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Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC | Club History

Welcome to the Soccer Tavern, where we’re discussing the history, culture, and philosophy of the beautiful game. My name is Dave and in this video, we’re talking about the history of Inverness Caledonian Thistle Football Club. Pull up a seat and let’s start the discussion.

Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC is located in the northern part of the city of Inverness. Inverness is located in the northern, central part of Scotland in the United Kingdom. The city is located close to Loch Ness and the city’s name literally means “mouth of the River Ness” in Gaelic. The club currently play in the Scottish Championship or Ladbrokes Championship due to sponsorship reasons. The Championship is the second division in Scottish soccer. Inverness CT’s home ground is called the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium, which opened in 1996 and currently holds a little less than 8,000 people.

Origin

The club, in its current iteration, was created in 1994 when two clubs called Inverness Thistle and Caledonian decided to merge. The club has roots that stretch back to the 1880s though.

Inverness Thistle was created in 1885, while Caledonian, which was nicknamed Caley, was created in 1886. Both clubs were based in the city of Inverness, which was considered a town until 2000. Thistle and Caley, along with a third club based in Inverness called Clachnacuddin or Clach, formed the North of Scotland Football Association and the Highland League in the late 1800s. Thistle, Caley, and Clach, were the most successful clubs in the Highland league and were all rivals.

The Highland League was and is still not a part of the Scottish professional soccer pyramid.

The idea to merge the clubs came about because the Scottish League decided to expand from 38 to 40 teams in 1993. Because most of the Scottish League was based further south, a company called Inverness & Nairn Enterprise Company organized a meeting between Thistle, Caley, and Clach to discuss a merger. The logic was that one club applying to join the league had a better shot at winning the expansion vote versus 3 clubs splitting the vote.

Ultimately, Clach backed out of the meeting but Thistle and Caley proceeded. On January 12th, 1994, the new Inverness club was voted into the Scottish League for the next season. On May 14th, 1994 the two clubs played their final matches as separate clubs in the Highland League. And on July 20th, 1994, the new club of Inverness Caledonian Thistle beat RAF Kinloss 2-0 in its first ever match, with its first ever official match occurring a few days later on July 30th against St. Mirren.

Nicknames

The club has 3 nicknames, Caley Thistle, Caley Jags, and The Pride of the Highlands.

Caley Thistle is just the shortened version of the club’s official name.

The Caley Jags nickname also comes from the club’s official name. Caley obviously comes from the Caledonian part of the club’s name. And Jags is often a nickname given to a club that has Thistle in its name. A Thistle is a prickly weed with purple flowers, that is the official flower of Scotland. That’s why many Scottish clubs have Thistle in their name. I believe the fact that the plant is prickly and jagged is where the nickname Jag comes from. I wasn’t able to fully confirm this though, so if there is another explanation, please let us know in the comments section below the video.

And finally, the Pride of the Highlands nickname comes from the club being based in the Highland region of Scotland, which is the northwest region of the country.

Crest

The Inverness CT crest is a combination of the Caledonian and Inverness Thistle crests for those independent clubs prior to their merger in 1994.

At the top of the crest is a Golden Eagle, which was the symbol of Caledonian. Golden eagles are apex predators found throughout the Highland region in Scotland.

Under the eagle is a Scottish Thistle. We’ve already discussed the thistle as a purple flowered, prickly weed that is the official flower of Scotland.

Behind the thistle is a soccer ball, which obviously is a reference to the sport the club plays.

And underneath all of these symbols is a scroll with the club’s name of Inverness Caledonian Thistle F.C.

Important Events

I’d like to discuss 3 important events in the club’s history in this section.

The first event I want to highlight happened on February 8, 2000. Inverness CT played Scottish giants Celtic in the Scottish Cup on the road in Glasgow. Inverness, which was playing its first season ever in the second flight of Scottish soccer, shockingly upset Celtic 3-1 in the match. The upset was widely considered the biggest upset in Scottish soccer over the preceeding 30 years and one newspaper coined the now famous headline of “Super Caley Go Ballistic Celtic Are Atrocious”. This was the greatest day in the club’s history to that point and is still one of the most famous days in club history.

The second event happened on May 15th, 2004. On this date, Inverness CT hosted St. Johnstone (St. Johnston) in the final match of the season. Only the week before, Inverness moved to the top of the table by 1 point ahead of Clyde. A win on the day meant Inverness CT would be Champions of the Scottish First Division and qualify for the Scottish Premier League for the first time in the club’s history. Inverness took a lead around the 30th minute before St. Johnstone equalized before half time. Early in the second half, Inverness took the lead again before adding an insurance goal in the 76th minute. The match finished 3-1, which meant the club reached the top flight in its 10th year of existence.

There was some drama the summer after the club won promotion due to Inverness CT’s stadium not meeting the requirements for the SPL but that was all ultimately resolved and the Caley Jags began the 2004-2005 season as a Scottish Premier League member.

And the final event I’d like to mention here is the 2015 Scottish Cup Final. On May 30, 2015, Inverness Caledonian Thistle played Falkirk at Hampden (Hamden) Park, which is the Scottish national team’s home stadium in Glasgow (Glas-go). Inverness reached the final by defeating Celtic in the semi-final on April 19, which was a fantastic victory. In the final on May 30, the Caley Jags took the lead in the 38th minute through a great team goal. After having a man sent off in the 74th minute, Inverness conceded an equalizing goal in the 79th minute. The game looked set to head to extra time, but Inverness scored a scrappy goal in the 86th minute to take the lead. The club would hold on for its first major title and the club’s most glorious day in its history to date.

Supporters

Supporters have a place where they can gather called the Inverness Caledonian Thistle Social Club. This is located about a mile and a half from the club’s home stadium. The social club was formerly the official social club for the Caledonian supporters before the merger of the Inverness Thistle and Caledonian clubs. From the club’s fan message boards, it appears this reason, along with a few others has led to it not being exceptionally popular.

The Social Club does serve as a place for some supporter meetings and appears to be the place where supporters catch buses to away matches.

If you have any other info to add about the social club and/or Inverness CT supporters, please let us know in the comments section of the video.

Noteworthy Players

Alan Hercher was the first captain in the club’s history and scored the new club’s first ever league goal in 1994. He ended up with a hattrick in that first ever Scottish League match, which was the first competitive hattrick in Inverness Caledonian’s history. Hercher was a fantastic leader and led by example whenever he trained or played in a match.

The next player I’d like to discuss is Ross Tokely. Tokely joined the club in 1996 as a 17 year old when the Caley Jags were still in the Scottish Third Division, which confusingly is the 4th tier of the Scottish professional leagues. The defender would make more than 500 appearances across all competitions for the club in a 16 year career. Tokely played with the club in all 4 divisions of the Scottish League pyramid before leaving in 2012. He left as the club’s all-time record appearance holder, which he still holds that record.

And the last player I want to highlight here is Dennis Wyness. Wyness is the club’s all-time record goalscorer, with 101 goals. He played in both of Inverness CT’s victories over Celtic in 2000 and 2003, with Wyness scoring the only goal in the 2003 1-0 victory. Wyness was one of the greatest striker’s in club history.

Noteworthy Managers

Steve Paterson is the longest serving manager in Inverness CT’s history. He led the club from 1995 to 2002, which included the famous 3-1 away victory over Celtic in the Scottish Cup in 2000. Paterson has the most wins as a manager in club history and led the club from the 4th tier to the 2nd tier during his time in charge.

