Rugby Clubs' nicknames

[fleabane]

I was prompted to open this thread by a query on another thread asking who are the "Not Nots". (London Irish - not London Not Irish, was the helpful answer).

What others do we have?

I'll start with Saffacens - Saracens, now an offshoot of the RSA

[Smurphswillgetya]

Tigers because we maul and devour all others

[SPIKE@srufc]

Pests for Wasps.

[Smudge]

Tigers were Tigers long before marketing men started thinking up names like Falcons etc.
The Tiger was incorporated into the Leicestershire Regiment's cap badge when
they were honoured for the campaign in Hindoostan.
There are likewise many other associations in Leicester which use the name
Tiger e.g Tiger SCC which is the Sea Cadet Unit.
Everards also make a decent pint with the same name.
I have to remind people in these parts that "The Tigers" were not just the Hampshire Regt.

[fleabane]

Tigers is a REAL name, not a nickname. Some poor, uneducated illiterates from the Southwest don't know the difference between a tiger and a cheetah!

[mightymouse]

Actually I think that is a moderately amusing nick name for us

but here are some more for others

Glaaaws - obviously ridiculing their fans ability to speak correctly
Brizzle - likewise
Harlequeens - due to the inability to to ever put any steel into that club
Stains - ridiculous anagram

[tommo]

Tigers is a REAL name, not a nickname. Some poor, uneducated illiterates from the Southwest don't know the difference between a tiger and a cheetah!

There IS no difference between a Tiger & a Cheetah!

[tigerburnie]

Barf 'cos they make you feel queesy
Not nots,because they are not from London and they're not Irish either

[sk 88]

Gloucester are the Celler boys, Quins are the HardlyWins, Bath is B@%! because the swear filter blocks filth like that. Stale and the budgies are from up north along with the cardigans. Shottingham loan all our players and the Saintanists play in the land of shoes.

[Old Hob]

It has just occurred to me (Ok, I'm going to have a tablet and got to bed) that Newcastle ought to be the FO's.

They were Goes Forth, then they multiplied. Which is Foxtrot Oscar.

[Big Dai]

I always refer to Bath as Scum and spit on the floor everytime their name arises.

Plastic Paddies for LI,
Sorries for sarries
Pests (or les gueppes) for wasps
Saints are the Saints
Shed eds for glaws
Tykes for Leeds
Stade = Toulouse
Pouffs = The other stade
scaryqueens for quins


Not much else!

[Bill W (2)]

It has just occurred to me (Ok, I'm going to have a tablet and got to bed) that Newcastle ought to be the FO's.

They were Goes Forth, then they multiplied. Which is Foxtrot Oscar.

They are budgeriegars. They just think they are Falcons!!

[Bill W (2)]

I always refer to Bath as Scum and spit on the floor everytime their name arises.

scaryqueens for quins

I concur with Bath <spit>

I usually refer to Sequins as Hairy Queens!

[Smurphswillgetya]

My friend who works with a lot of Saints fans calls them scum (not his friends)

[crateman]

Here's an interesting excerpt from the international rugby times (via the independent) regarding the nick-names in common use. I first posted this a couple of years ago, but for those who didn't see it then, I've dug it out again.

BATH
For a while Bath didn’t even bother to call themselves a rugby club - original teams were known as football clubs and Bath went by that title until the dawn of professionalism in 1996. They are now Bath Rugby Football Club but appear far too steeped in tradition to suddenly adopt a nickname. Should they decide to do so, what could it be? Bath Salts, Bath Time, Bath Water. Okay, you want serious suggestions, sorry. How about the Bath Royals given the city’s majestic history.

BRISTOL
Bristol also don’t boast a nickname at the moment but that doesn’t mean they have always been known as Bristol Rugby. At the beginning of the 2001-2002 season, Bristol didn’t just sell their soul to the proverbial advertising devil, they sold their entire name. To be fair, they did ink a massive £2 million sponsorship deal unlike any seen in the professional era to that point. So, after jumping into bed with car giants Mitsubishi, Bristol became known as the Bristol Shoguns, in honour of their sponsor’s leading product. The deal ended in July, 2005 and the Shoguns became plain old Bristol again. We can only hope Bristol strike a similar deal with a leading cereal maker in the near future – the Premiership would certainly be a brighter place with the Bristol Crunchy Nuts in the mix.

GLOUCESTER
The first unofficial nickname for the club was 'the elver eaters', - those slithery little :censored: that fisherman go out in the dead of night to catch. Why? We don't know, but there it is. Anyway, it didn't stick and to put it frankly, no one has bothered with an official nickname since. Today, the club's unofficial nickname is 'The Cherry and Whites' but that's not too easy to chant after 18 pints of West Country cider on matchday! How about the Gloucester Romans after the city's founders? No? Gloucester Rugby it is then.

