The Boys in Black and White

Another club from the state of Espirito Santo, Clube Atlético Colatinense, known as CAC to the locals, play in the same Campeonato Capixaba as Estrela do Norte. As a club they are so young that they still have fluff on their chins, being formed in the city of Colatina in 2005. After many years of the city skirting with some budding football club or another, and a congregation of city elders and local businessmen decided that it was finally time to end their city's lack of a competative team and form the club.

They chose the name part to promote the city's name across the rest of the state - and indeed the wider country if they subsequently did well - but also to pay tribute to an older, now defunct local team of the same name (and hopefully pick up a few of their old fans along the way). Not short of ambition, they took on their state champions Vitória FC in their first friendly game, and beat them by a rather resounding 4-1 (although it's not known if Vitória played a full-strength squad that day - but we don't want to wee on CAC's fireworks). They subsequently went on to become second division champs in their first season, and have been plucky mid-table battlers ever since.

They play in the Estadio Justiniano de Mello e Silva, on the muddy banks of the fast flowing Rio Doce and overlooked by crumbly tree-lined mountains It's not stated how many it holds, but it's one of those grounds that has a massive sloping stand down the one side of the pitch and nothing much else, so by the looks of it around 10-12,000.

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Estrela do Norte Futebol Clube (Brazil)

2011-01-12T00:43:00.002Z

Estrela do Norte Futebol Clube, which translates rather delightfully as the North Star Football Club, are based in the quarry city of Cachoeiro de Itapemirim from the small state of Espírito Santo on the coastal south East of Brazil. They're pretty long in the tooth as far as Brazilian football goes, and were formed in 1916, and now plough their footballing furrow in the top flight of the state league, the Campeonato Capixaba.

But despite their longevity they've never quite made it to the top of the state tree, having been runners up on five occasions - with four of these in consecutive years in between 2003 and 2006. Strangely after all these efforts they were relegated in 2007, but have climbed their way back up to the top flight, and are still hoping on that debut league win.

They've been no slouches in other trophies though, having won the Copa Espitito Santo three times, the State Second Division twice, and the old pre-professional league, the Campeonato Sulino Capixaba six times in the fifties and sixties. Their fans, the Torcida Estrelense, are noted as being among the most happily rabid in the country, and the relative cosiness of their ricketty ground, 12,000 capacity Estádio Sumaré is more than made up for by the pure racket their punters make. They are currently ranked at 134th in the Brazilian football league system by the local FA, but you try telling the fans that they're only the 134th best team in Brazil!

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Ceilândia Esporte Clube (Brazil)

2011-01-12T00:43:00.001Z

Ceilândia Esporte Clube - or CEC to the locals - are from the relatively new city of Ceilândia in the Distrito Federal, some sixteen miles from the capital Brasília. Despite having only been formed in 1979, they are one of the oldest clubs in the region. They play their football in the Campeonato Brasiliense, the equivilent of a state league for team from within 200km from Brasília. It's not a state as such, but you know what kind of geographical confusement these Federal Districts can cause!

The team were founded out of the ashes of the Don Bosco Sports Clube, an outfit formed in 1963 which was based in what was then a shanty village (or Favella) on the outskirts of the country's new capital. But in 1971 the Governor of the Distrito Federal started to get a bit nervy about all these undisirables flocking to the rims of his nice new city, so he set up a spartan new town for these migrants - mostly from the North Eastern part of the country, and called it Ceilândia - the Cei standing for Centro de Erradicação de Invasões or Squatters Eradication Centre!

What sounded a little like nothing more than a refugee camp soon built itself up into a town bigger than Brasília itself, and it was to here that Don Bosco moved - gradually becoming the best team in the city. When professional football came to the District in 1977, it was clear that the club would have to go full time. But up to that point they existed on the pitch only as a raggle taggle confederation of players, rather than an official club with directors, rules and a constitution. So they kept their black and white strip, but changed their name to the rather more cumbersome Dom Bosco Esporte Clube para Ceilândia Esporte Clube - which in time became shortened to CEC.

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Mohammedan Sporting Club Dhaka (Bangladesh)

2011-01-12T00:43:00.000Z

Mohammedan SC Dhaka are a branch of a major nationwide sporting club, based in the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka. They formed some time in the mid 1930s, although there is some dispute as to exactly when. But 1933 seems to be the safest bet. They are part of the much older Calcutta Mohammedan, whose first foundations came in 1891, making them among the very oldest clubs in India (remember, at that time Bangladesh was at that time part of the wider Indian Empire).

They had a solid but quiet league career until 1947, when after the partition of India, Calcutta Mohammedan star player Mohammad Shahjahan took charge of the side, reorganising them into a side of some style and skill. By the early sixties they had become regular league winners, finally overcoming their arch rivals Dhaka Wanderers Club, and eventually going on to win the Dhaka League 15 times, and filling the runners up slot on a further dozen occasions before the new B League became the top flight of the national game, where they still play to this day.

