Leicester's publicity assault on new neighbours continues...

[sturginho]

In fairness there was a Southern League at one point so most London clubs entered the football leagues "proper" later. But bar Arsenal's spell in the 30s and Spurs' in the early-mid 60s, London football has for the most part been pretty poor. Almost Paris bad. It took until 2012 for London to win the European Cup.

West Ham? I thought they made up the bulk of the English 1966 WC winning side...

Peters, Hurst and Moore were the only Irons?

Eh?

Did I miss someone? Apologies. Age thing.

Scunthorpe United are the Iron, West Ham are the Hammers

[Tim.]

...but wasps/arsenal are the same area of London (at least nominally)

No they aren't. Not even close.

And West Ham are definitely the Irons to anyone not from Scunthorpe.

[Torquemada 1420]

Scunthorpe United are the Iron, West Ham are the Hammers

Errr. No. West Ham started as Somesuch Ironworks FC and the terrace chant was ALWAYS "C'mon you Irons" in reference to that historical context.

{EDIT} Cheers Tim.

[sturginho]

Scunthorpe United are the Iron, West Ham are the Hammers

Errr. No. West Ham started as Somesuch Ironworks FC and the terrace chant was ALWAYS "C'mon you Irons" in reference to that historical context.

{EDIT} Cheers Tim.

Cool. As a follower of lower league football I have always known Scunthorpe as The Iron, clearly I need to bone up on my premier league wendyball!

[Zakar]

...but wasps/arsenal are the same area of London (at least nominally)

No they aren't. Not even close.

And West Ham are definitely the Irons to anyone not from Scunthorpe.

Wasn't Wasps north London traditionally?

[Tim.]

...but wasps/arsenal are the same area of London (at least nominally)

No they aren't. Not even close.

And West Ham are definitely the Irons to anyone not from Scunthorpe.

Wasn't Wasps north London traditionally?

In the early 1900s maybe. Wasps are a Sudbury/Acton team. Come to think of it the pro Wasps were already in Reading in '04-06 so the Saracens-Chelsea double sort of stands alone.

[Zakar]

...but wasps/arsenal are the same area of London (at least nominally)

No they aren't. Not even close.

And West Ham are definitely the Irons to anyone not from Scunthorpe.

Wasn't Wasps north London traditionally?

In the early 1900s maybe. Wasps are a Sudbury/Acton team. Come to think of it the pro Wasps were already in Reading in '04-06 so the Saracens-Chelsea double sort of stands alone.

Ok ..I take it Sarries were SW London at the time?

[Gospel]

Come to think of it the pro Wasps were already in Reading in '04-06 so the Saracens-Chelsea double sort of stands alone.

Reading?

[blindcider]

Come to think of it the pro Wasps were already in Reading in '04-06 so the Saracens-Chelsea double sort of stands alone.

Ground shared at QPR before Wycombe didn't they?

[Chuckles1188]

You kind of get the feeling that Wasps are always going to be confusing people with their nomadic ways.

"Wasps have always been a London team! Ish. Okay fine they were in High Wycombe for a while, but they've always been in the South! Well except for when they were at the Ricoh. But they've always been based on Earth! Well, there was that stint at the Olympus Mons Superdome..."

[Tim.]

Come to think of it the pro Wasps were already in Reading in '04-06 so the Saracens-Chelsea double sort of stands alone.

Reading?

Good point.

Ground shared at QPR before Wycombe didn't they?

My memory is shit but think that was a season or two before. They were owned by the same people at one point?

Ok ..I take it Sarries were SW London at the time?

Saracens are a North London team who went nomad in Watford for a while.

Rugby in London is and was essentially at its strongest in the SW. Wasps, LI, London Scottish, London Welsh, Richmond, Roslyn Park, Quins and more I've probably forgotten are all from there. And of course the RFU. When professionalism happened they couldn't all exist in the same space (some playing on the same park). There was general anarchy. Quins, traditionally the richest of the lots with its own ground, emerged the least damaged. Everyone else f**ked off, fell away competitively and/or merged.

[happyhooker]

Wasps have never been in SW London. Although we were originally founded from a n London base (pub iirc)

We moved out of Loftus rd originally as a temporary measure - in 2002 -I think it was something to do with fulham's ground getting renovated. Was only meant to be for 2 seasons but never went back

[Torquemada 1420]

Scunthorpe United are the Iron, West Ham are the Hammers

Errr. No. West Ham started as Somesuch Ironworks FC and the terrace chant was ALWAYS "C'mon you Irons" in reference to that historical context.

