[HPFGU-OTChatter] why "United"?

[GulPlum]

At 11:41 31/05/03 , Catlady \(Rita Prince Winston\) wrote:
>Why are association football (soccer) teams (clubs) named so-and-so
>United?

It's quite obvious, if you think about it.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the establishment of professional 
clubs called for the merging of several smaller amateur clubs (most of 
which were connected in one way or another with large employers) to create 
the teams and infrastructure. Hence the popularity of "united" teams. Most 
of these took the name of the geographical catchment area in order to 
transfer the existing sense of "belonging" from one of a common employer to 
a common place.

My favourite name of all British football teams is Sheffield Wednesday. The 
origin is, of course, that before they turned professional, they only ever 
had time to play on Wednesdays. ;-)

Which reminds me... There is a UK newspaper, especially designed for 
"commuter" readers called Metro (several large cities have local editions, 
all funded by advertising and hence "free" to the end user - 
http://www.metro.co.uk) runs something called "Think Tank" each day, which 
consists of three quick quizzes, riddles or puzzles.

Last Monday's edition included the following:
"Which one of these is the odd one out: Bristol, Blackburn, Doncaster, 
Raith, Tranmere, Wycombe?"

Answer below.

Tuesday's edition, BTW, included the following, to which I will NOT provide 
the answer, and not even all the clues:

"This premier British school is based in Scotland and trains its pupils 
from the ages of 11 to 18 in various vocational subjects. The school's 
crest bears a badger, lion, serpent and eagle in quarters on a gules 
background. What is the school's name?" (the clue I've not provided is the 
school's motto)

:-)

(Answer to first puzzle: Wycombe. The football team is called Wycombe 
Wanderers. All the others are [Town Name] Rovers.)

--
GulPlum AKA Richard, who is NOT a football fan and really should make time 
to catch up with the main list...