“ Never refer to us like Tottenham ” may seem a little edict, but that says a lot about modern game – Blogging Sole

At the beginning of the twenties, I was at a party in a bar on the roof trapped in a series of small conversations with a friend of a friend. I rushed to the conversation, I asked her where she came from. “Folkestone,” she said. If you do not know, it is a coastal city in Kent, in the south-east of England.

Without hesitation, I replied: “Folkestone Invicta” – the name of the local non -league club of the city, currently playing in the seventh level of English football. To date, I have never forgotten the gaze on his face: one of boredom and almost total indifference, but for a trace of pity.

However, to paraphrase a “brandbook” from a certain Premier League club: in a world full of United, City and Rovers, there is only one Invicta – Folkestone Invicta.

And in 1936, if the founders of the club had thought that “invicta” was unique enough to be the name of the club in itself – no need for the “folkestone” part – so not only could I have avoided decades of clumsiness of this Moment later, but the founders would have had almost a century ahead of their time.

As Athletics Friday, Tottenham no longer wants you to call them Tottenham. These are “spurs” to be short, thank you. And it’s not the only favorite piece of nomenclature.

“When you refer to the team or the brand, please use” Tottenham Hotspur “,” Tottenham Hotspur Football Club “or” THFC “,” wrote the guidance club sent to premier League broadcasters this month. “Never refer to our club as” Tottenham “,” Tottenham Hotspur FC “or” Th “.” Never.

He raises many questions, in particular, what is the material difference between the terms “Tottenham Hotspur Football Club” and “Tottenham Hotspur FC”? I don’t know. But I will use the prohibited versions for the rest of this column in the hope of provoking someone at the Tottenham Hotspur FC to tell me.

There is a reason for the preference of “spurs”, at least. Tottenham claims that Tottenham is the name of the region, not the name of the club, and this has been their policy for years. Crawl via the results of search engines and you will do well to find a single use of “Tottenham” without “hotspur” attached to the club website.

Tottenham has always been called “Spurs” in the game lists on the official site of the Premier League for some time. Come back by the official flows of official social media of the League and practically the only mentions of the word “Tottenham” are references to “Tottenham Hotspur Stadium”.

In a way, the club simply returns to its roots. When a group of school cricket players founded the club in 1882, their name choice was “Hotspur FC”. The “Tottenham” was not added until two years later because, as the apocryphal tale perhaps says, they started to receive the position of another club called Hotspur.

It is not as if the club had really changed its name and eradicated any geographic marker either. Another in northern London established the previous one for the one in 1913 during the relocation of Woolwich. So, does it all make this diktat more explainable?

In response to Friday news, some Tottenham fans rightly said that with the side of Angel Postcoglou in the lower half of the table, after being eliminated from the two domestic cups in the space of three days this month -I, they and the club itself have greater things worrying.

Others suggested that it was simply related to copyright, because the term “spurs” would be easier to make marks than the name of the surroundings. Except that Tottenham already lists the word “Tottenham” among their recorded brands.

And even if they did not do it, what would it have to do with the way the club is mentioned on the football vidiprinter on Saturday?

But it is difficult not to agree with another component of the reaction, fans and supporters of Tottenham other clubs who see this as a disappointing sign of the place where football is located; Another small brick paved in a road that sport as a whole has already traveled a long way.

Many supporters of Manchester United still deplores the deletion of the words “football club” of the ridge in 1998 – controversial at the time, but the same words or the “FC” are now regularly provided with few comments.

Six years ago, Liverpool failed to mark the name of the city for merchants. Chelsea was more successful earlier this season, celebrating their 120th anniversary with a new alternative club club with their respect for lions above the letters “LDN”.

Similarly, in 2016, West Ham United added the word “London” to their revised ridge, although it first put this to the vote among the supporters.

And this kind of thing is far from being a premier league phenomenon. The change of brand of Paris Saint-Germain accentuated the word “Paris” on their logo, not so much the “Saint-Germain”, and UEFA makes the club “Paris” rather than “PSG”.

At the surface level, the preference of Tottenham’s “spurs” is different from some of these examples. Rather than associating more closely with a larger metropolitan entourage, they went in the other direction: to trace a line between the “spurs” The team and “Tottenham” the area in its justifications.

But there is a common thread between such decisions. All are fundamental attempts to make the identity of a club something that can be more easily swallowed and digested. In other words, something that can be consumed, especially on the world market.

Too often, this is done to the detriment of what a club is: its history, its culture, its locality. It is often said often to be a cliché today, but it is always ignored enough to be repeated: football clubs are the representations of their communities above all, the world brands.

The overwhelming majority of clubs recognize that in adorable work, they do in these communities, but do not quickly forget this responsibility in their marketing services when it is time to think about what will be better sold on a bottle of ‘plastic water.

Tottenham is in no way alone. It often seems that clubs who want to go ahead in the current football landscape must prioritize where they go from where they come from. Refer to the club as “spurs” rather than “Tottenham” is a small change but not insignificant. And enough to remind me that, one of these days, I might be going to go to Folkestone Invicta.

(Top Photo: Jacques Feeney / Mi News / Nurphoto via Getty Images)