{EDIT} Cheers Tim.

Cool. As a follower of lower league football I have always known Scunthorpe as The Iron, clearly I need to bone up on my premier league wendyball!

Wiki link here
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thames_Ironworks_F.C.

It was Thames Ironworks FC. Quite interesting stuff.

[Torquemada 1420]

...but wasps/arsenal are the same area of London (at least nominally)

No they aren't. Not even close.

And West Ham are definitely the Irons to anyone not from Scunthorpe.

Wasn't Wasps north London traditionally?

In the early 1900s maybe. Wasps are a Sudbury/Acton team.

I saw them play Stade Francais at Loftus Road.

[Smee]

But bar Arsenal's spell in the 30s and Spurs' in the early-mid 60s, London football has for the most part been pretty poor. Almost Paris bad.

Wrong.

Spurs were the first English side to win a European trophy, West Ham were the second. Spurs and Arsenal were the first two sides in modern times to win the double. Equating London football with Paris is laughable.

[Torquemada 1420]

But bar Arsenal's spell in the 30s and Spurs' in the early-mid 60s, London football has for the most part been pretty poor. Almost Paris bad.

Wrong.

Spurs were the first English side to win a European trophy, West Ham were the second. Spurs and Arsenal were the first two sides in modern times to win the double. Equating London football with Paris is laughable.

Plus PSG is an artificial, 70s construct.

[Tim.]

But bar Arsenal's spell in the 30s and Spurs' in the early-mid 60s, London football has for the most part been pretty poor. Almost Paris bad.

Wrong.

Spurs were the first English side to win a European trophy, West Ham were the second. Spurs and Arsenal were the first two sides in modern times to win the double. Equating London football with Paris is laughable.

It was a brief run down for a Frenchman. It was a decent not exact analogy using something I assumed he is familiar with. He was asking about League titles and it's a fact London's record was terrible, and it massively underachieved as a city.

Plus Paris won loads of football titles in the early days, way pre PSG. I'm pretty sure Racing and Stade sporting clubs have won both the rugby and football for example.

[Xupi]

It was a brief run down for a Frenchman. It was a decent not exact analogy using something I assumed he is familiar with. He was asking about League titles and it's a fact London's record was terrible, and it massively underachieved as a city.

Plus Paris won loads of football titles in the early days, way pre PSG. I'm pretty sure Racing and Stade sporting clubs have won both the rugby and football for example.

It's not a bad analogy at all, all things being equal. French football clubs European records is abyssimal compared to English football clubs, therefore the analogy between London and Paris does stand somehow in relative % terms.

@Smee: also, Tim mentioned Champions League - not UEFA Cup or Cup Winners' Cup (the latter of which PSG has won once, meaning that the city of Paris has won a third of all French European footbal cup titles! - a better % than the city of London, surely...).

[Tim.]

It was a brief run down for a Frenchman. It was a decent not exact analogy using something I assumed he is familiar with. He was asking about League titles and it's a fact London's record was terrible, and it massively underachieved as a city.

Plus Paris won loads of football titles in the early days, way pre PSG. I'm pretty sure Racing and Stade sporting clubs have won both the rugby and football for example.

It's not a bad analogy at all, all things being equal. French football clubs European records is abyssimal compared to English football clubs, therefore the analogy between London and Paris does stand somehow in relative % terms.

@Smee: also, Tim mentioned Champions League - not UEFA Cup or Cup Winners' Cup (the latter of which PSG has won once, meaning that the city of Paris has won a third of all French European footbal cup titles! - a better % than the city of London, surely...).

Easily better I'd say without looking.

[fisgard792]

...but wasps/arsenal are the same area of London (at least nominally)

No they aren't. Not even close.

And West Ham are definitely the Irons to anyone not from Scunthorpe.

Wasn't Wasps north London traditionally?

In the early 1900s maybe. Wasps are a Sudbury/Acton team. Come to think of it the pro Wasps were already in Reading in '04-06 so the Saracens-Chelsea double sort of stands alone.

that sudbury pitch was amongst the worst cabbage patch i ever come across, would make the current welford raod surface look a bowling green

[Diggory Venn]

...but wasps/arsenal are the same area of London (at least nominally)

No they aren't. Not even close.

And West Ham are definitely the Irons to anyone not from Scunthorpe.

Wasn't Wasps north London traditionally?

