Four years ago one journalist, who enjoys going to obscure non-league football matches on wintry evenings, emailed another journalist, who enjoys quirky facts, to inform him that the Cornish team Perranporth, who play in the St Piran League Division 4 West, were known as the Pilchards. Also that their manager had once been quoted as saying: “I’m gutted.”
Thus began an intermittent correspondence where we regaled each other with new revelations about nicknames from the lesser known tiers of English football. We discovered the Highwaymen, the Peppermints, the Jam Boys and the Dabbers. Muscular names like the Nailers, the Lockmen, the Turbines and the Iron. And dainty ones like the Tulips, the Lilies, the Marigolds and the Dolly Blues.
