A COCKEREL AND BALL STORY!

Be it the iconic crest on the lilywhite shirt or the famous statue that once perched at White Hart Lane and now overlooks Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, the cockerel standing on a ball is the globally recognised symbol of Spurs. As we recently celebrated the 100th anniversary of its first appearance on our famous shirt – in the 1921 FA Cup Final – we take a look at the history of our cockerel in this feature taken from the excellent book, Tottenham Hotspur: The Complete History.

High above the magnificent singletier South Stand at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, set centre and just forward of the roofline, sits a cockerel on a ball. Its appearance stirs the heart. Something linking the old with the new, a recognisable symbol of the accumulated memories and achievements forged on our home patch was in place, not bolted on as a cursory nod to the past but given pride of place as a symbol of a bright new future.

The cockerel’s association with Tottenham Hotspur is a product of the team’s embrace by a wider public. The cockerel was a product of popular commentary, of the need to develop distinctive imagery and language with which to engage a growing audience.

The symbol first began to appear in the press and in printed material associated with the Club around 1900. In the days before the photograph came to dominate, cartoonists and illustrators deployed distinctive, instantly recognisable images to grab the reader’s attention. Rather like Cockney rhyming slang’s two-part association – as in dog, dog and bone, phone – the cockerel was adopted because Tottenham Hotspur were Spurs and spurs were worn by fighting cocks. Drawing on the imagery was an indication of how the Club was being projected in the arena of popular culture.

Added significance came from the association with Harry Hotspur, whose legendary gusto when approaching battle was a product of his vigorous use of riding spurs to urge his horse ever onwards. So the image of a strutting, fighting cock was a gimme for artists looking for that instant way of conveying that their story was about Tottenham Hotspur. The fighting Spurs, the cocky Cockney newcomers challenging the established powers of the game – the image was replete with possibility.