The next manager I want to highlight is John Robertson. At time of recording, Robertson is the current manager of Inverness CT and this is his second time managing the club. He first managed the Caley Jags from 2002 to 2004. Robertson led the club to the Scottish First Divsion title in the 2003-2004 season, which meant promotion to the Scottish Premier League (or SPL) for the first time in the club’s history. During that season, he also won the club’s first cup tournament, by winning the Scottish Challenge Cup, for a unique double for the club. Robertson left as manager in November 2004 to manage Hearts and returned to Inverness CT in June of 2017. He has since led the club to another Scottish Challenge Cup title in 2018.

The third manager I’d like to mention is Terry Butcher. Butcher managed the club from 2009 to 2013 and is currently the second longest serving manager in club history. He was appointed as the club was struggling in the SPL in the 2008-2009 season. Even though Butcher wasn’t able to avoid relegation in his first half season, he was retained as manager and immediately led the club to the Scottish First Division title in his first full season. For the rest of his time as manager at the club, Inverness CT remained in the SPL.

And the final manager I want to discuss is John Hughes, who took over from Terry Butcher. Hughes was manager from December 2013 to May 2016. Though his time was relatively brief with the club, Hughes led Inverness CT to its first ever major trophy, which was the 2015 Scottish Cup. As a result of winning that tournament, the club qualified for European competition for the first time in its history, so this was a momunental moment in the club’s history. Additionally, as a result of the club’s most successful season in its history in 2015, Hughes was named Scottish Manager of the Year by both the Pro Footballers’ Association and Scottish Football Writers’ Association. Hughes left at the end of the 2016 season, but he will always have a special place in Inverness CT’s history.

Rivals

Inverness Caledonian Thistle’s 3 rivals are Clachnacuddin, Aberdeen, & Ross County.

We touched on Clachnacuddin as a rival earlier in this video. This is more of a historic rivalry as Caley Thistle and Clach don’t really face each other much anymore, even though they’re based in the same city. They’re worth a mention but the other clubs we’re about to discuss are bigger rivals for the Caley Jags.

One of the club’s main rivals now is Aberdeen. Matches between the two clubs are called North Derbies because both clubs are located in the North of Scotland. The cities of Aberdeen and Inverness are the two largest cities in the North of Scotland and geography seems to be the main reason for this rivalry. It’s not much of a rivalry though as Aberdeen is one of the historically strongest clubs in Scotland while Inverness CT has a relatively short history. Also, the two clubs are separated by more than 100 miles, so although they are considered geographic rivals, they’re not exactly right next door to each other.

Inverness CT’s main rival currently is Ross County. Matches between the sides are called Highland Derbies because the two clubs are the only ones in the Scottish Football League from the Highland area of Scotland. Both clubs joined the Scottish League for the 1994-1995 season and the two clubs are located less than 15 miles apart. They are much closer geographic rivals and each club rose through the Scottish League in a similar manner since joining in 1994. Additionally, the rivalry partially stretches back to the Highland league when Inverness Thistle and Caledonian were separate clubs and Ross Count played in the same league. Lastly, at time of recording, both clubs currently play in the Scottish Championship, which is the 2nd division in Scotland, and are title contenders, which should add to this rivalry.

Stats & Records

The stats and records we’re about to discuss are as of September 2018, which is when we are recording this video.

The Caley Jags have played 12 seasons in the top flight in its history.

The club has 1 major title, which was the 2015 Scottish Cup.

The club has also won 2 Scottish Challenge Cups, which is a tournament that excludes the SPL teams and is not considered a major title. The Caley Jags won this in 2004 & 2018.

Inverness’s record first team appearance holder is Ross Tokely with 456 league appearances.

The Caley Jags’ record goal scorer is Dennis Wyness with 101 goals.

Mark Brown holds the club’s all-time clean sheets record with 67 clean sheets.

The club’s record transfer purchase is John Rankin from Ross County on July 1, 2006 for ~£90k.

And although transfer fees aren’t widely reported for Inverness CT, I believe the record transfer sale was Ryan Christie to Celtic on September 1, 2015 for a fee reported to be greater than £500k.

And one last interesting fact about the Caley Jags: Inverness CT hold the unfortunate record of having the highest ever point total for a club finishing in last place to be relegated in Scotland. This happened in the 2008-2009 season, when the club finished with 37 points but was still relegated in last place from the SPL.

So there you have it… a bit of history on Inverness Caledonian Thistle Football Club. Let’s continue the discussion in the comments section below this video.

Thanks for stopping by the Soccer Tavern. Hope to see you again sometime soon. Cheers.

World Cup Overview | The Men’s World Cup Explained

Welcome to the Soccer Tavern, where we’re discussing the history, culture, and philosophy of the beautiful game. My name is Dave and in this video, we’re talking about the FIFA Men’s World Cup. Specifically, we’re going to go through a pretty comprehensive explanation of how the Men’s World Cup works including qualification. Pull up a seat & let’s start the discussion.

NOTE: this video was recorded in April 2018

FIFA is the international governing body of soccer and the FIFA Men’s World Cup is the premier international tournament for the world’s most popular sport. It’s estimated that 3.2 billion people, which is more than 40% of the World’s population, watched at least a portion of the 2014 World Cup, with more than 1 billion people watching at least a minute of the 2014 Final between Argentina & Germany.

Most people know the World Cup as the soccer tournament that runs from the middle of June to the middle of July. But that is actually formally known as the World Cup Finals.

Technically, every single active country in FIFA participates in the World Cup, but only 32 nations (the 31 nations who qualify plus the host country) make it to the World Cup Finals. We say active country because there may be countries who are officially in FIFA but are suspended. Those countries would obviously not partake in the World Cup.

In 2026, the World Cup is expanding to 48 teams, and there may be multiple host countries at that point, so what we’re about to discuss will be applicable for the 2018 and hopefully the 2022 World Cups.

The World Cup starts with World Cup Qualification in each of the 6 FIFA sanctioned confederations. These 6 confederations are basically the 6 main inhabited continents in the world.

Europe’s confederation is called UEFA and has 55 countries

Africa’s confederation is called CAF and has 54 countries

Asia’s confederation, which also includes some Pacific islands, is called AFC and has 46 countries – quick note – though Australia is its own continent, it joined the Asian confederation in 2006. This is the only major geographic wrinkle in the confederation system

Oceania’s confederation, which includes the remaining Pacific islands not in the AFC, is called OFC and has 11 countries (with the aforementioned Australia moving to the Asian confederation in 2006).

North & Central America’s confederation, which also includes the Caribbean islands and a small handful of South American countries, is called CONCACAF and has 35 countries.

And finally South America’s confederation is called CONMEBOL and has 10 countries.

Each confederation is allotted a number of spots at the World Cup, and the confederations with better national teams are granted more qualification spots.

On May 30, 2015, FIFA set the World Cup allocations for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups:

UEFA was allocated 13 spots
Africa was allocated 5 spots
South America and Asia were both allocated 4.5 spots
CONCACAF was allocated 3.5 spots
And Oceania was allocated half a spot

Now, the half spots represent a two-legged inter-confederation playoff match. That means each team will play 1 match at home and 1 match on the road in a two-match series between teams from different confederations.

The confederation playoff matchups for the 2018 World Cup were decided with a blind draw on July 25, 2015. AFC and CONCACAF were pitted against each other, and OFC was selected to take on CONMEBOL.

The draw for the 2022 World Cup Playoffs will take place in July of 2019.

Back to World Cup qualification. Every confederation has its own process for determining who fills their allocated spots.

Qualification games are played during international breaks from club soccer. These breaks last about two weeks, with 2 national team games played during that time.

Some are straight forward, while others are complicated. Let’s talk about them now.

UEFA

Because the 2018 World Cup is in Russia and that country automatically qualifies for the World Cup, only 54 UEFA nations entered World Cup qualifying this cycle.

