Stratford Town's new nickname to be "the Bards"

THE Herald can reveal that “the Bards” is the brand new nickname for Stratford Town.

Having always been affectionately known as “the Town” or “the Blues”, the new alias is part of a club rebrand headed by chairman Jed McCrory.

As part of the Knights Lane club’s drive to be more involved in the community, a competition was launched for fans, residents and school students to come up with a new nickname.

There were plenty of interesting submissions including “the Shakers”, “the Playwriters” and “the Playmakers”, but the vast majority of entries wanted the club to be known as “the Bards”.

Reflecting on the new nickname, McCrory told the Herald: “I’m delighted with the new nickname, as that’s the name the community has chosen to represent the club.

“We want to show the community we are here for them and I think the response to the competition has been quite good.

“I’m hoping the new nickname will be picked up quickly and hope ‘the Bards’ nickname will give the community even more pride in the team, which has done well over the last three seasons.

“It will also give us an identity as a football club and we’re now going to be looking at having a mascot.”

Commercial manager Steven Burge added: “Shakespeare was known as ‘the Bard’ and is synonymous with Stratford-upon-Avon.

“We’re the town’s football club and I think being called ‘the Bards’ is the right choice.

“We had some really interesting entries paying homage to where we used to play on Masons Road and where we are now on Knights Lane.

“We also had some plays on Shakespeare, but I think for the larger appeal of the club, ‘the Bards’ was the right choice and the entries from the community showed that.

“When you run a competition like this it’s hard to gauge how well it’s going go, but overall I think the response has been really pleasing and was something people picked up on and got involved with.”

Meanwhile, be sure to pencil in Saturday, 14th August in your diaries Bards fans as that’s when the 2021-22 Southern Premier Central campaign is expected to get under way.

The FA Cup extra preliminary round is scheduled to take place on Saturday, 7th August, with the preliminary round scheduled for Saturday, 21st August.