They play at the the country's former test cricket ground - hence its rather unusual roundness. They share the hefty 36,000 capacity Bangabandhu National Stadium in Dhaka with no less than eight other teams in the B League - indeed, that's all of the top flight except the three clubs who play in either Chittagong or Feni, which must make drawing up a fixture list something of a bureaucratic nightmare.

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Risca United (Wales)

2010-10-12T00:49:00.000+01:00

Risca United are a true valleys side, hailing from a South Walean mining town between Cwmbran and Caerphilly. Formed in 1946 out of the ashes of a number of under-achieving local sides, they initially played in the Monmouthshire Senior League, before moving on to the Welsh league proper in the fifties, where they stayed until the mid-sixties when they hit a spot of financial bother.

The club were saved at the last minute when they merged with another local side, Fernlea, with who they already shared a ground. After a few years just ticking over and barely surviving back in the Senior League, the 1970s saw them hit a spell of golden form. In just a few short years they won an impressive total of 13 trophies, including an astounding three consecutive cup and league doubles. In 1990 they rejoined the Welsh League, reaching the top flight by the middle of the decade.

These days though they've found their way back to the third division - the fourth level of the Welsh game. Since then they have merged one more time, this time with local junior side Gelli United in order to ensure that they had a strong youth wing. They play at the cosy little Ty-Isaf Park, and are known to their friends as The Cuckoos -although whether this has anything to do with their knack of absorbing other teams while keeping their own identity intact is never mentioned.

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http://www.riscautd.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risca_United_F.C.

Randaberg Idrettslag (Norway)

2010-10-12T00:48:00.005+01:00

Randaberg IL are a Norweigian second division team (which, slightly confusingly is the third tier of their national league system) from Randaberg, a town of about 10,000 people just to the North of Stavanger in the very south west of the country. They were formed back in 1925 as Fotballklubben Ørn (or The Eagles FC), a fine name that they kept until 1933, when they joined the Norwegian FA, and changed it to Randaberg Fotballklubb, which they thought would make them be taken a little more seriously.

Their first great mark in the national football psyche came in the early 1960s when the great Reidar Goa was their first player to gain an international cap, a little while before he was transferred to the region's biggest club, Viking Stavanger. Their biggest moment of the sixties came around the same time when they were drawn to play the then star-studded Sandefjord in the third round of the cup. It is said half the population of Randaberg made the trip to Oslo to see their plucky battlers edged out 3-1 - but only after an epic battle.

But this little team attracted national attention once more in 2007, when an interesting character called Fred Ingebrigtsen came in and splashed the money around, claiming he would help them work their way up the league ladder as soon as possible. He hired former FK Haugesund boss Kjell-Inge Bråtveit to lead the charge and had soon lured former top flight players the like of Sindre Erstad, Øyvind Svenning, Jørgen Tengesdal and Bjarte Lunde Aarsheim into the fray. But as is the case with many sugar daddy clubs, the success hasn't quite happened for them yet. But it'll certainly be worth keeping an eye on them just in case it does! Remember, you heard it here first! (Unless you're Norwegian, of course!)

Stop Press! I've just got a note from Per Thime, Randaberg's sports director, who tells me that his boys have just won the league with two games remaining, which means that they'll play in the second tier of Norwegian for the first time in their history. As he puts it: "That means we are in the list of the 30 best teams in Norway. And we like that!"

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Beith Juniors (Scotland)

2010-10-12T00:48:00.004+01:00

Beith Juniors, from the small town of Beith, some twenty miles to the west of Glasgow, were formed in 1938, out of the ashes of the former Scottish League club, Beith, who played in the short-lived original Scottish Third Division. The original club won the Scottish Qualifying Cup in 1928, and the Ayrshire Senior Cup three times.

They currently play their matches in the rather finely- named corner of the Scottish Junior game SJFA Stagecoach Superleague Premier League, which is the highest division of the West Region of the Scottish Junior FA - approximately the eighth tier of the Scottish game. They go under the dual nicknames of The Mighty and The Cabes, and play their games at the 1800 capacity Bellsdale Park.

Over the years they've won an array of local trophies, including the Ayrshire League, the West of Scotland Premier Division, the West of Scotland Cup and rather regal sounding Jackie Scarlett Cup. Indeed, so good have they been in the knockout trophies that they were dubbed the Cup Team of the Nineties in the area, with seven trophy wins and a whole lot more lengthy cup runs.

