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History of Football
<SPAN class=art-title2>What's in a name?</SPAN> <TABLE cellSpacing=5 cellPadding=5 width=150 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
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<SPAN class=textblack11px_normal>An Arsenal fan clings to his club's famous crest, with the cannon representing the club's founders, who were employees of the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich.
</SPAN><SPAN class=textblack11px_bold>(AFP)</SPAN> <SPAN class=textblack11px_bold>BEN STANSALL
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<SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">(FIFA.com)</SPAN> <SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">31 Jan 2007</SPAN>
<SPAN class=art-text>Football fans find their passions aroused by a whole range of factors, from a team's history to its shirt or traditional home. Likewise, a simple nickname can capture the imagination, often long after the reasoning behind the name is forgotten.
In this new three-part series, FIFA.com takes a closer look at some of the weird and wonderful sobriquets at large in the world game, starting with club teams. On Monday, it will be the turn of national sides to step under the microscope, followed a week from now by the players.
As the birthplace of the beautiful game, England is unsurprisingly the spiritual home of the nickname too. Whether basking in the upper reaches of thePremiershipor toiling in the lower leagues, no side ever takes the field without boasting a popular epithet. Many of those sprung from the colour of the team's shirt, with a whole rainbow on offer from the Reds of Liverpool to Chelsea's Blues, and from the Whites of Leeds to the Sky Blues of Coventry.
More imaginatively, some clubs seem to have gone the extra mile, drawing links between the hue of their uniforms and the natural world. Thus, the black-and-white stripes of Newcastle inspired the nickname the Magpies, while fellow top-flight outfit Watford earned fame as the Hornets due to their yellow-and-black outfits. In fact, a whole array of English sides enjoy associations with the animal kingdom, which can make for some very odd zoological mismatches. The Foxes and the Owls come face to face every time Leicester City play Sheffield Wednesday, for example, while Norwich's Canaries hope not to lose their feathers against the Wolves of Wolverhampton. Fortunately, the smaller creatures often triumph on a football pitch.
Other pet names arose out of the history of a club, especially when the team in question enjoyed strong early links with a particular industry. The two most famous examples come from the capital, where the Hammers of West Ham first saw life as the company team for Thames Ironworks, and where Arsenal's Gunners were founded by employees of the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich at the end of the 19th century. To this day, a cannon adorns the north London giant's emblem, rather appropriately for those who argue that free-scoring Thierry Henry ought to be classed as a dangerous weapon.
Away from the clanging of heavy machinery, fans of Everton affectionately refer to their idols with probably the sweetest nickname of all. Having borne their title since time immemorial, it turns out that the Toffees owe their sobriquet to not one, but two local toffee shops in days gone past. According to legend, spectators spent the moments before kick-off feasting on the rival products of Old Mother Nobletts and Old Ma Bushell, the latter having been granted permission to sell her Everton Toffees inside Goodison Park itself.
Lastly, the most recognised alias in the English game was the work not of fans, but of legendary manager Sir Matt Busby. It was he who christened his Manchester United side the Red Devils, having first heard that evocative phrasing used to describe the rugby league outfit in neighbouring Salford.
Scotland, meanwhile, though often in the shadow of its southerly neighbour, ar
<SPAN class=art-title2>What's in a name?</SPAN> <TABLE cellSpacing=5 cellPadding=5 width=150 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR class=paddingall><TD vAlign=top>
<SPAN class=textblack11px_normal>An Arsenal fan clings to his club's famous crest, with the cannon representing the club's founders, who were employees of the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich.</SPAN><SPAN class=textblack11px_bold>(AFP)</SPAN> <SPAN class=textblack11px_bold>BEN STANSALL
</SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">(FIFA.com)</SPAN> <SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">31 Jan 2007</SPAN>
<SPAN class=art-text>Football fans find their passions aroused by a whole range of factors, from a team's history to its shirt or traditional home. Likewise, a simple nickname can capture the imagination, often long after the reasoning behind the name is forgotten.
In this new three-part series, FIFA.com takes a closer look at some of the weird and wonderful sobriquets at large in the world game, starting with club teams. On Monday, it will be the turn of national sides to step under the microscope, followed a week from now by the players.
As the birthplace of the beautiful game, England is unsurprisingly the spiritual home of the nickname too. Whether basking in the upper reaches of thePremiershipor toiling in the lower leagues, no side ever takes the field without boasting a popular epithet. Many of those sprung from the colour of the team's shirt, with a whole rainbow on offer from the Reds of Liverpool to Chelsea's Blues, and from the Whites of Leeds to the Sky Blues of Coventry.
More imaginatively, some clubs seem to have gone the extra mile, drawing links between the hue of their uniforms and the natural world. Thus, the black-and-white stripes of Newcastle inspired the nickname the Magpies, while fellow top-flight outfit Watford earned fame as the Hornets due to their yellow-and-black outfits. In fact, a whole array of English sides enjoy associations with the animal kingdom, which can make for some very odd zoological mismatches. The Foxes and the Owls come face to face every time Leicester City play Sheffield Wednesday, for example, while Norwich's Canaries hope not to lose their feathers against the Wolves of Wolverhampton. Fortunately, the smaller creatures often triumph on a football pitch.
Other pet names arose out of the history of a club, especially when the team in question enjoyed strong early links with a particular industry. The two most famous examples come from the capital, where the Hammers of West Ham first saw life as the company team for Thames Ironworks, and where Arsenal's Gunners were founded by employees of the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich at the end of the 19th century. To this day, a cannon adorns the north London giant's emblem, rather appropriately for those who argue that free-scoring Thierry Henry ought to be classed as a dangerous weapon.
Away from the clanging of heavy machinery, fans of Everton affectionately refer to their idols with probably the sweetest nickname of all. Having borne their title since time immemorial, it turns out that the Toffees owe their sobriquet to not one, but two local toffee shops in days gone past. According to legend, spectators spent the moments before kick-off feasting on the rival products of Old Mother Nobletts and Old Ma Bushell, the latter having been granted permission to sell her Everton Toffees inside Goodison Park itself.
Lastly, the most recognised alias in the English game was the work not of fans, but of legendary manager Sir Matt Busby. It was he who christened his Manchester United side the Red Devils, having first heard that evocative phrasing used to describe the rugby league outfit in neighbouring Salford.
Scotland, meanwhile, though often in the shadow of its southerly neighbour, ar
The Diablos Rojos and the Auriverdes come together in the stands before Belgium and Brazil meet in international battle.
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