Wha ? "Ancient" British Team Named After Turks ?

[LeftEyeNine]

Here goes.

Does any UK citizen friend have more info on this ?

[The Wizard]

It's definitely possible. In the Netherlands there's a town in the East called "Turkije", founded somewhere in the 17th/18th century in honor of the Ottoman support of Dutch independence from the Habsburgs.

But that a group of British men would call themselves Turks "in honor of Turkish fighting spirit" so soon after the Crimean War, in the Victorian age...

[Duke of Gloucester]

I know nothing of this team, but they are not unique in being named after Moslem warriors, for example:

Saracens RFU

Of course, this is a different (better) form of football.

(I love the line in the history that says "Amalgamation with neighbouring club, the Crusaders, occurred in 1878.")

[Craterus]

That team is based not far from me. Very close indeed. I would bet money that my brother has played against the team at some point, but he's at uni now, so I can't ask.

[BDC]

There have been different groups of people living in Britain for centuries... Specialist architects, builders, specialists, whatever. Doubt that that's responsible for the naming in this case though.

[Mount Suribachi]

"turk" is also (rather old-fashioned) slang for someone with a bit of vim and vigour about themselves. Its the kind of thing Melchitt might say in Blackadder Goes Fourth, "my, you are a bright young turk"

But that a group of British men would call themselves Turks "in honor of Turkish fighting spirit" so soon after the Crimean War, in the Victorian age...

Not at all unusual if you look at the kind of names football teams & other societies adopted in the 19th century.