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Arbroath Victoria FC (Scotland)

2010-10-12T00:48:00.003+01:00

Better known as The Vics, Arbroath Victoria are one of the oldest clubs in the Scottish game, having formed in the misty old days of 1882. They played their first ever match against the rather splendidly named Sunrise on the town common that same year, a game they won by a healthy 3-0. Their biggest win came eight years later when they narrowly edged their local rivals Burnside Athletic by a score of 15-0. 1890 was clearly a good year for them, as they went on to win the coveted Forfar and District Junior League later in the same run.

They play in the Scottish Junior Football East Region North Division, which is approximately the ninth tier of Scottish football - although it's tricky to accurately state as theirs is not pyramidical system with direct promotions between the leagues. Their home games are battled out at the 4000 capacity Ogilvy Park, and their biggest rivals are the very local Arbroath SC from the same league. However, every year The Vics take part in a challenge match against The Scottish Third Division side Arbroath FC called the Urquhart Cup. But despite the distance in leagies between the two sides, The Vics quite frequently win it, and are in fact the current holders.

All though their history they've won a wealth of fabulously titled local trophies, including the likes of The Forfar Businessmen's Trophy, The Brechin Rosebowl, The Forfar Junior Consolation Cup, and best of the lot, The Cream of the Barley Cup. But perhaps the biggest day in their history though came in 1982 when to celebrate their hundred years of being they lured a talented young Irish lad called George Best in to play a stint for them in their centenary match. Not surprisingly he played a blinder, scoring two goals on the way to a 4-3 win over Arbroath FC. Sadly though he couldn't be convinced to play on for the rest of the season.

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Nymark Idrettslag (Norway)

2010-10-12T00:48:00.001+01:00

Nymark IL are a fourth division Norwegian side from the beautiful city of Bergen, on the country's west coast. They were formed in 1921, in the borough of Årstad, in the south of the city. As is often the way in Norway, they are part of a wider sports association, which also has very popular cycling and athletics wings.

They play at a multi sports facility in the shadow of the stadium of their more illustrious city rivals SK Brann, known locally as the the Nymarksbanene fields. Casting an even more impressive shadow over the ground is Ulriken, the highest of the seven mountains that surround Bergen, and an impressive backdrop to any match.

They were originally part of the Arbeidernes Idrettsforbund, or Worker's Federation of Sports, the first explicit worker's sports society in the country, and linked to the Communist Red Sport International. The Federation was formed after 15 wrestlers were banned by the Norwegian Wrestling Federation for taking part in what they deemed to be a politicised sports meeting. This helped spawn a worker's federation of sports that soon spread across the country, and despite a brave national boycott of sports by its members during the Nazi occupation, fizzled out when it merged with the Norwegian Confederation of Sport in 1946.

These days Nymark are still closely connected to the people of Årstad, but in a slightly less politicised way. Although get them riled up and they'll still let you know what's what!

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Eastwood Town (England)

2010-10-12T00:48:00.000+01:00

Eastwood Town come from the small Nottinghamshire town of the same name, just to the north west of Nottingham itself. They haver a long history of playing in black and white, although appear to be only recent converts to the stripes themselves, so we'll have to keep an eye on the progress of their kit over the coming seasons. They were formed in 1953, although there was a team of the same name knocking about in the early 1920s who only lasted for a couple of seasons, and who have no connection to the current club.

Like many fellow stripes, Eastwood hail from a former coal- mining town, and is perhaps most famous as being the birthplace of the writer DH Lawrence, with many of its houses and hostelries cropping up frequently in his stories. It's also one fo the few places where the rare dialect East Midlands English is still spoken. So don't be surprised if you have only half an idea of what anyone is saying to you if ever you pay a visit up that way.

The Badgers, as the club like to be known, have recently worked their way up from the Northern Premier League currently play in the Conference North, the sixth tier of English football, and the first to be regionalised. They play at the 2500 capacity Coronation Park, just off the main Nottingham Road. Famous old boys include Arsenal and Forest star Tony Woodcock, who was born in the town, the much travelled Alan Buckley and former Bradford and Middlesbrough defender Richard Liburd. Their traditional rivals haver always been the nearby Ilkestone Town, although as The Robins have recently been wound up, they may have to go further afield for their derbies.

However, perhaps their biggest moment came in the 2008/09 FA Cup, where they reached the third round, taking the scalps of Wrexham and Wycome Wanderers along the way, before being deprived of a major payday when they were drawn to Kettering, who rather impolitely beat them 2-1 in a tense match.

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Associação Desportiva Senador Guiomard (Brazil)

2010-10-12T00:47:00.001+01:00

Associação Desportiva Senador Guiomard are a team with a name that you wouldn't want to sew onto a banner. Fortunately, all but the most passionate (or insane) refer to them by the thankfully less tongue-bending acronym ADESG. They hail from the municipality of Senador Guiomard in the Brazilian state of Acre, in the far west of the country in the upper reaches of the Amazon, and close to the border with Bolivia.

