Royce Franklin, a life member of the Association of Football Statisticians, digs up yet more fascinating facts about football
THE ORIGINS of nicknames of some football teams are singularly lacking in imagination such as Latics which is no more than a diminution of Athletic, the suffix of the town’s name in the title.
Others indicate the colour of the shirts in which the team plays like reds, blues and yellows. There are also a number of Robins around.
For Cardiff, who played in blue until recently with a nickname of Bluebirds, there is a problem as they now play in red.
A sizeable number of teams’ nicknames have a historical perspective linked to present or past industry in a town. Examples are Northampton – the Cobblers; Wycombe – the Chairboys (furniture); Reading the Biscuitmen (Huntley and Palmer’s factory though the name is no longer used); Ipswich Town – the Tractor Boys; Luton and Stockport – the Hatters; Burton – the Brewers; Yeovil – the Glovers; Scunthorpe – Iron; West Ham – Irons (note the s); Hinckley United – the Knitters (knitwear and hosiery); Sheffield United – Blades (steel); Bristol Rovers – the Pirates (linked to shipping) Stoke City – the Potters; Walsall – Saddlers and Morecambe – Shrimps which contrasts with Southend who are called the Shrimpers. Arguably Hereford – the Bulls come in this category after the local breed of cattle.
Not too dissimilar Norwich – Canaries due to the popularity of canary breeding in Norfolk.
Bolton’s nickname of the Trotters more loosely derives from industry too: the ground was adjacent to a piggery. When balls had to be retrieved by the players, they had to ‘trot’ through the pig-pens to retrieve the ball.
Probably the most fascinating, however, and certainly the most disparaging, though no longer used, was Middlesbrough’s nickname Smoggies which referred to industrial pollution or smog from the steel and chemicals works surrounding the ground.
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