Philadelphia was awarded a MLS franchise a year ago and are scheduled to begin play in 2010. Voting on the new team’s name closed a few weeks ago and the results were scheduled to be revealed May 11th at City Hall.
Welp, someone spilled the beans. MLS Rumors has the scoop.
The team will be known as the Philadelphia Union and will feature the colors of their fan club, the Sons of Ben, which was started back in January of 2007, over a year before the team was even announced. The colors are also a take off of the city of Philadelphia’s traditional light blue and yellow.
The team’s motto will be “Invgite aut Perite” which is Latin and I think translates roughtly to “Join or Die,” obviously a take off of the snake that Ben Franklin put in the first political cartoon.
Be sure to hit the jump to see pictures of the “Join or Die” cartoon, scarf and t-shirt.
I like how the team incorporated something from Ben Franklin into the crest. The whole “join or die” thing ties in nicely with the name “Union” and the 13 stars on the crest tie into the 13 original colonies. Very nicely done.
And the scarf:
I really like it. I know scares are part of the whole soccer atmosphere, and I like the one that they’ve come up with. The SOB’s have come up with some nice ones as well.
The t-shirt is pretty basic, as it’s just the first one.
Now, all of this is very unofficial at this time. All of these images have been taken down from the original store site where they were found. The announcement won’t be made until next week, but I’m pretty sure this is legit.
I’ve never really gotten into soccer. I’ll watch the World Cup when it’s on, but never really followed a team. WIth a local team right in my backyard, I think I may just have to start.
-KK
*Follow me on Twitter @kierankelly*