They are a relatively young team, having first kicked a ball in anger as recently as 1982. However despite their youth they have won the state league - the Campeonato Acriano - the once, having taken both stages convincingly in 2006. Remember, Brazil is a country where the season is split into two distinct halfs, with the overall annual winner being the team with the best average record of the two, so to take both in one year is quite an achievement.

They play in the 2000 capacity Estádio Naborzão, and go by the nickname of Quinari's Lions - although I've yet to discover excatly who, or indeed what, Quniari is. They also play in variation of the classic black and white stripes in that their kit is predominantly white, with a thick black pin stripe. But it still counts, and they're more than welcome into the family of black and white stripes!

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Amapá Clube (Brazil)

2010-10-12T00:47:00.000+01:00

Amapá Clube are a team from the remote Amazonian region of the same name at the very North of Brazil. So remote are they that the rest of Brazil use the place as a marker for being a long way off - much as we do for The Outer Hebrides of Timbuktu. They come from the state capital, the mining city of Macapá, a city so out of the way that there are no road links to the rest of Brazil, so to get there you either have to fly or take a boat.

The football team, usually known more simply as Amapá , was formed in 1944, and play in their local state league, the Campeonato Amapaense, which they have won on a respectable ten occasions, making them the second most successful team in that league ever, after their city rivals Esporte Clube Macapá who have notched up a massive 17 titles. However Amapá last won their league back in 1990, and Macapá's last victory came a year later, and it is the young upstarts of Ypiranga, also from Macapá who are currently the leading lights of Amapaense football.

However, there is one thing that makes Amapá Clube especially unique. Their pitch, the 5000 capacity Estádio Milton Corrêa straddles the equator, with the halfway line of the ground running exactly down the line of zero latitude. This means if you win the toss you can choose to defend a whole hemisphere rather than the usual mundane half. This curious geographical positioning also means that you get to see some quite outrageous shooting, with goal attempts from the attacking side's own half a regularity, as the players attempt to make a name for themselves as having kicked the ball in one hemisphere and hit the net in the next. Understandably the ground is more commonly known by its nickname Zerão - the big zero!

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Ammanford AFC (Wales)

2010-10-12T00:46:00.002+01:00

Ammanford AFC are the result of a merger between two much older clubs from the village back in 1992. Ammanford Town were established in 1945 when a chap called Vic Grove donated a chicken as a prize for a raffle, the proceeds of which went on to help form the club. However, in the early days they were known as Betws, taking on the mantle but not directly succeeding the earlier local club the Ammandford Corinthians.

After a few years playing in a collection of small local leagues, they started to outgrow their bowl and in 1949 were elected to the Welsh League - helped in part by the goodwill afforded to their illustrious Corinthian cousins. By the sixties, however, there were a number of Welsh clubs playing under the Betws banner, and so the Welsh FA asked them if they could change their name, which they did to the aformentioned Ammanford Town. They would change it once more, when things began to get financially tough in the 1980s, and by 1992, they merged with Ammanford Athletic to form the AFC that they are still known as today.

These days they play in the Welsh League Division Two, the third level of Welsh Football. They call the Manor Ground Home, which Betws bought with considerable foresight back in the early days of their foundation. Perhaps their most famous son is the former Everton, Wrexham and Wales international keeper Dai Davies, widely accepted to be one of the best Welsh keepers of all time, who played for the club when he was just 15. He was discovered by the former Liverpool and Swansea wing-half Roy Saunders, who managed them during the club's most successful days in the mid-60s.

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Tonan Maebashu (Japan)

2010-09-06T00:53:00.006+01:00

Tonan Maebashi SC are a much loved club from the Gunma Prefecture of Japan's main island of Honshu, who play in the second division of the Kanto League - the fifth tier of their national game, and part of the nine Japanese regional Leagues. They come from Gunma's largest city, Maebashi, which is the furthest of all the country's Prefecture capitals from the sea.

They were founded in 1982 as Tonan SC Gunma, and joined the Gunma Prefecture League soon after. They were successful pretty quickly, and soon worked their way through the local divisions, and by the turn of the century they found themselves in the rather complicated All Japan Regional Promotion League Series, where all the Regional League winners, the top four runners up, plus a scattering of other cup winners, university teams and FA defined wild cards all take part in a tournament to establish who gets promoted to the National League. This, however, isn't always the team who wins the tournament, and the number of promotees can years from year to year between on and four clubs. As yet, Tonan haven't been successful at this stage, although their time will surely come!

They changed their name to Tonan Maebashi in 2008, as their original home town of Ogo was absorbed, along with a few other nearby towns and villages, into Maebashu a couple of years before - so they thought they'd better change their name accordingly. At least that's what I think happened - Japanese is notoriously difficult to translate via the internet, so if I have got all this magnificently wrong and you know anything more about the club than I do, then please do put me right!

