Buddies and Honest Men: Scotland claim prize in nicknames World Cup

Historic and evocative alternative monikers can be found across the globe, but the best are north of Hadrian’s Wall

Last month the two of us laid out the finest gems in our four-year-old collection of the sporting world’s most priceless team nicknames, and opened them to Guardian readers’ inspection. Then the messages began arriving to fill in the gaps in our knowledge, and nudge us about those we should have included the first time.

One sport we skimped on was rugby league. Appalled by the random animals imposed as team names in this once proud game, we turned away with a shudder. But we were thrilled to discover pockets of resistance where the old northern spirit survives: there are still people who have escaped the thought police and think of Warrington as the Wire, Oldham the Roughyeds and Bradford Northern as the Steam Pigs.

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