The Meaning of Tottenham Hotspur and Other Obscure Facts

You’ve followed the Lilywhites all your life. You can remember each FA Cup and League Cup victory that occurred in your lifetime. You were one of the 85,000 in attendance at the Bayer Leverkusen game in 2016. However, as soon as someone asks you the meaning of “Tottenham Hotspur”, your dedication to the team is suddenly brought into question.

Or, has it become too late to ask simple questions about your team? In this blog post, we’ll start with the basics. We’ll demystify all burning questions about Tottenham Hotspur that even some of the most dedicated fans would fail to have answers for.

And when you’re done and you think you know your team inside and out, you can visit the best sports betting sites identified by Ian Bruce to put your knowledge to the test and bet on different betting markets. You can bet on Spurs’ home wins, away wins, total goals, player of the match, and so on, but bookies have pretty much written them off to win the league this year – with odds of 4500/1 at most betting sites! The team isn’t showing much promise in top scorer betting this season either.

But going back to basics, what does “hotspur” mean? Surprisingly, the club’s name can be traced all the back to a 14th-century English rebel and knight named Sir Henry Percy. This knight fought both against the Scots and the French during the Hundred Years’ War and was greatly feared by both sides.

The formidable soldier was known for his diligent patrol of the border between Scotland and England. His speediness inspired the Scots to begin referring to him as “Hotspur”, as the spurs of his boots were always hot from the action. Some connection can be made here between the historical Harry and Tottenham Hotspur’s current strikers.

This nickname stuck – so much so, that he was known as “Harry Hotspur” in Shakespeare’s historical play, King Henry IV Part 1.

Another important aspect of this story is that Harry Hotspur’s ancestors – the Percy family of Northumberland –  owned land in Tottenham Marshes.

Fast forward a couple of centuries and a cricket team based in Tottenham decided to name themselves in tribute to the knight and his connection to the area in which they played.

In 1882, the Hotspur Cricket Club decided they wanted to keep themselves busy throughout the winter months. Too cold for cricket, they decided to try a more active sport – football.

So, they started playing football as Hotspur F.C. Unfortunately, another club had already decided to pay homage to the legendary knight. When their mail started getting diverted to this other Hotspur football team, who were based in central London, the Tottenham-based team knew that a name change had to occur. Rather than over-complicate things, they decided to go with Tottenham Hotspur.

Harry Hotspur’s influence doesn’t end with the name – he also helped to inspire the team’s logo. The 1900 version of the logo was simply a pair of spurs – a direct reference to Harry.

The cockerel was first introduced to the team’s branding during the 1921 FA Cup final. Cockerals are normally associated with faith and hope, given their association with new dawns and new opportunities.

However, the animal could also be traced back to the English knight. Although disputed, it is believed that Harry Hotspur was a fan of cockfighting, hence why it was selected as the team’s logo.

During cockfights, spurs are often attached to the ankles of cockerels to allow them to inflict more damage on their opponent, which is most likely why the bird in the logo is presented in this fashion. Either way, the cockerel with spurs can be viewed as a veritable fighting machine, ready to take on any opponent in the Premier League.

On old versions of the club’s badge, the team’s motto could also be found below the cockerel. Written below the cockerel was the Latin phrase “Audere est Facere”, which translates to “to dare is to do”.

While we’re on the topic of logos and imagery, where does Spurs’ nickname the Lilywhites come from? This explanation is a lot more simple: it’s because the team’s kit is white.

White has always been the team’s colour, ever since they first kicked a ball back in the late 19th century. Interestingly, the team chose white in the hope that it would help them replicate the success of a then-prominent team.

Preston North End F.C. had survived the whole 1888-1889 season unbeaten. Unsurprisingly, they were also the FA Cup winners that year – a feat they achieved once again in 1938 and then never again.

Anyway, Tottenham Hotspur chose white to copy the Lancashire team and has stuck with it ever since.

It may have brought them some degree of luck, as the team was quick to become one of the premier clubs in England. They won the FA Cup in 1901, becoming the first and only club to ever do so (even to this day).

The club continued to ascend throughout the start of the 20th century and even started to play internationally. In 1909, the club made their first trip to South America, where they gained another winged mascot for a short time, this time a parrot.

On the ship home, one of the team members won a fancy dress costume while dressed as Friday from Robinson Crusoe. The prize was a parrot, which the team safely took home to White Hart Lane.

It reportedly lived at the stadium for a decade before dying suspiciously in 1919. The death of the parrot coincided with an event that cemented Tottenham Hotspur’s fierce rivalry with Arsenal – which brings us to the origins of the North London Derby.

After the war, it was agreed that the First Division should be expanded from 20 to 22 clubs. On March 10th, 1919, a vote was taken to decide which teams from the Second Division should receive automatic promotion to the new and expanded First Division.

Both Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea had recently been relegated, but both felt they had a right to remain in the top flight. Arsenal had finished 6th place in the Second Division, so shouldn’t have been in the running for promotion at all.

However, the then-Arsenal chairman, Sir Henry Norris, was also serving as the mayor of Fulham at the time as well as being a Conservative MP. In other words, he held a lot of influence.

This resulted in Arsenal receiving an unfair promotion and Tottenham receiving unjust relegation to the Second Division. Hence why both teams remain bitter rivals to this day. The Telegraph recently ranked Spurs and the Gunners as the third-biggest rivalry in the UK.

Tensions date back to 1913 when Arsenal moved their stadium to Highbury. However, being relegated in 1919 really put the nail in the coffin.

Hopefully, this short blog post on the obscure history of Tottenham Hotspur’s name, logo, and rivalry with Arsenal has filled in the knowledge blanks of your beloved team. Now you can not only bet on future Spurs games but also argue with other pundits about tidbits.