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AFC Llwydcoed (Wales)

2010-09-06T00:53:00.005+01:00

Llwydcoed were formed in 1931, under the name Llwydcoed Welfare AFC. As is common with stripes around the British Isles, they come from a close knit mining community, and have been the hub of events in village life since their foundation. The village itself is on the ourskirts of Aberdare in the Rhondda area of South Wales - an area at the very centre of Welsh mining until the pit closures of the 1980s decimated local industry.

They started their footballing journey in the Aberdare Valley League, winning it twice in the fifties. They eventually moved on to the South Wales Amateur League, where they played until 1991, when they became founder members of the South Wales Senior League. These days they play in Division 2 of the Welsh Football League - the third tier in the Welsh National system.

They play their home games at the tiny Welfare Ground in their home village, but in becoming more successful than their founding fathers could ever have imagined, have grown out of their bowl, and need to look at expanding their facilities. This is always a pivotal moment in the life of a small club if they meet any measure of success, so we wish them well, and hope that the decisions that they make in the next couple of seasons do them good in what looks like being an exciting future.

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Ardrossan Winton Rovers (Scotland)

2010-09-06T00:53:00.003+01:00

The Winton, as they're known locally, come from the Ayrshire harbour town of Ardrossan. They were formed in 1902, and moved to their spiritual home, the 3000 capacity Winton Park, in 1923, after they bought the land from Lord Eglinton for £160. The ground's main stand was built in 1923, although is currently not in use as despite looking glorious, it's currently deemed unsafe to house paying customers.

Indeed, over the years much of the ground had fallen into disrepair, until a new supporter- led committee was formed in 2001 with the express intention of improving the facilities, after the previous owners decided that they were no longer able to continue running the club. They finally managed to raise the funds to buy out the deeds to the ground in 2005.

They play in the Scottish Junior League Western Region, the fifth tier of Scottish football, and have not been without some success. Perhaps their most notable achievement is having reached the semi-finals of the Scottish Cup on three occasions. And they weren't all in their early days, as they've spread these successes between 1912, 1934 and 1970. In total they've won over local titles and cup competitions, making them one of the most successful Junior teams in Scotland. Their most recent successes came in the last few years when they won the Airshire Cup three years in a row in 2007-2008.

Stripe spotters be warned though, because although they have played the bulk of their history in black and white stripes, they very occasionally turn those lines horizontal and change them to hoops. But we can forgive a club with such a long and proud history the odd eccentricity now and again.

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Agremiação Sportiva Arapiraquense (Brazil)

2010-09-06T00:52:00.005+01:00

Agremiação Sportiva Arapiraquense, thankfully better known by the three letter acronym ASA, are a Brazilian fooball club from the city of Arapiraca, in Alagoas state in Brazil- known as the City of Tobacco after the principal crop in this North Eastern region. They play in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série B - the second tier of the national system - after they were promoted from Série C in 2009.

But they weren't the original football outfit in the city. They were formed in 1952 after the city's previous team, Ferroviário de Arapiraca, went under, and the city's top brass felt they needed something to keep the area in the national consciousness, and initially too the name Associação Sportiva Arapiraquense They took part in the Campeonato Alagoano - the state league of Alagoas - the following year, making the play off final. For some reason lost to history, their co-finalists refused to play them, so they were crowned champions at their first attempt, a title that they have now won six times in total.

They changed to their current, equally lengthy appelation in 1977, the Agremiação of their new name meaning College. Two years later they made it to Série A, and were nicknamed The Fantasma das Alagoas after their successful campaign. Ever since then they have used the obscure Disney character Phantom Blot as their mascot, renaming him Mancha Negra to local tastes.

They play their home games at the 10,000 capacity Municipal Coaracy da Mata Fonseca ground, and their fans prefer to go by the more formal nickname of Asa Gigante, which can mean both Giant ASA, and Giant Wing - although to be absolutely honest, I think I prefer the ghosts!

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Valestrand Hjellvik FK (Norway)

2010-09-06T00:52:00.001+01:00

Valestrand Hjellvik are a Norwegian club from the village of Valestrandsfossen on Eye Oster - which translates roughly as Cheese Island - just North of Bergen. They were formed in 1992, when two local clubs merged. Of their constituent parts, Valestrand IF formed in 1978, and Hjellvik IL formed in 1959. Fortunately the newly merged club didn't have to spend too long thinking about a new name.

Their happy co- operation can also be seen in the club's crest, which contains the blue of Valestrand and the green of Hjellvik. Thankfully though they drew the line at chosing to play in green and blue stripes, electing instead to play in the much more elegant black and white. They play their football in the segment of the regionalised Norwegian fourth division known as the Hordaland SoccerCircle.