The countries were broken into 9 groups of 6 teams each. Each nation played 1 match home and 1 match away against the other teams in their group between September 2016 and October 2017.

The 9 group winners automatically qualified for the World Cup.

The 8 group runners up with the best records against teams in spots 1-5 in their group qualified for a playoff against other European teams to determine the last 4 spots.

I wanted to highlight that the rules specified performance against teams 1-5 for group runners up, meaning countries couldn’t beat up on the weakest opposition in the group to get an advantage.

UEFA playoff matches happened in November 2017 and the unlucky runner up in this qualification cycle was Slovakia from Group F.

The European countries that qualified for the 2018 World Cup were:

France
Portugal
Germany
Serbia
Poland
England
Spain
Belgium
Iceland
Sweden
Switzerland
Denmark
Croatia

CAF

Africa had 53 of its 54 member associations involved in 2018 World Cup Qualification. Zimbabwe was forbidden by FIFA from taking part due to outstanding debts from its federation.

The CAF qualification cycle was broken into 3 rounds stretching from October 2015 to November 2017.

In the first round, the 26 lowest-FIFA-ranked participating nations as of July 2015 were drawn into a 2 legged playoff. The top 13 teams were in one pot and the lower 13 teams were in another pot, so best teams were separated and couldn’t face each other in round 1. The winners of those 13 playoffs advanced to round 2. There, they were joined by the remaining 27 teams in CAF.

Similar to round 1, the 40 teams were drawn into a 2-legged playoff with the 20 winning teams advancing to round 3.

In round 3, the remaining 20 teams were broken into 5 groups of 4, where they played home & away matches against each of their 3 group opponents.

The top team in each group qualified for Russia 2018.

The African countries that qualified for the 2018 World Cup were:

Tunisia
Nigeria
Morocco
Senegal
Egypt

CONMEBOL

CONMEBOL has the simplest World Cup qualification process of any confederation.

All 10 teams were placed into 1 group where the nations played each other once home & away from October 2015 to October 2017.

Because Argentina and Brazil are two of the strongest countries in world soccer, other CONMEBOL countries were spared from playing both of them during the same international break.

The top 4 teams automatically qualified for Russia, while the 5th place team entered into a playoff against the top Oceania team.

The South American countries that qualified for the 2018 World Cup were:

Brazil
Uruguay
Argentina
Colombia
And Peru, who won their playoff match against New Zealand in Oceania

AFC

45 of the 46 AFC member nations participated in 2018 World Cup Qualification. Indonesia was excluded by FIFA due to government interference in the soccer federation, which is forbidden by FIFA statutes.

The qualification was broken into 4 rounds. The AFC had the longest qualification cycle, stretching more than 2 and a half years from March 2015 to October 2017.

The very first qualification match for the 2018 World Cup took place on March 12, 2015 between Sri Lanka and Bhutan in the AFC. Bhutan won 1-0 for those curious.

In round 1 of AFC qualification, the 12 lowest-FIFA-ranked participating nations as of January 2015 were drawn into a 2 legged playoff. The winners of those 6 playoff series advanced to round 2. There, they were joined by the remaining 34 teams in the AFC.

At the time, Indonesia wasn’t suspended yet, so they were technically involved in Round 2, but all of their matches were counted as forfeits. The 40 teams were broken into 8 groups of 5 where they played home and away matches against their group opponents. The 8 group winners, along with the 4 top 2nd place teams advanced to the 3rd round of qualifying.

The 12 remaining teams were broken into 2 groups of 6 where they played home and away matches against each opponent. The top 2 teams from each group qualified for the 2018 World Cup.

The 3rd place teams in each group entered into a home and away series against each other in the 4th round. The 4th round of qualification was simply the playoff between the 2 3rd-placed teams from round 3.

The winner of that series entered into the intercontinental playoff against CONCACAF.

The Asian countries that qualified for the 2018 World Cup were:

Iran
Japan
South Korea
Saudi Arabia
And Australia via a playoff against Honduras from CONCACAF

CONCACAF

CONCACAF probably has the most complicated qualification system of any confederation. It is 5 rounds long and, similar to AFC qualification, lasted more than 2 1/2 years.

In round 1 of CONCACAF qualification, the 14 lowest-FIFA-ranked countries as of August 2014 were drawn into a 2 legged series. The winners of those 7 playoff series advanced to round 2.

In round 2, the next 13 ranked nations entered qualification. These 20 teams were drawn into head-to-head matches over 2 legs like the previous round. The 10 winners from those series’ advanced to round 3.

In round 3, the next 2 ranked nations entered qualification. Just like rounds 1 and 2, these 12 countries were drawn to play in home & away matches against 1 other country with the winners from the 6 series’ advancing to round 4.

In Round 4, the last 6 remaining countries entered qualification along with the 6 series winners from the previous round. The countries were then broken into 3 groups of 4 with the best countries being separated from playing each other. The teams then played everyone in their group once home and away. After 6 matches, the top 2 teams in each group enter the 5th and final round of qualification.

In the 5th round, the 6 teams were placed in 1 group and played each team home and away. At the end, the top 3 teams automatically qualified for the World Cup with the 4th place team entering the inter-confederation playoff. This World Cup it was against AFC.

The CONCACAF countries that qualified for the 2018 World Cup were:

Mexico
Costa Rica
And Panama
Honduras finished 4th and lost their playoff against Australia

OFC

CONCACAF may have the most complicated qualification cycle but Oceania takes the cake for weirdest. The OFC World Cup qualification starts with a 4-team round robin group played in one country. It featured the 4 lowest FIFA-ranked teams as of July 2015.

They play each other 1 time and the group winner advances to round 2. That’s seemingly simple. It’s slightly different than other confederations with not having a home and away series but not crazy.

Round 2 is where it gets weird, because it doubles as the OFC Nations Cup. The remaining 7 countries enter the tournament. The 8 teams are drawn into 2 groups of 4, with the best teams being separated from playing each other at this stage. The teams then play their other group members one time. The top 3 countries in each group qualify for the 3rd and final round of qualification.

But, because this is a tournament unto itself, the top 2 members in each group advance to the semifinals of the tournament where they play a single elimination match before the winners play in a single final match. These semifinals and finals have no bearing on World Cup qualification, which makes this Round 2 so odd.

And finally, in round 3, the 6 qualifying countries are placed into two groups of 3. The nations play each of their group opponents once at home and once away. The top country from each group then plays the other top country from the other group in a 2 legged home and away playoff.

That winner then advances to the inter-confederation playoff.

For the 2018 cycle, New Zealand advanced from OFC and played Peru in the playoff, where they lost over 2 legs.

I’m sure all of that is crystal clear, right?

World Cup Finals

Once all 31 qualified teams are determined, FIFA holds a World Cup draw to determine the 8 groups of 4 for the World Cup Finals tournament. The draw for the 2018 World Cup was held on December 1, 2017 in Russia.

The host country and the top 7 FIFA-ranked teams are put into pot A.

The remaining pots of B, C, and D contain the qualified countries in order or rank with a small twist.

No two countries from the same confederation can be drawn together with the exception of European countries. There can be a max of 2 countries from Europe in a group.

The draw then proceeds with 1 country being picked from each pot until the groups are filled.

The host country is always drawn first & placed in Group A, so Russia was in Group A for the 2018 World Cup and Qatar will be in Group A for the 2022 World Cup.

Once the draw is complete and the groups are set, the tournament proceeds with the countries in each group playing each other 1 time. There’s generally a 4-6 day break in between group matches.

The first match for the 2018 World Cup is on Thursday, June 14 between Russia and Saudi Arabia

At the end of the group stage, the top 2 teams from each group advance to a bracket-style, single-elimination knockout round.

