West Bromwich Albion guide - history, emblem, titles, stadium map
| West Bromwich Albion |
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Full Name: West Bromwich Albion Football Club Official Website: wba.co.uk Description:West Bromwich is part of the conurbation of Birmingham. Albion is an archaic name for England, but in this instance refers to a parish in West Bromwich where many of the founders went to Sunday school. West Bromwich Albion were founder members of the Football League in 1888. The Baggies nickname is from the baggy moleskin trousers worn by their supporters around 1896 or so (they were all iron-workers, who needed protection from hot iron) and who went to the Saturday afternoon matches after work in their working clothes. The nickname was given to them by rival Aston Villa supporters. The then secretary, Frank Heaven, thought it appropriate because the club nickname was "The Throstles" (from a general term for people of West Bromwich) which nested in Hawthorn bushes in the area. Throstle - the thrush (a bird) in regional dialect.
An additional explanation for the Throstles nickname goes back to a pub named The Plough and Harrow where the club was originally headquartered and changed for matches. The owner of the club kept a caged bird at the pub, in fact a throstle. For many years the club kept a caged throstle as a mascot at the Hawthorns. The Hawthorns:The Hawthorns was the original name of the out-of-town estate that WBA moved to from the centre of West Bromwich in 1900. Previous stadium: Stoney Lane (-1900).
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Cup Titles:
Title marked with * was shared with another club. |
| Last Updated on Thursday, 11 February 2010 19:28 |
Comments (3)
1
Thursday, 23 July 2009 06:12
Dave Smith
I'm not sure that the information contained in the descriprion of West Bromwich Albion is correct. The nickname, 'The Throstles' was used because in the early days players changed in a public house where a throstle (thrush) was kept as a pet. But this is just another story perhaps?
2
Monday, 27 July 2009 18:56
jeremy
I did some further reading in the book "Football: Terms and Teams" by Ken Ferris (which BTW is fantastic) and you are correct. There apparently WERE throstles in the area of the Hawthorns but the specific origin of the nickname is as you've written. I'll update the page. Thanks very much for the info.
3
Saturday, 26 December 2009 18:30
thierry questel
i want to joing west brown football shcool im a goal keeper im frome st.maarteen