They play their home games at the 1000 capacity Furu Bakken Stadion, which, as is becoming a theme for this lot, translates rather cutely as Pine Hill. Since their foundation they've slowly climbed up from the sxith tier of local football, and have finished as high as third in both 2003 and 2005. And like many of the smaller Norwegian clubs, they have strong links to the community, offering a range of team from pre-school to seniors in both the men and women's game.

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Zebra FC (England)

2010-09-06T00:51:00.001+01:00

If there's any club on this list who epitomise the corinthian spirit that seems to pervade the black and white colour scheme beloved by pretty much all of the teams who play in black and white stripes, it's Zebra FC. This tiny team from the Maid's Causeway area of Cambridge are a member of a tiny league well down the echelons of the Cambridgeshire FA system, but they've been doing the colours proud since at least 1993 - although no one is quite sure when they actually got going.

Originally formed as the kicky ball team for the Zebra pub smack in the middle of the city of Cambridge, the choice of colours was immediately obvious. After a while they changed their allegance to The Clarendon pub just down the road, but these days they have more of an affinity for another local establishment, The Free Press. But despite this, the colours - and the name - remain.

They call the Downing College Sports Ground their home, and they play most of their games in Division One of the rather sweetly named Cambridge and District Friendly League. The league's name originates from the days when it was formalised from a collection of teams playing friendlies against one another. Also it epitomises the League's efforts to be there more about fun and participation rather than winning at all costs.

At present their are awaiting anxiously to see if they've qualified for the C and DF League Champions Shield. This is a unique competition where the two clubs voted Most Friendly by their peers in the league are chosen to compete in the final. In theory the two bottom clubs could be voted to the final, and the organisation's champions could be the least successful in terms of results, but most popular in terms of their behaviour - both on and off the pitch. And doesn't that sound like just about the coolest competition on the planet! lets hope the Zebras do us pround and make the final!

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Figueirense Futebol Clube (Brazil)

2010-08-10T01:22:00.002+01:00

Figueirense come from the Southern Brazilian city of Florianópolis - capital of the island state of Santa Catarina. It's is one of the beachiest regions in Brazil, with 42 in the city alone. No wonder that with some of the few West-facing series of beaches in the country that it's become one of the most populat surfing destinations on the South American continent. The team formed in 1921 as Figueirense Foot-ball Club, although they thankfully Braziled it up a few years later.

Their first big flush of success was in the 1930s, when they won five state titles (this was long before the days when there was a national football league), winning it again in 1941. This was when their early run of wins ended, though, and it was another 31 years before they won their next title. But things soon picked up again in the seventies and eighties, and in total they've won their state title a total of 15 times. The best that they've done since the game has gone national is a couple of runner's-up slots, in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série B in 2001, and the Copa do Brasil in 2007.

They've since returned to Série B, the second tier of Brazilian football, where they have spent most of their career, playing in the 19,908 capacity Orlando Scarpelli stadium. As you may have guessed by their name, they are rather a fig-based club. Comeing from the neighbourhood of, Figueirense, which means Of The Fig Tree, they have a fig tree on their club crest, their nickname is The Fig Tree, and their club mascot is even an anthropomorphised fig tree called Figueirinha, who is, to be absolutely honest, slightly frightening.

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Juventus FC (Italy)

2010-08-10T00:54:00.001+01:00

Juventus are one of a very small few clubs who can lay claim to being the biggest club in the world. The third most successful club in European history (after AC Milan and Real Madrid), they're also the most supported club in Europe with an estimated 170 million fans around the world, and it is reckoned that one in three Italian football fans follow the Juve.

They were formed in 1897 as Sport Club Juventus by Massimo D'Azeglio Lyceum school in Turin. They joined the Italian Football league in 1900, and it only took them five years until they won their first of many Scudettos. Since then they have spent their entire history in the top flight - bar the 2006/07 season when they were relegated as punishment for being part of the Italian Match Fixing Scandal.

But they didn't always play in the black and white stripes. For the first six years of their existence they played in rather snazzy pink shirts with a natty black tie - although they claim it was because the wrong ones got delivered before their first match... yeah, we've tried that one too. They changed them to the more familiar stripes in 1903 when their old ones started to fade, so sent to England for a shipment of Notts County shirts.

They've led a nomadic life and have had a number of home grounds over the years. For the first couple of years they played at the Parco del Valentino and Parco Cittadella, before settling on Piazza d'Armi Stadium for a few years, unitl 1908 (aside from a couple of seasons where they nipped over to the Corso Re Umberto. After that they lived at the Corso Sebastopoli Camp until 1922 and then spent the next eleven years at Corso Marsiglia Camp. It wasn't until 1933 that they settled on a more regular home, the Stadio Benito Mussolini - although they changed the name Stadio Comunale Vittorio Pozzo after the war for some reason. And there they stayed until 1990, when they moved into the Stadio delle Alpi, built for the 1990 World Cup - although in 2006 they moved back to Mussolini's old gaff, now renamed again to the Stadio Olimpico di Torino for a few seasons while they do up the Alpi.