In the early 1900s maybe. Wasps are a Sudbury/Acton team. Come to think of it the pro Wasps were already in Reading in '04-06 so the Saracens-Chelsea double sort of stands alone.

that sudbury pitch was amongst the worst cabbage patch i ever come across, would make the current welford raod surface look a bowling green

True enough. And the clubhouse was nothing special. But I'd take that homely little ground with its tiny little stand in West London over a shiny bowl in the bloody Midlands any day of the week.

[happyhooker]

...but wasps/arsenal are the same area of London (at least nominally)

No they aren't. Not even close.

And West Ham are definitely the Irons to anyone not from Scunthorpe.

Wasn't Wasps north London traditionally?

In the early 1900s maybe. Wasps are a Sudbury/Acton team. Come to think of it the pro Wasps were already in Reading in '04-06 so the Saracens-Chelsea double sort of stands alone.

that sudbury pitch was amongst the worst cabbage patch i ever come across, would make the current welford raod surface look a bowling green

It was horrendous to play on.

[fisgard792]

No they aren't. Not even close.

And West Ham are definitely the Irons to anyone not from Scunthorpe.

Wasn't Wasps north London traditionally?

In the early 1900s maybe. Wasps are a Sudbury/Acton team. Come to think of it the pro Wasps were already in Reading in '04-06 so the Saracens-Chelsea double sort of stands alone.

that sudbury pitch was amongst the worst cabbage patch i ever come across, would make the current welford raod surface look a bowling green

True enough. And the clubhouse was nothing special. But I'd take that homely little ground with its tiny little stand in West London over a shiny bowl in the bloody Midlands any day of the week.

you guys used to get a special embroidered emblem for a 100 appearances beneath the badge, always thought that was pretty cool, last person i saw with it was david h......, england B flanker

[Laurent]

I am deeply conflicted over this

So am I - anyone got a spare Nuke?

I am sure we could arrange something

[Tim.]

Yorkshire and Lancashire won every County Championship from its beginning until "the split". The North have beat the All Blacks.

The County Cup today is named after Bill Beaumont, who, of course, is about to head up World Rugby.

I'm pretty sure if the south wasn't so weird about compensation for work-missed, England would be a much better rugby team.

Just like every other team sport, London and the SE are generally terrible.

[ElementFreak]

I think there's another Coventrian on here, possibly bobbity? Not sure, but I do seem to recall someone else being based in or near here.

As for driving in Cov, the ring road makes it reasonably convenient but at the same time it's a f**k death trap, and most of the drivers here are terrible

I'm from there.

Driving in Cov was fine, the issue I had was parking. There wasn't much around from what I found.

[mabunch78]

Has any English city (besides London, I guess...) ever had a club win in the same year, the football and rugby domestic titles?

Well, Leicester can already raise you three titles (of varying prestige):

"A statue was erected in the town centre commemorating the year (1996) when Leicester City won the Coca-Cola Cup, Leicester Tigers won the Pilkington Cup, and Leicestershire won the County Championship."

Wiki Article

[toocoldhere]

Leicester Tigers now have to slum it along to their Nottingham neighbours to use the City Ground for the semi-final

[Torquemada 1420]

Leicester Tigers now have to slum it along to their Nottingham neighbours to use the City Ground for the semi-final

Given how bad Welford Rd has been, would have been more fitting to have played at Medow Lane.

[aitch@wasps]

I guess it's all relative. I like Coventry mostly. The ring road is a nightmare for both navigator & driver if you're not a native but I reckon we'll get the hang of it eventually. I like that the city centre is compact, I like the market with it's three fishmongers and veg stalls selling stuff I can't identify despite being an adventurous cook/foodie, I like that the public transport runs from the crack of sparrows fart until at least midnight. I like that Tigers are finding it necessary to big themselves up for fear of losing support to local rivals. I like my lovely spacious padded seat at the Ricoh stadium and I especially like the rugby Wasps are playing now.

The Sudbury pitch with its bomb crater in one corner, the Loftus Rd gulag, the High Wycombe access/egress issues aren't fondly remembered.

[Torquemada 1420]

I guess it's all relative. I like Coventry mostly. The ring road is a nightmare for both navigator & driver if you're not a native but I reckon we'll get the hang of it eventually. I like that the city centre is compact, I like the market with it's three fishmongers and veg stalls selling stuff I can't identify despite being an adventurous cook/foodie, I like that the public transport runs from the crack of sparrows fart until at least midnight. I like that Tigers are finding it necessary to big themselves up for fear of losing support to local rivals. I like my lovely spacious padded seat at the Ricoh stadium and I especially like the rugby Wasps are playing now.

