Features

Bizarre sporting names

Author: John Harris
Date: 28/01/2010
Football betting

Stirling Albion have been told they cannot sell the naming rights to their club and become known as Stirling Meerkats.

The cash-strapped Scottish League club claimed the sponsorship deal with a price comparison website - who use Meerkats to advertise their services - would have provided a needed financial shot in the arm.

But while the move may have been blocked, there is no shortage of bizarrely named sports teams around the world.

Chennai Super Kings

They may sound more like a packet of cigarettes but Chennai Super Kings are actually a cricket team which competes in the Indian Premier League Twenty20 competition.

The strange name draws on the history of rulers emerging from the region of India in which they are based.

Young Boys

Not only is the name of this Swiss sports club amusing, but the football team associated with it also plays their home games at the Wankdorf Stadium. You couldn't make it up!

King Faisal Babes

The Ghanaian Premier League is illuminated by the strangely named King Faisal Babes.

Heart of Lions, Bechem Chelsea and Berekum Arsenal all pale into insignificance when it comes to looking at a league table which includes the Babes.

The club's distinctive name hails from a link-up with the former ruler of Saudi Arabia.

FC KooTeePee

Kotka in Finland is home to a sports club known intriguingly as KooTeePee.

Their football team plays in the Finnish First Division where, ironically, they finished bottom last season.

K.F.C. Germinal Beerschot

Arsenal defender Thomas Vermaelen came through the ranks at the club now known for incorporating the name of a famous fast-food chain.

Major League Soccer side FC Dallas, who play at Pizza Hut Park, would kill for a natural link-up like that.

Cleveland Browns

Paul Brown was honoured in the 1940s when the new NFL franchise in Cleveland was named after one of Ohio's most famous sporting sons.

However, the brown and orange uniforms and rather dour name must find it hard to compete in the razzmatazz stakes with the likes of the Miami Dolphins, San Diego Chargers and perennial sportsbook favourites Dallas Cowboys.

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Deportivo Wanka

A spokesperson for the Peruvian football club recently revealed his bemusement that its shirts had become something of a cult item in Britain.

Over 1,000 shorts with the club name emblazoned across the chest were snapped up when they came on sale in 2006.

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