HARLEQUINS
Formed as Hampstead Football Club in 1866, the team needed to change its name in 1870 because members were allowed from outside the original catchment area. However, the new name had to begin with an 'H' in order for the HFC logos on all club jerseys to remain the same. At a meeting reported to have taken place under a street lamp in the middle of the night, a club member produced a dictionary, thumbed through it and stopped at the word 'Harlequin.' So the club was named after the clown-type figure. Could have been worse - most of us only use dictionaries to look up swear words.

LEICESTER TIGERS
Okay, we know Leicestershire is not rife with feline killers on the prowl, but hear us out. The Tigers nickname is thought to derive from two origins, both circa 1880's when the club was formed. The newly-formed team did not receive the Tigers nickname until five years later and it was thought to be due to the brown and yellow striped kit they wore, with the Leicester Daily Post reporting "the Tiger stripes were keeping well together." The other theory on the nickname is that the Royal Leicestershire Regiment serving in India at the time was known as the Tigers and could have influenced the rugby team. In their early years, Leicester were also known as 'The Death and Glory Boys' but using tremendous foresight and vision, the club preferred the Tigers, knowing it would fit much easier on replica shirts in the future.

LONDON IRISH
This nickname, as they say, does exactly what it says on the tin - the club was formed in 1898 for young Irishmen in London, following on from the model already in place with London Welsh and London Scottish. The Sunbury club - now based in Reading - are also known as the Exiles.

LONDON WASPS
The popular answer here would be because the club plays in yellow and black and wasps are yellow and black. That would be wrong; the club adopted those colours having already decided upon a name in 1867. The club, which is interestingly a founder member of the Football Association despite never playing that code, followed the fashion of the Victorian era which was to adopt the name of insects, birds or animals. Not much has changed then really.

NEWCASTLE FALCONS
Which brings us nicely on to the Falcons, not of Atlanta, but of Newcastle. When multi-millionaire John Hall took over what had been Gosforth Football Club and Newcastle Gosforth since 1877 he realised his dream of owning one entire Newcastle sporting club, featuring the football, basketball, ice hockey and rugby teams. As a result of that move in 1995, the rugby club became known as the Falcons, completing four flying creature nicknames - the football club was the Magpies, basketball the Eagles and ice hockey the Wasps. You could also argue the Falcons got their nickname because they soared in their early days, securing promotion in 1996-1997 and winning the Premiership a year later. Falcons fans are now realising that whatever goes up, must eventually come down.

NORTHAMPTON SAINTS
The Northampton Saints were formed in 1880 by a local clergyman, the Reverend Samuel Wathen Wigg, who started the club as part of a scheme called the church improvement class, which was considered a way to let high-spirited chaps of the era blow off some steam. The father of nine was curate of St. James Church in Northampton, hence the Saints nickname. The club has also been known less famously as Jimmy's.

SALE SHARKS
Sale were formed in 1861 but it was quite some time before they adopted the Sharks nickname, and it has little to do with the marine life in Manchester's canals. Following the aborted Manchester Sale plan, the club was looking for firmer financial foundations and a new image. The idea to name the team after one of the gangs from Leonard Bernstein's hit musical West Side Story came up and Sale Rugby became known as the Sale Sharks. The West Side Story theme runs throughout the club as Sale's juniors are known as the Jets (the other gang in the Broadway musical).

SARACENS
Like Harlequins, Saracens have a nickname but no town or city name in front of it. We could, at a push, call them London Saracens but more realistic would be the Watford Saracens. Come to think of it, better to just call them Saracens. The club - formed in 1876 - is named after the famous desert warriors led by Saladin in the late 12th century. They were renowned for their extreme mobility, enthusiasm and powers of endurance that rendered them invincible. All traits Eddie Jones will be looking to install into his men this season, minus the sand and searing temperatures, of course.

WORCESTER WARRIORS
Given their town's military background, this was an easy one for Worcester Rugby Football Club. Worcester dates back to 400 BC when it was a village surrounded by defensive ramparts. In the 1st century, the Romans established a fort in Worcester along the main military route from Gloucester to Wroxeter. The town was almost destroyed in 1041 due to a rebellion against tax laws laid down by Danish king Harthacanute... are you still awake? Okay, you've had enough. Suffice to say the town has seen its share of scraps, hence the Warriors nickname

Sorry to those, who've seen this before and object to repeats.