What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear Howrah Manchester? May be a long distance train from Kolkata? Or is it how Sir Alex says “Hurray Manchester” in a typical Scottish accent?
Howrah Manchester is the name of one of the franchises in the highly anticipated Premier League Soccer, starting in India this year.
The team management said that they chose this name because of the large number of Manchester United fans in the Howrah area. If that is the case then why not Howrah United or Howrah Red Devils (I presume they will be playing in red, after naming their team Manchester) Why Howrah Manchester?
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When the I- league team Viva Kerala (now Chirag United Kerala) was established in 2004, they asked their fans to send in suggestions for naming the team. The most preferred team name among the fans was ‘Kerala United’ and the second ‘Real Kerala’. The name that was eventually chosen was Viva Kerala. Viva is Italian for long live, ironic considering the fact that Kolkata based Chirag bought the team after only 6 years and renamed it Chirag United Kerala.
We all remember the Indi commandos fiasco that happened about a year ago. It was the name that was initially given to the new Kochi franchise of the IPL. It drew widespread criticism online and was the source of many jokes like; “Sreeshanth is now only the second worst thing to happen to the Kochi IPL team.” and “Can’t wait for the cheerleaders of the Kochi IPL team to scream Go Commando.” The team management was eventually forced to change the name of the team and named it Kochi Tuskers, a name which was chosen from an online poll conducted by them.
Even the other IPL teams are given cliched names such as Kings, Royals, Warriors etc. True, some of them like the Super Kings and Royal Challengers are named after products owned by their respective owners and they are trying to promote them, but would it hurt to try something different? These franchises spend millions in setting up a new team and several thousands in creating a website for it. Would it hurt them to conduct a simple online poll on their website asking the fans to vote for a team name? It will also help in promoting the team among its targeted fan base and there by giving them a feeling of their own.
May be this is how Howrah PLS side came up with the name…
A scene from the Howrah team board room;
Chairman: Hey, we need to come up with a name for our team.
Member 1: How about Howrah Bengal Tigers?
Chairman: Nah, there are already 1343245 sports teams from Kolkata named Bengal Tigers.
Member 2: Howrah Reds?
Chairman: No Mamta di is in power now. She won’t like if we name it reds.
Member 2: Then Howrah Blues? Whites? Oranges? Pinks?
Chairman: No, no colours. We need some good foreign names. What about something from the English Premier League?
Member 3: How about Howrah City?
Member 1: No, that is the name of the local metro station. We should take a name from some EPL teams, like Howrah Arsenal, Howrah Chelsea or Howrah Manchester.
Chairman: Ok, Howrah Manchester sounds good. It has man and chest in it. Those words symbolize pride and strength. Plus it does not offend any of the 198623784623 communities in India other than maybe the ones who shave their chest hair and Anil Kapoor. So we will fix the name as Howrah Manchester. Meeting adjourned.
