20 sports teams with the weirdest names

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerych- *deep breath* -wyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch Football Club in Wales.

Fans have always identified with a certain team, be it a franchise in their city or even an internationally acclaimed team with a large fan following. They wear their kits and kiss their badges with a certain sense of pride and belonging.

But there are some team names that are so strange and even border on the ridiculous that their fans would probably turn away with embarrassed looks on their faces while the others have a good laugh when the team names are brought up. What’s more, some of these names can even be downright insulting.

Here is a list of sports teams with the weirdest names.

Football

We start things off with King Faisal Babies, a professional football club playing in the Ghana Premier League. Their biggest claim to international fame is the fact that they had a grand total of one representative in the Ghana football team which competed in the 2006 FIFA World Cup. It is a club that has never won the league title and was also relegated recently. And judging by the name that strikes terror into the hearts of the opposition (not!), it really is a dreadful name for a football club!

Our next team is from the Welsh Football League and it goes by the name Clwb Pel Droed Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch Football Club (I swear I typed that out from memory and did not check Wiki). It is more popularly known as Llanfairpwll FC. Based in Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch (okay, I checked this time), it was originally formed in 1899 as Llanfair Rovers. Now isn’t that a much simpler name to use than Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch (I’m getting quite good at this now)? Imagine the TV producers who have to try and fit the name in one line on the screen!

We now travel to Thailand to find not one, but two football clubs with weird names. The first is TTM Lopburi FC. What’s so special about that, you ask? Well, the full form is Thailand Tobacco Monopoly. It is one of the oldest clubs in Thailand and they have even won the Thai Premier League. They have even undergone name changes like TTM Samut Sakhon FC and TTM Chaingmai. But what is interesting to note is that the ‘TTM’ has always been in the name. A retirement destination for players like Jack Wilshere, perhaps?

Thailand Tobacco Monopoly FC – Just a football club at the fag end of the day

The second club from Thailand to make this list is Bangkok Bravo FC. This too is not that bad, unless you take a look at the original name – Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Ayuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit Bravo Association Football Club. I don’t even know what the words before ‘Bravo Association Football Club’ mean, but I’m going to assume they translate to “The”. It holds the record for being the longest football club name. Bravo!

Lastly, we come to Fotballaget Fart. It is a team in the Norwegian first division and it actually translates to “the football team speed”. I am not going to talk much about this one. I’ll leave that to you.

Honourable mentions: If you’re ever in New Zealand, you should watch a game featuring Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateapokaiwhenuakitanatahu FC; Taumata FC for short. Also Semen Padang FC in Indonesia (some jokes just write themselves).

Siddharth Mallya of RCB holds a flag during an Indian Premier League match.

Cricket

When liquor baron Dr. Vijay Mallya bought the Bangalore based franchise in the Indian Premier League (IPL), little did people know that he would use it as an opportunity to market his various brands. With other team names like Kings XI, Royals and er, Super Kings, it came as a surprise when the team from Bangalore was christened the Royal Challengers Bangalore. There was a lot of outrage when a cricket team was named after an Indian whiskey brand but the name stuck. Quite simply, it was a lame attempt to advertise a brand and a habit that even the team’s players surely did not support. But fans have slowly got over it and now use the initials ‘RCB’ when talking about the team.

Staying with the IPL, we turn our attention to the Mumbai Indians. Seriously, what gives? Here we have a professional T20 cricket team which is one of nine in the Indian Premier League and they call themselves the Indians? And it’s not like the franchise is represented only by Indian cricketers. There are a number of foreign players in their ranks and coaching staff. When it comes to team names, this is probably the least relevant.

There was no way that the Sunrisers Hyderabad could escape this list. They are a team that replaced the Deccan Chargers and are so named because the franchise is owned by the chairman of the Sun TV network. But what on earth does the word ‘Sunriser’ mean? Their logo has a red phoenix (rising from the ashes of the Deccan Chargers?). Except for a team that plays all its matches either at sunset or under lights, ‘Sunrisers’ is definitely an odd choice.

Uva Next from the Sri Lankan Premier League also makes it to the list. A team from the Uva province of the island nation, it was also known as the Uva Unicorns (were they targeting a very young audience?). Why the team was called ‘Next’ is anybody’s guess. Maybe looking to the future? They did win the Sri Lanka Premier League title in 2012. But I can already imagine the post match analysis with a commentator saying, “Up next for Uva Next is Wayamba United and they will play next Thursday or the next day depending on weather conditions (it is Sri Lankan weather after all).”