The Sudbury pitch with its bomb crater in one corner, the Loftus Rd gulag, the High Wycombe access/egress issues aren't fondly remembered.

Have you moved from Wycombe then?

I was down your (old?) way on Sun: Hughenden and then the Hellfire Caves.

[aitch@wasps]

I guess it's all relative. I like Coventry mostly. The ring road is a nightmare for both navigator & driver if you're not a native but I reckon we'll get the hang of it eventually. I like that the city centre is compact, I like the market with it's three fishmongers and veg stalls selling stuff I can't identify despite being an adventurous cook/foodie, I like that the public transport runs from the crack of sparrows fart until at least midnight. I like that Tigers are finding it necessary to big themselves up for fear of losing support to local rivals. I like my lovely spacious padded seat at the Ricoh stadium and I especially like the rugby Wasps are playing now.

The Sudbury pitch with its bomb crater in one corner, the Loftus Rd gulag, the High Wycombe access/egress issues aren't fondly remembered.

Have you moved from Wycombe then?

I was down your (old?) way on Sun: Hughenden and then the Hellfire Caves.

We're still in Maidenhead for the time being...

I also like that Coventry has three theatres, is within easy reach of two other major cities as well as some fabulous countryside...

[Plastic Sarrie]

Completely off topic but love the City Ground.

By the Trent
Near Nottingham City centre
Near Hooters

[kornboy130]

Leicester Tigers now have to slum it along to their Nottingham neighbours to use the City Ground for the semi-final

Given how bad Welford Rd has been, would have been more fitting to have played at Medow Lane.

Eh?

[HurricaneWasp]

Leicester Tigers now have to slum it along to their Nottingham neighbours to use the City Ground for the semi-final

Given how bad Welford Rd has been, would have been more fitting to have played at Medow Lane.

I went to Meadow Lane 2 weeks ago for Wycombe v Notts County. It isn't a bad pitch by any means.

[HurricaneWasp]

I guess it's all relative. I like Coventry mostly. The ring road is a nightmare for both navigator & driver if you're not a native but I reckon we'll get the hang of it eventually. I like that the city centre is compact, I like the market with it's three fishmongers and veg stalls selling stuff I can't identify despite being an adventurous cook/foodie, I like that the public transport runs from the crack of sparrows fart until at least midnight. I like that Tigers are finding it necessary to big themselves up for fear of losing support to local rivals. I like my lovely spacious padded seat at the Ricoh stadium and I especially like the rugby Wasps are playing now.

The Sudbury pitch with its bomb crater in one corner, the Loftus Rd gulag, the High Wycombe access/egress issues aren't fondly remembered.

Have you moved from Wycombe then?

I was down your (old?) way on Sun: Hughenden and then the Hellfire Caves.

Hughenden is nice. Great countryside, lovely park. Did you see Disraeli's house (Hughenden Manor)? Its a National Trust property.

[Torquemada 1420]

Completely off topic but love the City Ground.

By the Trent
Near Nottingham City centre
Near Hooters

And always friggin' freezing cold when the wind blows across the Trent.

[Torquemada 1420]

I guess it's all relative. I like Coventry mostly. The ring road is a nightmare for both navigator & driver if you're not a native but I reckon we'll get the hang of it eventually. I like that the city centre is compact, I like the market with it's three fishmongers and veg stalls selling stuff I can't identify despite being an adventurous cook/foodie, I like that the public transport runs from the crack of sparrows fart until at least midnight. I like that Tigers are finding it necessary to big themselves up for fear of losing support to local rivals. I like my lovely spacious padded seat at the Ricoh stadium and I especially like the rugby Wasps are playing now.

The Sudbury pitch with its bomb crater in one corner, the Loftus Rd gulag, the High Wycombe access/egress issues aren't fondly remembered.

Have you moved from Wycombe then?

I was down your (old?) way on Sun: Hughenden and then the Hellfire Caves.

Hughenden is nice. Great countryside, lovely park. Did you see Disraeli's house (Hughenden Manor)? Its a National Trust property.

Didn't go into the house. Too nice a day on Sun to be indoors so did lots of walking with the kites before heading back to Hellfire. Forgot the Nat Trust cards... so had to pay!

[backrow]

Is there anywhere nice in the Midlands ?

Or anywhere north of the Severn - Wash line that isn't Edinburgh or Lake District or Tenby ?

[Torquemada 1420]

Is there anywhere nice in the Midlands ?

Or anywhere north of the Severn - Wash line that isn't Edinburgh or Lake District or Tenby ?

You fishing or being serious?