Featured Image Credit: Getty
Topics: Premier League, Fulham, Crystal Palace, Arsenal
Chris Byfield
Fans have only just realised why no men's football team from the English capital has London in its name.
Many of Europe’s major cities have a club that wears its name, whether that be Real Madrid in Spain, Paris Saint-Germain in France, Hertha Berlin in Germany and Inter Milan in Italy.
Meanwhile, when playing in Europe, both Rangers and Celtic have their home city of Glasgow added in front of their names. The same thing happens with Sporting (who become Sporting Lisbon) and Red Star (Red Star Belgrade) when playing on the European stage.
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While this may just seem like a coincidence, there is in fact reasoning behind the decision to leave London out even in European competitions.
According to the Daily Star, the reason London does not follow suit is because it is vast, with only Moscow and Istanbul boasting higher populations than the capital in Europe.
Even by the early 20th century, as football started to capture the imagination of the game - London was a sprawling metropolis, too large for one club to route its identity solely to the city.
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Football originated in private schools, with sides like Old Etonians dominating early amateur tournaments.
However, northern towns brought forward professionalism, which then saw the birth of new clubs across the country.
Each new side would represent a community, and with London being so big, the teams that originated from there were named after their local borough or area rather than the city as a whole.
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Despite Crystal Palace’s claim as the oldest professional club in the UK, a consensus of historians recognise Fulham as the first club to come from the capital in 1879, then known as Fulham Church St Andrews Sunday School FC.
They were soon joined by Glyn Cricket Club, now named Leyton Orient.
More clubs were founded and took the names of their local area: Millwall were named after the windmills that once stood in the docklands, Arsenal were named after their workplace, the Arsenal munitions factory, while Chelsea were named after the borough next over, with the name 'Fulham' already taken.
Chelsea founder Gus Mears considered calling the team, Blues London FC, but he ultimately decided against it, for unknown reasons.