Determination of the top 2 teams is based on the following factors:

Teams are given 3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, and 0 points for a loss
The 2 teams with the most points advance
In the event of a tie, the first two tiebreakers are used in this order:
- Highest positive goal difference in the group stage
- Most goals scored in the group stage
If the teams are still tied after that, there are other tiebreakers. If you’re interested, you can check them out in Section 32, subsection 5 (Page 43) of this document.

Once the 2 teams who’re advancing from each group are determined, they are placed on opposite sides of the bracket, so they can’t meet again until the Final.

Knockout round matches are then played until a champion is crowned. In 2018, the World Cup Final will be on July 15.

And that’s how the FIFA men’s World Cup works.

Things are going to get a bit weird for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, but most of what we’ve just discussed will still be applicable.

The World Cup Finals tournament will be held from November to December in 2022 due to Qatar’s unbearably hot summers.

Also, Qatar will be the third country (after Uruguay and Italy) to make its World Cup Finals debut because of its host country status.

Because of the expansion to 48 teams in 2026, the qualification, structure, and timing of the tournament are likely to be very different for the 2026 World Cup. Until then, you should now know more than you ever wanted to know about the Men’s World Cup.

If you have anything else to add to our discussion, please let us know in the comments section below the video.

Thanks for stopping by The Soccer Tavern. Hope to see you again soon. Cheers.

Derby | Soccer Speak

Welcome to the Soccer Tavern, where we’re discussing the history, culture, and philosophy of the beautiful game. My name is Dave and in this video, we’re talking about the origin of the soccer term ‘derby’. Pull up a seat & let’s start the discussion.

A derby (pronounced “DAR-bee”) generally means a soccer match between local rivals. It usually refers to a match featuring 2 rivals from the same city or town, such as the North London Derby between Tottenham and Arsenal.

But, the term has evolved a bit to sometimes refer to a match featuring 2 rivals from the same region, such as the Black Country Derby between Wolverhampton and West Bromwich Albion.

The term derby comes from England and actually originated with a horse race. The biggest and most prestigious horse race in England is called “The Derby Stakes” or just simply the “Derby”.

The Derby began in 1780 and was created by the twelfth Earl of Derby named Edward Smith-Stanley. That is where the race got its name.

By the 1840s, ‘derby’ was being used as a noun to refer to any sporting contest. The word was particularly popular to refer to soccer matches and one of the earliest printed uses of the word came from the Daily Express in October of 1914 when it referred to the Liverpool vs Everton match as a local derby.

That is the true origin of the word. Now, there is a second story that the term ‘derby’ comes from the Royal Shrovetide Football Match.

The Royal Shrovetide Football Match is played in the town of Ashbourne, Derbyshire, England and has been played since at least the 12th century. It’s a combined form of rugby and soccer that has few rules and can be very violent.

Due to the game’s intense nature, it resembling the sport of soccer, and the match taking place in Derbyshire, people have made the connection that this is the origin of the term ‘derby’ to refer to an intense, local rivalry match.

Unfortunately, this is simply legend and the real meaning of the word comes from the Derby Stakes horse race.

Now, you know why it’s called a derby. If you have anything else to add to our discussion, please let us know in the comments section below the video.

Thanks for stopping by The Soccer Tavern. Hope to see you again soon. Cheers.

Rabona | Soccer Speak

Welcome to the Soccer Tavern, where we’re discussing the history, culture, and philosophy of the beautiful game. My name is Dave and in this video, we’re talking about the origin of the soccer term ‘rabona’. Pull up a seat & let’s start the discussion.

A rabona is a move where a player with the ball kicks the ball by bringing their opposite leg behind their standing leg. So, if I have the ball on the left side of my body, I would let the ball drift just outside my left foot and swing by right leg behind my planted left leg to pass, cross, or shoot the ball.

A rabona can be used if a player is not confident with using a weaker foot. It can also be used to confuse or trick defenders. And it can just be used to showboat as a display of skill.

The move gained widespread attention and popularity in the 1970s when Italian player Giovanni Roccotelli famously used the move to assist a goal in 1978. Roccotelli claims he had an intuition to perform the move while playing soccer in the streets in the 1950s while he was a child.

Given there wasn’t television or global media coverage of the sport, Roccotelli likely had never seen the move before and it was intuition to him.

Having said that, Roccotelli was not the creator of the rabona. No one knows for certain who came up with the move, but the first recorded use of it came in 1948 in a match in Argentina.

Estudiantes de la Plata and Rosario Central were playing in a match when Estudiantes player Ricardo Infante scored a goal from 35 yards out using a rabona.

As a result of the never before seen goal, an Argentine soccer magazine called El Gráfico, included a picture of Infante scoring the wonder goal on its cover.

The picture was captioned “El infante que se hizo la rabona”. This translates from Spanish as “Infante played hooky” or “Infante skipped school.” It implied Infante skipped using his weaker foot to kick the ball.

In 1998, for the 50th anniversary of the goal, Infante cited the lack of television and media coverage in the 1940s as the reason he was not given credit as the move’s creator and why many still thought Roccotelli was the first to use a rabona.

Now, you know the first person to use the rabona and why it’s called a rabona in the first place. If you have anything else to add to the discussion, please let us know in the comments section below the video.

Thanks for stopping by The Soccer Tavern. Hope to see you again soon. Cheers.

Pitch | Soccer Speak

Welcome to the Soccer Tavern, where we’re discussing the history, culture, and philosophy of the beautiful game. My name is Dave and in this video, we’re talking about the origin of the soccer term pitch. Pull up a seat & let’s start the discussion.

The soccer term ‘pitch’ means the rectangular playing area where the players compete in a match. Why is it called a pitch? Well, as with most soccer terms, this term’s history starts in England.

Pitch originated with the sport of cricket and comes from the verb to pitch, meaning to thrust or drive in. Like “to pitch a tent.”

In cricket, the wickets, which are those wooden stumps, are knocked into the ground and since the end of the 17th century, this process has been called “pitching the stumps.”

The term was strictly used as a verb until about the 1870s when it evolved into a noun to refer to the playing area where cricket was played. Finally by the late 1800s or early 1900s, the term was carried over to the soccer world to also refer to the playing area.

An additional point of note is that in England, a field is an open area of land, generally used for farming. So, the pitch term evolved to mean an open area of land specific for playing a sport.

Lastly, I’ve seen some suggestions that the pitch term comes from the fact that playing areas are slightly sloped to help with drainage. The playing areas may be sloped to help with drainage but that has nothing to do with the term pitch applying to a playing area.

So, that’s where the soccer term ‘pitch’ comes from. If you have anything else to add to the discussion, please let us know in the comments section below the video.

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International Cap | Soccer Speak

Welcome to the Soccer Tavern, where we’re discussing the history, culture, and philosophy of the beautiful game. My name is Dave and in this video, we’re talking about the origin of the soccer term international cap or just cap for short. Pull up a seat & let’s start the discussion.

For those who may not know, an international cap, which we’ll just call cap from now on, is the term used to refer to a player making an international appearance for his or her country.

Why is this called a cap? Well, it actually comes from a physical cap (or hat) awarded to players.

In soccer’s early days, players were not required to wear matching uniforms and most often would identify teammates based on their teammates wearing similar color stockings, scarves, or caps.

This practice was common throughout England in soccer’s early years but was formalized in 1886 with a proposal by a man named N. Lane Jackson.

His proposal stated that “…all players taking part for England in future international matches be presented with a white silk cap with red rose embroidered on the front. These to be termed International Caps.”

The colors of white and red, as well as the rose, symbolized England.

Now, the actual caps that were awarded were slightly different than the original proposal as they were blue velvet and had the match date sewn on them above the rose.

