Club History: West Bromwich Albion were established in 1878 by workers from a factory making weighing scales. Albion were one of the 12 founding members of the Football League in 1888. It has played at its home ground, The Hawthorns , since 1900. The club won a first division title in 1920, as well as five FA Cups and one League Cup. The singer Eric Clapton is a West Brom supporter. Their match programme is considered one of the best published. Albion have a number of long-standing rivalries with other West Midlands clubs; their traditional rivals being Aston Villa and Wolves. Albion contest the Black Country Derby with the Wolves.
Crest: Albion’s main club badge dates back to the late 1880s, when club secretary Tom Smith suggested that a throstle (song thrush) sitting on a crossbar be adopted for the badge. he badge has been subject to various revisions since then. It has always featured a throstle, usually on a blue and white striped shield, although the crossbar was replaced with a hawthorn branch at some point after the club’s move to the Hawthorns. The throstle was chosen because the public housein which the team used to change kept a pet thrush in a cage.
