|
The Nickname Page of Come on you ETs, an unofficial site of Enfield Town Football Club |
||
| What is the nickname of Enfield Town Football Club?
Nicknames do not appear suddenly. As The Invisible Man once said, "True, as opposed to contrived, nicknames evolve with time." Enfield Town Football Club is far too new to have a settled nickname. However, human nature being what it is, nicknames get suggested at a very early stage. Time will only tell which nickname or nicknames will stick. In a way, it is a very democratic process. The supporters just decide what they like, and what they feel comfortable and happy with. The Invisible Man said that he had only heard 'Town' and 'Enfield' being used at a match, whereas Nameless Face heard 'Townies' and 'Towners'. The nicknames I have heard about so far are the ETs (or ET's) as this site and the ET's On the Net site both use, the Town, which I personally find rather bland and subject to much confusion because Saffron Walden Town, Sawbridgeworth Town and Woodford Town all play in the Foresters Essex Senior League, and the Town E's, which seems quite good too. There is also not all that much difference between the spoken form of Townies and Town E's. 'Enfield', although it is a shortened form of Enfield Town Football Club, I do not really regard as a nickname. |
||
 Enfield beast with football  ET |
||
| Why ETs?
Before Enfield Town Football Club was founded, all the supporters and officials were supporters or officials of Enfield F.C. Now Enfield F.C. has had the nickname the E's as long as I can remember. They were certainly known by this nickname from 1960 onwards, and I do not know when the use of this nickname started. One of the first decisions when setting up a new club is the name. Despite the millions which are spent in corporate identity, this is by no means the most difficult or the most important decision. Nevertheless, it has to be decided. A club has to have an identity, something with which everyone can refer to it. When a poll was taken on the T.G.T.L.S. forum, which by the way has now evolved into the official Enfield Town Football Club forum, it seemed very likely that Enfield Town was the most popular name, perhaps followed by Enfield Borough and Enfield Spartans. The popularity of Enfield Borough can probably best be explained by the unsuccessful campaign to bring the E's back to the borough. The popularity of Enfield Spartans lay surely in the fact that this was the original name for Enfield F.C., and thus was attached to the heritage of that club. Enfield Town, on the other hand, was simply the name by which very many people knew Enfield F.C. Every supporter has had at some stage to explain that the club were not called Enfield Town F.C. and never had been. They were simply called Enfield F.C. In addition, the main shopping area at the end of Southbury Road, with its market place, and the Grammar School and County School, and the railway station, is known as Enfield Town. Since the names Enfield Borough and Enfield Spartans were unavailable, because they were registered with the Middlesex F.A., there was fortunately no need of a discussion of the name. The name Enfield Town Football Club was quite rightly chosen. Immediately the idea of the name ET's as a nickname sprang to mind. ET are the initials of Enfield Town. Enfield F:C: also had a nickname based on its initial letter. ET is a sympathetic creature with seemingly supernatural powers. To some supporters including myself, it seemed ideal. However, as I said above, time will tell which nickname will be accepted by the supporters. ...or Town E's, or Townies? Of course, since the name of Enfield Town Football Club is the same as the name of Enfield Football Club with the addition of the word Town, it is just as natural to add the word Town to the nickname of Enfield Football Club (E's) to arrive at Town E's, which is easily corrupted in the spoken form to Townies. Thus it may well be that, despite the Websites choosing the friendly visitor from outer space, the supporters prefer the Town E's or Townies. ...or Ess? When Football News first started putting reports of Enfield Town matches on their website, somebody got confused. To sort out the confusion, they rechristened Enfield Town as Enfield Town Ess. Nobody really seems to know whether this stands for Essex or Enfield Supporters Society. My guess is that they heard about the ETs nickname, and Ess stands for Earth and Space Sciences. Whatever the case, the confusion seems to have stopped, and match reports of Enfield Town Football Club appear on the Enfield Town Ess page. My personal opinion is that this name will not catch on. ...or The Smurfs?? Neil Arrowsmith suggested that because the Enfield Town Football Club supporters wore bright blue polo shirts when the weather was warmer, The Smurfs might well be an appropriate name. I think this name is also unlikely to catch on. Further Discussion There is a further page on this site called the Nickname Discussion Page, which describes some further discussions between supporters on what the nickname may turn out to be, although the Invisible Man's comment that the process will take some time seems to have been generally accepted. Poll This site is conducting a poll on the nickname. Perhaps your vote may have some influence on what the fans finally decide. |
||
|
|
||
| Webmaster
This page was created by Colin Moore on 28th August 2001. The last update was on 10th December 2002. My e-mail address is colin.moore@bigfoot.com |
||
|
|
||