It should be clarified that even at this time, the cap was largely ceremonial as matching kits had begun to be widely adopted in the soccer world.

From a statistics standpoint, every time a player steps onto the field in an international match to represent his or her country, that is considered a cap.

The practice of awarding caps for international appearances is where the term came from and the term continues to be used today.

Some countries still award physical caps to players for making an international appearance. In England’s case, the modern caps now have the 3 lions logo in place of the red rose on the front of the cap. In addition, the word England, the match opponent, and the year are embroidered on the cap peak with a silver tassel on top of the cap.

The exception to awarding a physical cap for every appearance is that when a player is involved in a tournament such as the World Cup or European Championships. In that case, the player is awarded 1 cap for the duration of the tournament with all opponents and the tournament name sewn into the 1 cap. It is called a Cap of Honor.

So, players may not have as many physical caps as the record books indicate but that doesn’t really matter as the record books are what’s most important.

Now you know why it’s called a cap. If you have anything else to add to the discussion, please let us know in the comments section below the video.

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Panenka | Soccer Speak

Welcome to the Soccer Tavern, where we’re discussing the history, culture, and philosophy of the beautiful game. My name is Dave and in this video, we’re talking about the origin of the soccer term panenka. Pull up a seat & let’s start the discussion.

The soccer term ‘panenka’ means a delicate chip into the middle of the goal when a player is taking a penalty. Usually, a goalkeeper dives to one side and the shot is effective if executed properly. But it requires a ton of nerves and a shooter can look pretty foolish if a goalkeeper doesn’t dive and easily catches the weak shot.

Why is it called a panenka? The man who first made this penalty famous was named Antonín Panenka.

Panenka was an incredibly talented attacking midfielder who played for the Czechoslovakian national team in the 1970s. He also played club soccer for one of Prague’s smaller clubs, Bohemians Praha.

During this time, there was a strict transfer system in communist Czechoslovakia that meant he couldn’t move to a bigger club in the country and certainly couldn’t move abroad. Therefore, he was relatively unknown prior to becoming a legend in 1976 due to the limited international media coverage of Czech soccer.

Before we get to that, let me tell you how his style was developed. Given his skillset, he became Bohemians’ designated penalty taker in the early 1970s. He wasn’t bad at it but certainly wasn’t remarkable.

Then in a league game against Plzeň in 1974, Panenka missed a penalty. The ref spotted an infringement, so the penalty was required to be retaken and Panenka missed again. He actually scored a penalty later in the same match, but he was so upset with himself for his 2 earlier misses that he made a commitment to improving his penalty taking.

After every training session from then on, he would stay after with the Bohemians’ goalkeeper to practice penalties. They would have friendly wagers of beer, chocolate, and cash based on the result. The goalkeeper was so talented at saving penalties that it forced Panenka to become obsessive at trying to beat him.

One night, while lying in bed, he noted that goalkeepers almost always dive to one side of the net, so kicking it into the middle of the goal was a good strategy. He also noted that if you kick it too hard, a goalkeeper could save it with his legs, so a delicate chip would be most effective.

So, Panenka tried his strategy in training and began winning his friendly wagers. That gave him confidence to begin trying the technique in friendlies and league matches, where it was also successful.

Even when the opposing goalkeeper anticipated the penalty style, Panenka was still very successful, because it requires a ton of nerve for the goalkeeper not to dive.

One month before the European championships in 1976, Panenka scored a penalty with his trademark style in a league match against his international teammate goalkeeper who was well aware of the style. Even though he knew about the delicate chip, the goalkeeper was fooled by Panenka’s run up to take the penalty.

Because there was not 24/7 news coverage of soccer like there is today, few people outside of Czechoslovakia knew about Panenka or his penalty style at the start of the European Championships in the summer of 1976.

The Czechoslovakian national team made it to the finals, where they drew 2-2 against West Germany. That meant penalties would decide the champion for the first time ever in a major international finals match.

Czechoslovakia made their first 4 penalties. After Germany missed their 4th penalty, Antonín Panenka stepped up with a chance to win Czechoslovakia’s first major trophy. He took a long run up, and as the German goalkeeper dove to his left, Panenka hit a delicate chip into the middle of the net to win the tournament for Czechoslovakia. This penalty was unlike any other previously seen on the international stage, especially considering this was the deciding penalty for a team who had never won a major title.

Panenka had done this hundreds of times in training and had done it competitively 9 times before hitting this famous penalty, so to him, it wasn’t a big deal. But to the wider soccer world, this penalty looked like the most daring and risky penalty they had ever seen. That’s why it has gone down in soccer history and has a name unto itself.

Panenka’s success rate highlights just how effective this technique is. He would use his trademark penalty 35 times competitively in his career and only missed once. Other soccer greats have also utilized panenkas in high pressure moments to great effect. Famously, Andrea Pirlo and Zinedine Zidane used panenkas in World Cup matches in 2006 and 2010, respectively.

So, that’s where the soccer term ‘panenka’ comes from. If you have anything else to add to the discussion, please let us know in the comments section below the video.

Thanks for stopping by The Soccer Tavern. Hope to see you again soon. Cheers.

Nutmeg | Soccer Speak

Welcome to the Soccer Tavern, where we’re discussing the history, culture, and philosophy of the beautiful game. My name is Dave and in this video, we’re talking about where the soccer term ‘nutmeg’ comes from. Pull up a seat & let’s start the discussion.

For those who may not know, nutmeg is the term used when a player with the ball plays it through a defender’s legs. The act of nutmegging or being nutmegged is widely considered the highest form of humiliation on the soccer pitch.

The purpose of this video is to discuss why this move is called a nutmeg in English-speaking countries.

Like many things in soccer, the true origin is not known, but there are a few possible explanations.

The first explanation is that in the late 1800s, the seed known as nutmeg was one of the most in demand and expensive goods being traded from America to England. At the time, nutmeg was weighed in bulk rather than individually inspected. For this reason, some American merchants would include wooden replica nutmeg mixed with real nutmeg to increase the price of the good. Through this dubious practice, the term nutmegged in England came to mean you were tricked by the cleverness of the other person. Obviously if you’ve ever been nutmegged on the soccer pitch, you can relate to this feeling of helplessness and sheepishness
Another explanation is the term as it relates to soccer came from cockney rhyming slang. Quick lesson on cockney rhyming slang. It was developed in the East End of London in the 1940s as a way for merchants and street salespeople to communicate without the people walking by understanding what they were saying. For example: “I’m enjoying this Pig’s Ear” meant “I’m enjoying this beer” because Pig’s Ear rhymes with beer. NutMEG was one of the terms for leg and so when you played the ball through a person’s legs, you played it through their nutmegs. The term then evolved into nutmegs referring to the ball being played between a person’s legs.
And the third explanation is that the sport was mainly played by males in its early days and males have appendages that are informally known as nuts. Nut is the first part of nutmeg and the term evolved from this.

So, those are the possible explanations for where the term nutmeg comes from. I’ll leave it up to you to determine which you’d like to believe.

If you have anything else to add to the discussion, please let us know in the comments section below the video.

Thanks for stopping by The Soccer Tavern. Hope to see you again soon. Cheers.

Wolverhampton Wanderers FC | Club History

Welcome to the Soccer Tavern, where we’re discussing the history, culture, and philosophy of the beautiful game. My name is Dave and in this video, we’re talking about the history of Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club. Pull up a seat and let’s start the discussion.

Wolverhampton Wanderers FC is located in the central part of the city of Wolverhampton. Wolverhampton is located in the central part of England in the United Kingdom. The club currently play in the Premier League and its home ground is called the Molineux Stadium. The Molineux opened in 1889 and currently holds about 32,000 people.

