Yeovil Town - Saturday 5th April 2008

Last updated : 01 January 2009 By Tim Graham

After deciding to do the article for this match on the subject of club nicknames, I was rather hoping that Yeovil Town being known as the Glovers would prove to be more interesting than you would have expected. Sadly that wasn't to be the case though as, upon further investigation, the town of Yeovil has been a centre for glove making production since as early as the 14th century, infact it is said that in the 1830s three million pairs were made each year in Yeovil.

Now wasn't that intriguing, you want more of this you say? Well, you often get the more bizarre nicknames in the non-league world, Formby, apparently "famous" for red squirrels are known as The Squirrels. While, and this one takes the biscuit, Grantham Town are called The Gingerbreads for obvious reasons, the Grantham gingerbread apparently being a hard, pale, domed biscuit - hmmm, sounds lovely. Another sweet one being The Toffeemen of Everton which has various different theories behind it.

Continuing the food theme and, Quorn, in Leicestershire, are nicknamed The Hunts (now, now, behave yourselves) because it is a well known area for fox hunting, while in the same area Coalville Town are called The Ravens. Now that'll teach you to get ahead of yourself won't it, it's got nothing to do with birds, it's because the club was originally called Ravenstone Miners Athletic, Coalville certainly being a great name for a mining town though.

Back in Lincolnshire, Bourne Town are called The Wakes, not after Brian or surfing, but because it was reputably the birthplace of Hereward the Wake, the last Saxon to resist the invading Norman army. Infact Lincolnshire seems to be a hotbed for more interesting nicknames with Boston Town called The Poachers after a song from the 1700s called the Lincolnshire Poacher, while Boston United are named The Pilgrims because of the famous sailing of the Mayflower across the Atlantic Ocean.

One good one in West Sussex is Arundel FC being known as The Mullets, as much as we'd love it to be the crap haircuts reason, sadly we'll have to settle it for being the fact that the River Arun is renowned for mullet fishing. Staying on the fish scene, Morecambe are called The Shrimps but then Southend United are known as The Shrimpers, and then, perhaps one of the most well observed ones, being Grimsby Town as The Mariners.

A lot of club nicknames unsurprisingly come from the industry of the town in bygone times. Hailsham Town as The Stringers and Hinckley United as The Knitters being two prime examples of the way England relied so much on the textile trade. With Stockport County and Luton Town both obviously getting The Hatters from hat-making, although Luton seems to be laying the most claim to be the hat capital of England.

Over the border and things become more complicated where there are three theories as to why Clyde are The Bully Wee. The first being the local Bridgeton area, so people were known as "wee bullies", the second extremely tenuous in that a Frenchman at a Clyde game around 1900 shouted "But il'y, oui?" or "Their goal, yes". Then the third, and most probable, that bully was a Victorian term for first-rate, bully wee thus being small but first-rate.

Ayr United take things more literally, or literary if you prefer. Ayr taking their nickname, The Honest Men, from a line of the poem Tam o'Shanter by Robert Burns. While Queen of the South are known as The Doonhamers apparently because in the early part of last century a lot of Dumfries people worked on the railways. They stayed in Glasgow during the week and at the weekend they went "doon hame" or "down home".

Overseas, in Argentina, Rosario Central once refused to play a charity game for a Leprosy charity, hence their nickname Canallas (The Scoundrels). Local rivals Newell's Old Boys stepped in to play the game though, which meant that from then on they earned the nickname Los Leprosos (The Lepers). While on the same continent, and back to the fish theme from earlier, Vasco da Gama in Brazil, are called The Cod, derived from the Portuguese tradition of eating dried cod.

One corker in Sweden is AIK Solna being called The Tuxedo Players, an expression used in that country to describe those players that are very skilful but not very physical, I can see this one catching on in the United dressing-room if any of the lads are reading this. Last but not least comes my winner, Partizan Belgrade being nicknamed The Gravediggers. The moniker given by city rivals Red Star as Partizan's mostly black colours were similar to official uniforms of cemetery undertakers.