In total they've won 27 league titles (also coming second another 20 times), nine Coppa Italias, Four Italian Supercups, and the Serie B title after their year in disgrace. On top of that they were the first club to win the European, UEFA and Cup Winners Cup, as well as the Intertoto Cup and the UEFA Super Cup, and when they won the Intercontinental Cup they became the first club side in the world to have won every available international competition. No wonder on of their many nicknames is Italy's Girlfriend.

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Newcastle United (England)

2010-08-09T19:04:00.001+01:00

The Toon are possibly one of the most famous and best loved clubs to have ever donned the black and white stripes, and are one of those sides that everyone has a soft spot for... unless they live on the Wear. That they are persistant underachievers makes the near-global love for the club all the more heartening, and their long-suffering fans are among the most loyal and good-humoured that you'll find anywhere. But how much do you really know about Newcastle United?

They were formed in 1892 after the merger of two much older local clubs, Newcastle East End (formed in 1881) and Newcastle West End (formed in 1882). West End were in financial difficulties and approached the more successful East End, their fierce rivals from the Northern League, about a merger. East End were happy to cherry pick the Westerners' best players, while the Eastenders were quite happy to go and play at the much superior St James Park. And so a team were born. The new club toyed with a few names, like Newcastle Rangers and Newcastle City, before deciding that United would be far more apt, considering.

In the early days they kept on playing in East End's red strip until 1894, when after one-too- many kit clashes they changed to the black and white strip that they've made so famous. They joined the Football League soon after, and not long later, just after the turn of the century, they won the title three times - in 1905, 1907 and 1909. The same era saw them appear in five FA Cup finals in seven seasons - although they won just the one of them... setting the scene for the exploits of the next 100 years or so.

But it's the period from the 1950s to the 1960s that is said to be their golden era. They had three FA Cup wins in five years the fifties, but that success briefly fizzled out and they found themselves back in the old Second Division. But 1965 saw them win promotion coming top of the table, and by the late sixties they were regular faces in Europe, winning the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup (a pre-cursor of the Europa League) in 1969.

But life as a Newcastle fan sees you become used to the ebb and flow of success. The 1980s saw them back in Divison Two and looking like they might plunge even further. But the unlikely appointment of the untried Kevin Keegan. The 1990s saw them not only save themselves from third-tier ignominy, but gain promotion and even come perilously close to winning another title. They even had another couple of glorious seasons in Europe.

But pretty soon, as is his way, Keegan walked out, and under a succession of high-profile managers they began another of their gradual declines that led to their eventual, almost unthinkable relegation in 2009. But they bounced straight back, so who knows, they might well be back on another of their upwards climbs, and the next period of glory days could soon be on the horizon.

They still play at West End's old ground St James Park, although it's a bit bigger these days. Now it's a massive 52,387 capacity megalith right on the edge of Newcastle's city centre. So tall is this, the third largest club stadium in England, that from the back of the away stand you can see ships sailing up the Tyne to the open sea.

They've also got one heck of a list of famous alumni. Jackie Milburn, Ivor Allchurch, Joe Harvey, George Robledo, Malcolm MacDonald, Kevin Keegan, Peter Beardsley, Chris Waddle, Paul Gascoigne, David Ginola, Les Ferdinand and latterly Alan Shearer - every one of them near legendary and picked from a list that could have been three times as long.

In total their trophy cabinet has glistened to four league titles, six FA Cup wins, an Inter-City Fairs Cup victory and a host of smaller knock out tournament wins. But more tellingly they've been league runners up twice and losing FA Cup finalists a massive seven times. They're they club the phrase 'nearly men' could have been written for. So could the fanatically loyal Toon Army ever have another few seasons in the sun? History suggests that it's an inevitability.

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Club El Porvenir (Argentina)

2010-08-08T19:38:00.006+01:00

El Porvenir are an Argentinian club from the town of Gerli, part of the wider Buenos Aires connurbation. They formed back in 1915, but initially they had nothing to do with football. Instead, a gaggle of immigrant workers wanted to form a Greco-Roman wrestling club, which at the time was as popular a sport as football. Their founding president, Vincent Gioffre wanted to celebrate the area where the club was first formed, Villa Porvenir - at that time a run down shanty town - so decreed that the club should be called Club El Porvenir, or when literally translated, Club of The Future.