Origin

Wolverhampton began as a school team in 1877 at the St. Luke’s school in Blakenhall, which is a southern neighborhood in the city of Wolverhampton. The team was founded after the school’s headmaster, Harry Barcroft, awarded the best performing students a soccer ball as a prize for their efforts during the school year.

Two students named Jack Brodie and John Baynton are credited with convincing the other students to form a team with their new ball. The team played for 2 years before it merged with another club called The Blakenhall Wanderers. It became Wolverhampton Wanderers after the merger.

The club played in a variety of colors in its early years before first playing in their now famous gold and black kits in the 1891-1892 season. The gold color came from the borough’s coat of arms and the black was a reference to the local area being called the “Black Country”. Additionally, the colors are rumored to also represent the city’s motto of “Out of darkness cometh light”. Black allegedly represents darkness and gold represents light.

Nickname

The club is nicknamed Wolves. Unsurprisingly, it comes from the City’s name where the club is based. Wolverhampton was founded in 985 AD by King Edgar’s sister Wulfrun, which is where the city gets its name.

Crest

Wolverhampton has one of the most unique and distinguishable crests in English soccer.

The current crest has been used since 2002 and most closely resembles the crest first used in 1979.

It is a menacing looking wolf with sharp edges in the design. The colors of black and gold come from the club’s main kit colors.

A wolf first appeared on a Wolverhampton crest in the early 1970s and has been included in every crest since. The only exception to this was a 3 year period in the 1990s when the club used the Wolverhampton coat of arms for 3 years between 1993 and 1996. Thankfully, the club went back to a wolf head crest design, which was similar to the current crest used today before updating the design to the current crest in 2002.

Important Events

Wolverhampton was one of the founding members of the Football League on April 17th, 1888 at the Royal Hotel in Manchester. This league laid the foundations for what eventually became the English football pyramid and over 100 years later, the Premier League.

The next event I’d like to mention happened in 1954. In the Spring of 1954, Wolves clinched their first ever league championship over rivals West Bromwich Albion. This was monumental in the club’s history, but Wolves had an even bigger event happen later in 1954. On December 13, 1954, the English champion Wolves, hosted Hungarian champions Honved under the floodlights at the Molineux stadium. The Honved side included 6 Hungarians who had recently embarrassed the English national team in two matches at the international level. The second half of the match was broadcast live on the BBC, which was incredibly rare at that time. Honved led 2-0 within 14 minutes of the match starting, but Wolves manager Stan Cullis ordered the grounds crew to heavily water the pitch at halftime to slow Honved down. Wolves then scored 3 second half goals to win the match 3-2 and the British press crowned them “Champions of the World”. The popularity and media attention from this match was the catalyst for the creation of the European Cup, now known as the Champion’s League.

The next event I’d like to discuss is from 1990. Lifelong Wolves fan, Sir Jack Hayward bought the club for £2M that year. Over the next 17 years, Hayward would reportedly invest more than £70M of his personal money into the club. The investment went mainly into redeveloping the Molineux stadium to bring it in line with increasing stadium infrastructure requirements. Sir Jack also helped to stabilize the club financially. He was a great servant to the club and there is a statue outside of the Molineux stadium commemorating Sir Jack Hayward and the next event I’d like to highlight.

On May 26, 2003 Wolves beat Sheffield United 3-0 in the second flight play-off final to qualify for the top division for the first time in 19 years. Mark Kennedy, Nathan Blake, and Kenny Miller were the scorers on the day and the following season was the 1 and only season in the top flight for Wolves under Sir Jack’s ownership. On the day of the victory, Sir Jack gave the Wolves supporters a double thumbs up, which is the pose captured in his statue outside of the Molineux.

And the last event I want to mention is the purchase of Wolves by the owners of Chinese conglomerate Fosun International Group in July of 2016. Fosun has pumped a ton of resources and money into the club to get it back to the Premier League. Additionally, recent reports have the ownership group worth more than £60B. This ownership group and its vast amount of wealth may be instrumental in Wolves remaining in the Premier League and pushing for European places for years to come.

Supporters

In addition to Wolves winning the league and playing Honved in 1954, this year was also significant for another reason. It corresponded with Laskar Singh and Lachhman Singh attending a Wolves match with their work colleagues. This is significant because these men would create a supporters group that would eventually be named the Punjabi Wolves. The Punjabi Wolves are one of the largest ethnic supporters’ groups in all of England. The group is open to people of any background but the majority of its members have ties to the Punjab region of India.

These supporters are most distinctively known for their dhol drum that is played before home matches and is allowed to be played throughout many away matches in the supporters section.

Wolves has many supporters from a diverse background but I wanted to highlight this unique and trailblazing subset of supporters in this section.

Noteworthy Players

Billy Wright is widely considered the greatest ever player in Wolverhampton’s history. Wright spent his entire career at Wolves, beginning in 1938 and ending in 1959. He captained the club during its greatest ever period, won an FA Cup, 3 First Division titles, and was named Football Writers’ Association Footballer of The Year in 1952. Wright was a standout centerback and incredible leader on the backline. In addition to being a fixture for Wolves, he was the first English player to earn 100 caps for his country and he captained the national side a record 90 times. There is a stand at the Molineux named after him and a statue outside the ground commemorating this legendary player.

Bert Williams was a goalkeeper at Wolverhampton from 1945-1959. He was a teammate of Billy Wright during the club’s most successful period and is the greatest goalkeeper in Wolves’ history. Williams was only 5’9″ tall but he had incredible reactions, which earned him the nickname of “The Cat”. Williams made 420 appearances for Wolves and had 30 England caps during his career.

Bill Slater joined Wolves in 1952 and was a teammate of Wright and Williams. He is generally considered one of the best players in the club’s history as he was an integral member of the teams that won 3 league titles. In 1960, after Wright and Williams retired, Slater captained Wolves to the FA Cup, which also earned him the Football Writers’ Association Footballer of the Year award. Slater and Wright are the only 2 players in the clubs history to have won the FWA Footballer of the Year award.

And Steve Bull in the last player I want to highlight here. He was the greatest goalscorer in the club’s history. Bull joined Wolves from local rivals West Bromwich Albion in 1986 while the club was struggling in the 4th Division. With Bull pumping in goals, Wolves climbed to the second flight in his 13 years with the club. Though Bull didn’t play in the top division with Wolves, his quality was enough that he still received 13 calls up to the English National team. He is Wolves’ all-time record goalscorer by more than 100 goals, after he scored more than 300 goals for the club in his career.

Noteworthy Managers

I wanted to briefly mention Jack Addenbrooke, who was the 2nd manager in the club’s history. Addenbrooke led Wolves from 1885 to 1922 and is the longest serving manager in the history of the club both from a timeline and matches managed perspective. He won an FA Cup in 1908, which was the first major trophy in the club’s history.

The next manager I want to discuss is Stan Cullis. Cullis is by far Wolves’ greatest ever manager as he managed during the most successful period in the club’s history. Cullis was in charge from 1948-1964 when the club won 3 First Division titles and 2 FA Cups. That was the last time the club won a Top Flight title. Stan Cullis managed almost 750 matches for the club and there is rightfully a statue outside of the Molineux Stadium in his honor.

Bill McGarry led Wolves from 1968 to 1976. Under McGarry’s leadership, Wolverhampton won its first ever League Cup in the 1973-1974 season and the club made the final of the UEFA Cup, which is now known as the Europa League. During McGarry’s management, the club remained in the First Division, until his final season when the club suffered relegation and McGarry was fired. Even though his tenure did not end on a positive note, he is one of the greatest managers in club history.

Lastly, I wanted to quickly mention current manager Nuno Espírito Santo. He is only 44 years old and is thought of as one of the best up and coming managers in European soccer. If the club is able to retain his services and continue building, Nuno could become one of the best managers in club history.

