Color the Sporting de Gijón logo for free

About this drawing

Lovers of old ballparks would feel right at home with the story behind the Sporting Gijon crest, because this club treasures one of its own. The team was founded in 1905 in Gijon, a seaside city in Asturias on Spain's northern coast, and it has played at El Molinon for over a century. That makes the ground one of the oldest in Spanish pro soccer.

The odd name comes from a mill that once stood nearby, since molino means mill in Spanish. The stadium has been rebuilt and expanded many times, yet it never moved, and it still sits next to a city park and a short walk from the beach. On game days the red and white stripes spill out along the waterfront, and people of all ages head over together.

The club's high point came in the late 1970s, when it finished second in the Spanish league, a big deal for a team from outside the major cities. Since then, it has bounced up and down between divisions, as clubs do in the promotion and relegation system used in Europe, where the worst teams drop to a lower league. Supporters have stuck with it anyway. The crown on the emblem marks a royal title given to the club long ago, while that sharp triangle makes the design easy to spot from the top row.

• soccer
• team crests
• spain
• asturias