Recently a new book appeared in our home. It is called 'London's Oldest Rugby Clubs' and is written by one Dick Tyson. Immediatly we turned to the H page to see if our favourite team were there. Yes there they are - Harlequins! But our attention was attracted by this photo - well not THIS photo - this is one of the same view last week when taking a walk in Clissold Park.
It turns out that in its early days Harlequins used to play in what is now Clissold Park in North London.
This was soon after the club started in 1866 - then known as Hamsptead Football Club. The name was changed in 1869 to reflect the less local nature of the members.
Not sure why it is thought to do that. All I can find in the dictionary is that apart from being a mute figure in a pantomime, it may come from 16th century French - the name of the leader of a group of demon horsemen!
In the days when Harlequins played in our neck of the woods, this piece of land was known as Newington Common and was adjacent to the the big house, where the cafe is today.
It turns out that in its early days Harlequins used to play in what is now Clissold Park in North London.
This was soon after the club started in 1866 - then known as Hamsptead Football Club. The name was changed in 1869 to reflect the less local nature of the members.
Not sure why it is thought to do that. All I can find in the dictionary is that apart from being a mute figure in a pantomime, it may come from 16th century French - the name of the leader of a group of demon horsemen!
In the days when Harlequins played in our neck of the woods, this piece of land was known as Newington Common and was adjacent to the the big house, where the cafe is today.
Nowadays Harlequins home ground is miles away on the other side of London, very near the international rugby ground at Twickenham. Harlequins' ground is called The Stoop, in memory of Adrian Stoop who played for the club in the first half of the 20th century and also served as president for many years. His father was Dutch, his mother Scottish/Irish - a good mixture. No wonder he was able to revolutionise English rugby as wikipedia says.
2 comments:
Righteous, thoroughly righteous!
Malc
Oh, and from what I have read, the reason why the Hampstead Football Club changed their name to Harlequins is because back then, the HFC's badge was a H monogram. I suppose to save money, they wanted another name beginning with H. I have read that at the meeting to decide what it would be, they trawled through the dictionary until they arrived at harlequin!
Oh, and did you know that not all Hampstead members left Hamps? They stayed behind and formed a new club - Wasps. Nowadays, Wasps play in black and gold which is a variation on the Hampstead Football Club colours.
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