Rivals

Wolverhampton’s 3 rivals are Stoke City, Aston Villa, and West Bromwich Albion.

Stoke City are a nearby rival to Wolves. There’s not much detail behind the rivalry beyond the two clubs are located in the same geographic area and have played many times over the years.

Aston Villa is listed as a rival for Wolverhampton, but there truly isn’t much to this rivalry. The clubs are located less than 20 miles apart. This proximity hasn’t really led to a rivalry though as both sets of supporters don’t seem to have much animosity towards each other. Additionally, the clubs have had numerous players and managers over the years move between the two teams. There was a bit of bubbling to this rivalry in the 2017-2018 championship season as both clubs chased promotion, but beyond that, there isn’t too much to note here.

And lastly, Wolverhampton’s main rival is West Bromwich Albion. Matches between Wolves and West Brom are called the Black Country Derby. The two clubs are about 13 miles apart and officially first met in 1886. Matches have always been intense, but the rivalry really escalated in the 1950s when both clubs were competing at the top of the first division. The two sides have played more than 150 times and this is one of the oldest rivalries in the world in terms of league soccer. Black Country Derby matches are actually one of the most intense in all of English soccer with violence among fans sometimes still an issue.

Stats & Records

The stats and records we’re about to discuss are as of August 2018, which is when we are recording this video.

Wolves have played 64 seasons in the top flight in its history.

The club has 9 major titles including:

3 First Division championships
4 FA Cups
2 League Cups

Wolverhampton’s record first team appearance holder is Derek Parkin with 609 appearances.

Wolves’ record goal scorer is Steve Bull with 306 goals.

The club’s record transfer purchase is Adama Traore from Middlesbrough FC on August 8, 2018 for ~£18M.

And the club’s record transfer sale was Steven Fletcher to Sunderland AFC on August 24, 2012 for about £12M initially plus ~£2M in add-ons.

I want to leave you with 3 interesting facts about the club:

1 – Wolves were awarded and scored the first ever penalty kick in the Football League’s history. That happened on September 14, 1891.

2 – Wolverhampton were the first and so far only English club to score 100 or more goals in league play in 4 consecutive seasons. This happened between 1957 and 1961.

3 – And third, Wolves were the first team to win all 4 fully professional division titles in England. The club’s record clinching title came in 1988 when it won the 4th division that season.

So there you have it… a bit of history on Fulham Football Club. Let’s continue the discussion in the comments section below this video.

Thanks for stopping by the Soccer Tavern. Hope to see you again sometime soon. Cheers.

Fulham FC | Club History

Welcome to the Soccer Tavern, where we’re discussing the history, culture, and philosophy of the beautiful game. My name is Dave and in this video, we’re talking about the history of Fulham Football Club. Pull up a seat and let’s start the discussion.

Fulham FC is located in the western, slightly southern part of the city of London. London is located in the southern-central part of England in the United Kingdom. The club currently play in the Premier League and its home ground is called Craven Cottage. Craven Cottage opened in 1896 and currently holds about 26,000 people, although it has plans to expand to about 30,000.

Origin

Fulham FC is one of London’s oldest clubs after being founded in 1879. At that time, a teacher and churchwarden organized a team for local boys at the Fulham St. Andrew’s Church.

The team played for about 10 years under the Fulham St. Andrew’s name before becoming Fulham Football Club in January of 1889. Fulham FC is still its official name about 130 years later.

The club had a nomadic existence in its early years before finally settling on a piece of land in 1894 along the river Thames (Tems) for its home ground. It took 2 years to clear out the land to make it suitable for playing and Fulham FC played its first match on the grounds of Craven Cottage in 1896. The club has been there ever since.

Nicknames

Fulham FC’s main nickname is the Cottagers. This comes from the famous Craven Cottage that is located on the stadium’s ground. The original Craven Cottage was built in 1780 and had numerous famous people live there until it burned down in 1888. A version of the Cottage was rebuilt in 1903 and that is the current structure located in one of the stadium’s corners today. The stadium’s name was taken from that Cottage and that’s also where the team’s nickname comes from.

Fulham’s other nickname is the Whites. The Whites name comes from the team’s main kit color, which has always been white shirts and black shorts dating back to the club’s formation in 1879.

Crest

The current crest has been used since 2001 and was created to allow the club full image rights since its previous crest was not owned by the club.

The crest appears simple at first glance, but it actually contains symbols from throughout Fulham’s history.

The shield shape of the crest is a reference to the club’s official crest used immediately before the current crest. This was the Fulham Metropolitan Borough Council’s coat of arms and you can see the shield featuring prominently in that crest.

Also in this crest you will notice the swords on a red background. These images come from the arms of the See of London. The See of London is also known as the Bishop of London. The Bishop was the feudal ruler of the Fulham area from the end of the 7th century to 1836. So there is a strong connection between the coat of arms for the Bishop and the borough of Fulham. The reason I point this out is the red color. That is likely where the red accent color comes from in Fulham’s current crest.

The other colors of black and white in the crest come from the club’s main kit colors.

And finally, the connected FFC letters stand for Fulham Football Club. The club experimented with a similar design from 1973 to 1977. This was the inspiration behind the current crest including these symbols and then just updating them for a modern look.

All of these historical elements make up the simple looking crest we see today.

Important Events

The first event I’d like to highlight here came on May 7, 1949. On this date, the Cottagers beat West Ham United 2-0 to secure the Second Division title. Fulham finished the season on 57 points and qualified for the first division for the first time in the club’s history.

The next event I want to mention happened on May 3, 1975. On this date, Fulham took on West Ham United in the FA Cup Final. It was the first time Fulham had reached a major final. Unfortunately, West Ham returned the favor from our first event I highlighted with a 2-0 scoreline. Though Fulham lost the final, the club played 11 matches including 6 replays to reach the final. No team in history has played more matches to reach the FA Cup Final. Although the loss was heartbreaking, Fulham takes pride in its tough route to the final.

The next major event for the club came in 1987. The club was in a terrible financial position and was considering merging with local rival club Queens Park Rangers. Former player Jimmy Hill stepped up and became Chairman of the club. Hill was able to save the club from bankruptcy, avoid the merger, and allow Fulham to keep Craven Cottage. His time as chairman of the club led to it becoming stabilized. With Fulham on stable ground, Mohamed Al Fayed purchased the club in 1997 and set it on arguably its most successful period in the top flight in the club’s history. Under Al Fayed’s ownership, the club made the top flight for the first time in 50 years and became a perennial top half of the table side. None of that would have been possible without Jimmy Hill’s intervention to save the club in 1987.

And the last event I want to discuss happened on April 29, 2010. Fulham played Hamburg SV at Craven Cottage in the second leg of the Europa League semifinal. The first leg finished 0-0. Hamburg took a first half lead in the match but Fulham was able to level through Simon Davies before Zoltan Gera scored in the 76th minute for the Cottagers. The match finished 2-1 with Fulham qualifying for their first ever European Final. Along the way, Fulham beat Juventus in dramatic fashion with a ridiculous comeback in the round of 16. They then dispatched the German champions Wolfsburg, before advancing past Hamburg. Unfortunately, the final was lost to Atletico Madrid 2-1 after an extra time goal in the 116th minute from Diego Forlan. The Whites didn’t win a trophy but their Europa League run that season was remarkable.

Supporters

The Cottagers weren’t impacted much by hooligan firms that were heavily involved in other clubs in the 1970s and 1980s. Fulham has more or less always been known as a family club. The club is constantly in the running for the Football League Family Excellence Award and was most recently honored as a Gold Award winner for the 2017-2018 season. That meant the club was recognized for its exemplary work in engaging families on matchdays.

