city clubs, including Mariners. They play in a small, ~6,000-seat stadium (which they fill regularly these days), and survival will continue to be a success for them.

 

I went for some different colors here because, well, why the hell not? I wanted something different, so I think I hopefully achieved that here with the Roses. The crest is just a 10-point star for no particular reason, with a crown from some German beer above a block “K.”

 

 

[crashcarson15]

 

Albany United F.C.

Place: 11th

Victoria Cups: 4 (last 1997)

Location: Albany, Capital District

Elected to VFL: 1958

Rival: Victoria F.C. Marlborough

Nickname: Capitals, Reds

 

Our little project keeps moving along, and this time, it’s onto the capital club, Albany. United’s history dates back to an era before its founding, when a newly-independent nation (independence was gained in 1922) began to debate the merits of a having planned capital city to replace Winchester, one of the oldest cities in the country that was more suited to be a colonial capital than a national one. The debate began in the late 1920s and moved into the 1930s, when the outbreak of World War II put the discussion on halt. After the war, in 1947, the campaign was re-started, and two years later, Albany beat out a number of towns in the country to become the country’s new capital. Work started the following year in the new town, and by 1952, the capital was up and running in Albany.

 

This, of course, necessitated the founding of a football club in the city, and Albany United was formed in 1952, playing in the regional leagues for six years. With an aim of getting the Reds into the VFL, an election of four teams was held in 1958, expanding the league for the first time since the VFL/CFA merger more than 30 years earlier.

 

Over time, United grew into a “yo-yo” club, reaching the top flight for the first time in 1969 and bouncing between the two divisions for the better part of the next 20 years. However, as the ’90s started, new investment started flowing into the club, which went on to dominate that decade. After winning their first Victoria Cup in 1991, over nearby rival Victoria F.C., the Reds followed it up with further wins in ’92, ’95 and ’97, winning all four finals they played — their four wins without a loss is the most of any team.

 

Since the ’90s, however, Albany has struggled to stay in the top tier of VFL clubs, suffering relegation twice and only playing in the playoffs twice in the last 17 years. New ownership arrived to the club three years ago, and since, they’ve aggressively expanded the stadium, making it one of the largest in the country, looking to restore glory to the capital club. Its fanbase is among the smallest, and supporters are often derided by Vandalian football fans as “plastic” or unenthusiastic.

 

The crest is based off the coat of arms of the Duke of Albany, for whom the city is named, and the home kit is red and white. The club’s name, United, isn’t rooted in an actual merger, rather it’s rooted in the club’s owners wanting a “classic,” yet generally unique as far as Vandalia is concerned, name for the squad.

 

 

[crashcarson15]

 

Twin Ports F.C.

Place: 10th

Victoria Cups: 5 (last 1965)

Location: Scarborough, South Coast

Elected to VFL: 1911/6

Rivals: Haarlem S.C., New Rostock F.C.

Nickname: Seahorses

 

We’ll keep this thing going for those of y’all following along with Twin Ports. Traditionally clad in red-and-blue striped shirts, the Seahorses are one of the “sleeping giants” of Vandalian football. They’ve been in the top flight for 36 straight years — only Victoria and Royal Nassau have been there longer — but haven’t been a frequent playoff side for more than 50 years, only making six appearances since then.

 

The club was founded in 1916, when the then-SFA’s Williamsport A.F.C., the Bluebirds, and the VFL’s Scarborough A.C., the Red Devils, merged to chase Victoria Cup titles. It worked for the once-bitter rivals, as they won just two seasons on, in 1918. Another strong period came 20 years later with 1938 and 1941, while wins in 1958 and 1965 completed the trophy cabinet for the Seahorses.

 

As I mentioned earlier, they have a longstanding tradition of longevity in the First Division, but over the last half century, the club doesn’t have a major honor to its name. They have a big fan base, selling out their ~20,000-seat Howarth Bridge ground each week, but could easily fit a few more thousand in if they had the capacity. They’re one of the bigger clubs in Vandalian football, and with the right amount of investment, they could easily be punching at the top.

 

The club’s major rival is Haarlem, the port city between the twin ports and Fort Nassau, and meetings between the two are always heated. Another rival is New Rostock, a port city to the east, while meetings with Regents Park A.C., located in Port Adelaide, have always been friendly occasions.

 

The traditional kit is red-and-blue stripes on top of white shorts and varying socks, but this past year, the club “tried” a new kit, similar to ones worn by PSG in the 1990s.