Sunday, May 25, 2014

Scottish Football Team Names...

Football (soccer) from around the world is shown in the United States, but we rarely see anything from Scotland.  If we did, I'm sure people would be scratching their heads, and wondering where some of the team names came from!  Here are some of the more unusual ones.
Queen of the South

Formed in 1919, the club is based in Dumfries, and was the result of a merger between three local clubs : Dumfries F.C., The 5th King's Own Scottish Borderers F.C., and The Arrol-Johnson Car Company.  The name, Queen of the South, was a nickname given to the town by a local 19th century poet, David Dunbar.

Hamilton Academical

Quite an obvious one here.  The club is the only professional team in Britain to have originated from a school team.  They were formed in 1874 from the school team at Hamilton Academy.

Heart of Midlothian
Commonly known as Hearts, the club is one of two professional teams in the Scottish capital, Edinburgh.  The club was formed in 1874 by a group of friends from the Heart of Midlothian Dancing Club.  Yeah, that's different!  Anyway, the term, Heart of Midlothian, is derived from the 1818 novel of the same name, by Sir Walter Scott.

Inverness Caledonian Thistle

The club was formed in 1994, from a merger of Caledonian, and Inverness Thistle, teams in the Highland Football League.

Forres Mechanics

Competing in the Highland Football League, it is not 100% clear from where the name came.  It was either from the town's Mechanics Institute, or from a group of mechanics who pulled away from an earlier Forres team, and formed their own club.


Gala Fairydean Rovers

Again, the club was formed by a merger, between Gala Fairydean, and Gala Rovers,  The strange thing is that the team was originally formed in 1894 as Gala Fairydean Rovers, before splitting into the two teams in 1907.  Gala Rovers were the reserve team of Gala Fairydean, and both teams closed down during the First World War.  Gala Fairydean resumed operations in 1923, and Gala Rovers twenty-four years later.  The team plays in Galashiels.


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