Noteworthy Players

The greatest player in Fulham’s history was Johnny Haynes. Haynes was one of the greatest players of his generation and was nicknamed ‘The Maestro’. He was well known for his tactical understanding of the game, as well as for his control and passing ability. Pele described Haynes as ‘the best passer of the ball I’ve ever seen’ and Haynes was the first professional player to earn £100 a week. Haynes spent the entirety of his peak playing years at Fulham from 1952 to 1970 even though he could have gone to more prestigious clubs at the time. He’s an absolute legend at Fulham and there is a statue outside of Craven Cottage honoring him.

The next player I’d like to mention is Sir Bobby Robson. Sir Bobby began his professional career at Fulham in 1950 when he was 17 years old. He would have a great 6 year run at Fulham before being sold to West Brom in 1956. He would return to Fulham in 1962 and play another 5 seasons before retiring in 1967. Robson earned 20 England caps in his playing career and he would go on to have a very successful managerial career managing top clubs all over Europe.

Bobby Moore and George Best each played for Fulham towards the end of their playing careers. They are each most well-known for time spent elsewhere but deserve mention here as Moore was the captain of England’s World Cup winning 1966 team. He’s considered one of the greatest defenders ever. And George Best, is still regarded as one of the most talented attacking players ever. Best was a cultural icon during his playing days and was one of the first superstars in the world of soccer.

I also want to highlight Jimmy Hill here. Hill didn’t have the most exemplary playing career but he was involved in many events that helped shape the future of soccer in England and Fulham FC. Hill was president of the Professional Footballers’ Association and successfully fought to have the maximum wage cap abolished. After his playing career, he moved into broadcasting and helped change the way soccer was presented on television. Hill also successfully convinced the FA to introduce the three-points-for-a-win system in 1981 and campaigned for clubs to be able to wear sponsor logos on their shirts. This is all in addition to saving Fulham FC in 1987, which we talked about in our last section. Although Hill wasn’t the greatest player, his influence on the game is likely the greatest of any Fulham player in the club’s history.

Lastly, being American, I want to highlight Carlos Bocanegra, Brian McBride, and Clint Dempsey in this section.

Bocanegra was a long-time captain for the US Men’s National team. He was a fantastic leader and serviceable defender. Boca played at Fulham 2003 to 2008.

McBride was a hard-nosed attacker who was stellar in the air. He played at Fulham from 2004 to 2008 and was twice named player of the year for the Cottagers. There is a pub at Craven Cottage named McBride’s in honor of him.

And Dempsey was a skilled attacker who played at Fulham from 2007 to 2012. He scored one of the most memorable goals in Fulham history against Juventus in the Europa League with an incredible chip and Dempsey is tied as the all-time leading scorer in US National team history.

Noteworthy Managers

For a club that’s been around almost 140 years, it’s slightly surprising that there aren’t many legendary managers in the club’s history. Most managers I will highlight here are more famous for their time spent elsewhere but they are definitely noteworthy.

Jimmy Hogan only had a short run as Fulham manager. He managed 31 matches from 1934-1935. His time at Fulham was unremarkable, but Hogan is seen as one of the tactical pioneers in the world of soccer. He is largely credited with inventing total football, which was eventually made famous by the Dutch in the 1970s. He revolutionized soccer in continental Europe and is world renowned for his influence on the game.

Vic Buckingham has a similar story to Jimmy Hogan. Buckingham spent 3 years at Fulham with his final season in 1968 ending in relegation. It was pretty unexceptional, but before joining Fulham, he made quite an impression on Ajax in the Netherlands. While managing there, Buckingham discovered a 12-year old Johan Cruyff and brought Cruyff into the academy. He also implemented a short, passing game with lots of off-ball movement that would become the Ajax and Dutch way of playing. In his second stint with Ajax, he would give Cruyff his debut for the club. Buckingham returned to England from Ajax and after managing at Fulham, he would head to FC Barcelona. There, he would implement a similar style to Ajax that has seen Barcelona become world famous. Buckingham didn’t have the greatest time at Fulham but had an enormous influence on the world of soccer.

And the last manager I’d like to highlight here is Kevin Keegan. Keegan was a fantastic player during his career and nearly won the Premier League as manager with Newcastle. So, when he took over as manager at the end of the 1997-1998 season, there was a lot of excitement from Fulham fans. Keegan led Fulham in the Second Division for the 1998-1999 season as the team set all kinds of offensive and defensive records that season. Unfortunately for Fulham fans, the success led to Keegan being poached by the English FA to manage the English National team. His tenure at Craven Cottage ended on sour terms less than a year after being appointed. Still, Keegan was instrumental in getting the Whites back to the first division for the first time in 50 years.

Rivals

Fulham’s 2 main rivals are Chelsea and Queens Park Rangers.

Matches with Chelsea and Queens Park Rangers are called West London Derbies because all 3 play in West London.

Fulham fans consider Chelsea to be their main rival. The two clubs are both located in the Fulham neighborhood of London and their stadiums are less than 2 miles apart. Since Chelsea’s rise over the last few decades to become one of the best clubs in England, this rivalry has faded a bit. Chelsea supporters don’t even consider Fulham to be a rival, which infuriates Fulham supporters even more. Though the rivalry isn’t quite intense from both sides, the two clubs have a long history with Chelsea FC being formed after Fulham declined to move into Stamford Bridge back in 1904. With Fulham back in the Premier League, supporters will be excited to continue this Derby.

Fulham’s other main rival is Queens Park Rangers. QPR is located about 3 miles to the north of Fulham. In the modern age of soccer, Fulham and QPR are closer to each other in terms of financial and on-field competitiveness. Both have bounced between the Championship and Premier League in recent years and have met each other many times across the divisions in England. There actually was an attempted merger of the 2 clubs back in 1987 with both sets of fans protesting against the merger and Fulham was forced to use QPR’s home stadium of Loftus Road in 2002 while Craven Cottage was renovated. All of these events have helped grow this into a great rivalry.

I also wanted to briefly mention Brentford and Gillingham as Fulham rivals.

Brentford is also located in West London with its home ground being about 5 miles west of Craven Cottage. Fulham fans generally look down on Brentford fans as they’ve been less relevant but with both clubs playing in the Championship the past few seasons, this geographical rival deserves mention.

And lastly, I wanted to mention Gillingham here. In 1998, a Gillingham supporter killed a Fulham supporter outside of Gillingham’s home stadium after a match between the two clubs. The tragic incident led to hostilities between the fan bases for a number of years but Fulham has risen up the divisions in England while Gillingham has remained lower in the pyramid. That has seen this rivalry dissipate for the most part.

Stats & Records

The stats and records we’re about to discuss are as of July 2018, which is when we are recording this video.

Fulham have played 26 seasons in the top flight in their history.

The Whites have no major titles but do have

3 Second flight championships
A UEFA Intertoto Cup from 2002

The club’s record first team appearance holder is Johnny Haynes with 658 appearances.

The Cottager’s record goal scorer is Gordon Davies with 178 goals.

Fulham’s record transfer purchase was Jean Michael Seri from Nice in France on July 12, 2018 for about £25M.

And the club’s record transfer sale was Mousa Dembélé to Tottenham Hotspur on August 29, 2012 for about £15M.

One last interesting fact about the Whites: Fulham were the first team in Premier League history to play a player with South Asian origin. This happened in April 2004 when Zesh Rehman who had Pakistani heritage made his debut for the club.

So there you have it… a bit of history on Fulham Football Club. Let’s continue the discussion in the comments section below this video.

Thanks for stopping by the Soccer Tavern. Hope to see you again sometime soon. Cheers.