Obscure places known only because of their football teams

[Lady Whistledown]

Nailsworth (above) is a good call. I was trying to remember where Forest Green came from.

In terms of English clubs, I doubt many of us would have cause to know the areas of Aston, or Charlton, were it not for their football teams.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

There seem to be quite a few in our league. If it weren't for their football teams, would we have even heard of places like Huddersfield, Walsall, Rochdale and Tranmere?

Have you ever heard of words like 'ignoramus'?

 

[philsussex]

Leigh RMI, I thought it was in Essex before but it's near Wigan and proper grim. About £1.50 for a pint of piss.

Aren't they the team that famously only took one fan away to a game somewhere. A bit like Palace I suppose.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

Eindhoven? Bari? Donetsk?

 

[Art Vs Science]

I only realised what the RMI stood for recently. Railway Mechanics Institute, How dull. Are they not called Leigh Genesis now?

 

[Durlston]

Aren't they the team that famously only took one fan away to a game somewhere. A bit like Palace I suppose.

It was at Barnet and he went in the main stand. I think he got ejected for giving it large when Leigh RMI scored.

 

[severnside gull]

Unsurprisingly Wales can furnish any number of unheard of clubs and places. The oldest football club in the principality (formed 1869) is Cefn Druids who are based in Rhosymedre (between Wrexham and llangollen I think) and must take some beating in the esoteric stakes.

 

[Gwylan]

Eindhoven? Bari? Donetsk?

Eindhoven is famous for being home to the Philips corporation for many years (I believe its head office is in Amsterdam now). It's a bit like Wolfsburg in that regard - its reputation as the HQ of Volkswagen far exceeding the reputation of its football team.

 

[mona]

There seem to be quite a few in our league. If it weren't for their football teams, would we have even heard of places like Huddersfield, Walsall, Rochdale and Tranmere?

Just a thought.

As a reluctant exile, the insularity of my native county does make me smile.

Huddersfield might not be the centre of the universe but it has produced an important 20th century prime minister, a couple of legendary cricketers and has a world famous choir. Ironically, it was always considered a rugby town until Herbert Chapman became the manager and HTFC are a younger club than the Albion.

This is a good thread though, as Stockton and Hanley are more noticeable than Middlesbrough and Stoke respectively. I suspect that the Potteries became Stoke on Trent partly because of the fame of Stanley Matthews and the football team. I'm just guessing here.

 

[Leekbrookgull]

I thought Accrington Stanley came about by there being a 'boys' club on Stanley St. Accrington ??

 

[Lord Bracknell]

I used to see TNS in the results pages of Ceefax, and thought it was Total Network Solutions, but it now seems to be The New Saints, if they are the same team

Yep. The same team. Their full name is: The New Saints of Oswestry Town & Llansantffraid Football Club.

They used to play at Llansantffraid-ym-Mechain, in Wales and now play at Oswestry, in Shropshire. In 1996, when Llansantffraid FC won the Welsh Cup and qualified for to play in the European Cup Winners' Cup, a local computer company, Total Network Solutions of Oswestry, arranged a £250,000 sponsorship deal which involved incorporating the company name into the club name. They then became Total Network Solutions Llansantffraid FC and (the following year) just Total Network Solutions FC.

When Total Network Solutions was taken over by British Telecom, in 2006, they decided to keep the TNS initials and rebrand themselves as The New Saints (recalling their origins in Llansantffraid, where their original nickname had been The Saints). The merger with Oswestry Town happened in 2003. They now play home games in Oswestry.

 

[Nigella's Cream Pie]

Queen's Park Rangers

 

[Gully]

Nailsworth (above) is a good call. I was trying to remember where Forest Green came from.

Nailsworth is a fairly small village, south of Stroud, Forest Green is little more than a housing estate on the edge of it...up a very large hill...where the ground, at 165m above sea level, is the second highest in the country where professional football is played.

 

[Jimbo.GRFC]

Almost every team in the Scottish second & third divisions.

I mean, has anyone ever had any other reason to know Stenhousemuir, or Alloa?

Alloa is actually a lovely quaint little town, ground about the same size as Bognor

 

[West Hoathly Seagull]

I'm not sure what Gillingham is famous for, so that probably counts

The white goods recycling industry.

 

[West Hoathly Seagull]

I'll offer one; West Bridgford in the Borough of Rushcliffe, home of Nottingham Forest FC and Nottinghamshire CCC. Neither is in Nottingham.

 

[severnside gull]

For the ultimate prize there's always Arsenal (no such place)

 

[Barnham Seagull]

St Mirren - Paisley

Albion Rovers - Coatbridge

Partick Thistle - Glasgow

 

[fatbadger]

Huddersfield might not be the centre of the universe but it has produced an important 20th century prime minister, a couple of legendary cricketers and has a world famous choir. Ironically, it was always considered a rugby town until Herbert Chapman became the manager and HTFC are a younger club than the Albion.

Huddersfield has the third highest number of listed buildings in Britain - only Bristol and the City of London have more. Lovely place. Home to Britain's finest contemporary classical music festival, too.

 

[fatbadger]

Albion Rovers - Coatbridge

Birthplace of play-off hero Chris Iwelumo, no less!

And the centre of the 19th- and 20th-century iron industry. Utter shitehole now, though.