Zimbabwe has a first class cricket team called the Southern Rocks. Really now? Is that a team name or a general statement? You know, like “cricket rocks!” The Southern Rocks didn’t exactly rock the competition and they’re still looking for their first win. Basically, stuck between a rock and a hard place, so to speak.

New Orleans Hornets owner Tom Benson speaks at a press conference to unveil the team’s new logo and name on January 14, 2013 at the New Orleans Arena in New Orleans.

Basketball

One of the strangest team names in the NBA is that of the Orlando Magic. As a franchise that gave the league All-Stars such as Shaquille O’Neal, Tracy McGrady and Dwight Howard, it does little to enforce its name as a strong contender. The franchise officials initially gave the community the chance to come up with a name and they received over 4,200 entries. It was narrowed down to ‘Heat, ‘Tropics’, ‘Juice’ and ‘Magic’. If you ask me, all four entries were terrible and one must wonder whether a five-year-old girl screamed in delight when she saw her winning entry on sports channels across all television networks.

Speaking of magic, there’s also the Washington Wizards. Why a team in the capital city of the United States of America would choose a name like the ‘Wizards’ is beyond me. Was it because it too started with a ‘W’? Those who followed the NBA will also know that it was originally called the Washington Bullets (from the original Baltimore Bullets). But after the spurt in gun violence in America, they too held a contest to find some suitable replacements, which were eventually narrowed down to ‘Dragons’, ‘Express’, ‘Stallions’, ‘Sea Dogs’ and ‘Wizards’. Seriously, who judges these contests? (Okay, Stallions was a decent name).

Then there is the Utah Jazz. The team was originally founded in New Orleans, which is the birthplace of Jazz. When the franchise moved to Utah, they retained the name. But the big question is, why would you name a basketball team with physically imposing athletes after a soft music genre? What’s next, the Bronx Hip Hop?

When you name teams after birds, you must ensure that you choose the correct bird. Hawks, Falcons and Eagles are some pretty cool names. But the New Orleans Pelicans? What on earth were they thinking when they picked a clumsy looking water bird with a long beak and a throat pouch? Originally the New Orleans Hornets, which was a decent name if you ask me, the other options to choose from were ‘Brass’ and ‘Krewe’. And they say coming up with baby names is tough.

If you then go halfway around the world and land in the Philippines, you might want to catch a few basketball games in the Philippine Basketball Association. These professional teams are owned by corporate honchos and you will come across teams like San Mig Coffee Mixers, the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters and my personal favourite the Talk ‘N Text Tropang Texters. If you thought that was bad, you might want to skip games from their semi-professional basketball league as well, what with cringe-worthy team names like Nutri-licious Juicers and Mama’s Love.

The Cleveland Browns helmet logo is shown on the side of the Cleveland Browns Training Facility.

Other American professional teams

Major League Baseball is pretty big in the United States with many popular teams based in big cities like New York, San Francisco and Boston. But some of the team names are absolutely ridiculous. We start with the Chicago White Sox. Yes, it’s the word ‘socks’ modified. Founded in Chicago in 1900, they were originally known as the ‘White Stockings’.

And not to be outdone, Boston named their baseball team the Boston Red Sox. The name was chosen as early as 1908. But why the ‘Red Sox’? Because the Boston teams before them were known as the ‘Red Stockings’! Even the team’s logo features a pair of red socks. No disrespect to their history (yes, I see you Yankees fans laughing), but they could have chosen a much better name.

Moving on to American football, we first go to Houston, Texas with, well, the Houston Texans. This too was picked after they eliminated names like ‘Bobcats’, ‘Stallions’, ‘Toros’, and ‘Apollos’ (Stallions rejected again?). Houston Texans? It looks more like an address with a typo than the name of a professional football team. What do they write on envelopes? To, Houston Texans, Houston, Texas?

Another team in the NFL with a facepalm inducing name is the Cleveland Browns. And this team was named after, wait for it, their coach Paul Brown. Brown had initially rejected the idea in the first place (probably the sanest person at the franchise) and they’d gone with ‘Panthers’ before a legal issue caused them to revert to Browns. It’s not every day that you’re the namesake of a professional team (No, people! Arsenal FC in England was not named after Arsene Wenger!)

But the Washington Redskins take the cake when it comes to the most ridiculous NFL team name. For those who are not aware, the term ‘Redskin’ is a racial term used to describe the indigenous Native Americans (a.k.a. American Indians). It is an offensive and insulting term and is normally never used in a civilised conversation. What’s even more ironic is that it was a team that initially declined to integrate black players into the squad and did not do so until the federal government stepped in.