They soon became major players in the wrestling game, but when interest in the sport started to wain, the club's elder's decided that in order to keep the club going, they ought to diversify into other sports. So it was that in 1917 they branched out into the sport of football, and have stuck with it ever since. They entered a team into the Argentinian second division the following year. Early on they played at a stadium with the delightful name of Sígueme Si Puedes, translating as Follow Me if You Can. Rather auspiciously they finished their first tournament in last place, gathering just the single point over the whole season.

Back in the first few years they played in the national top tier now and again, but at the time there was a major schism between governing bodies, so some Argentinian football historians claim that they were never officially a top flight side. One thing is for sure though - they haven't played at the highest level of Argentinian football since it went fully professional in 1931. These days they play in the Primera C Metropolitana, the fourth tier of the national game, and play at the Estadio de Enrique Roberts, which holds 15,000 Futurists.

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Brunswick Zebras (Australia)

2010-08-08T16:26:00.003+01:00

Another of Australia's abundant Zebras, the history of the Brunswick variety runs parallel to that of another club on this list, Whittlesea Zebras. But despite the latter club being born from the former, they are now both distinct and different clubs. Formed in 1948 as Juventus, they were one of many clubs to be made up of Italian migrants to Australia who wanted to keep a bit of the old country alive in their distant new home.

Theres is a pretty dense and winding history, so sit down and start taking notes, as it may be tricky to keep up. Hailing from the Melbourne suburb of Brunswick, they were themselves the product of the merger of a number of smaller clubs, and by the 1950s had become the powerhouse of football in Victoria, winning six state titles in that decade - five of them consecutively. In total they won that title eight times in their history, bagging five Dockerty Cups along the way. In 1980 they amended their name to Brunswick Juventus, and pretty soon joined the ranks of the National Soccer League in 1984. Here they reached play-off finals in their debut season, before winning the whole caboodle in 1985, beating Sidney City over two legs in the Grand Final to become national champions.

Sadly this was the peak of their career, and they began a decline that would see them return to the Victoria League by the end of the decade. In 1993 they briefly returned to the NSL as the Brunswick Pumas - a name change soon followed by another to Melbourne Zebras, before ill-health finally led them to merge with two other clubs to become Bulleen Zerbras in 1996. But when the club merged with Whittlesea Stallions to become the Whittlesea Zebras in 2007, an offshoot group kept the old club going, and in 2008 changed their name one last time to Brunswick Zebras.

They now play in the Victoria Provisional League Three North-West League, and play their home games at the charming Sumner Park. There's is a convoluted and complex history that has seen great highs and sad lows. But that they are still playing and keeping the time line alive is of great credit to everyone involved in the club.

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Colby AFC (Isle of Man)

2010-08-08T15:51:00.001+01:00

Colby AFC are a club from the tiny Manx village of Colby, in the South-West of the Isle of Man - an island in the North of the Irish Sea almost equidistant between all four countries of the United Kingdom. Despite Man's location, it is a self-governing British Crown Dependency, and as such isn't considered part of the UK.

No Colby isn't exactly a massive place. With a head count of only 289, they are perhaps the smallest settlement on this list to have a football club. They were formed in 1919, and currently play in the Manx Premier League, after winning the league's Second Division in 2008. They won that title with an incredible record, winning every game bar one, which they drew, and finishing with a goal tally of 153 goals in 26 games.

Despite the smallness of their home village, they've got a pretty decent track record in Manx football. As well as that great league campaign in 2008, they won the Manx Cup in 1928, The Woods Cup on five occasions and the Paul Henry Gold Cup four times. Nicknamed The Moonlighters, they play at the titchy Glen Road ground in the North of the village - although in a place that small, the compass points have very little relevance.

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Abbotsford Mariners (Canada)

2010-08-08T15:29:00.001+01:00

The Mariners are a Canadian club from the city of Abbotsford in British Colombia. Strictly speaking it's part of the wider Vancouver Metropolitan Area, although is a distinct and seperate city. Despite their Canadian nationality, they currently sit in the USL Premier Development League - the fourth tier of the US football league system - where they play in the Northwest Division of the Western Conference, alongside teams like British Colombia and the Washington and Oregon states in the USA.

Despite football being popular as a played sport in this part of the world, there's is not a long history. The club was formed in 2003, as Abbotsford Rangers, changing it in 2007 to represent the parent organisation who owned their franchise. Before their foundation there had been a few clubs in the area battling to get accepted into the PDL, including the quaintly-named Abbotsford 86ers Select, and Abbotsford Athletes in Action. In all their eight seasons they've been constant mid-table warriors, except in 2006, when they were division champions, making it as far as the Conference semi-final play-offs. Sadly they went no further after they were beaten 3-2 by California's Orange County Blue Star, despite being two goals up at one point.

They play their home games at the 1200 capacity Bateman Park stadium, that they share with the Fraser Valley Cascades college team. Despite the size of their ground, and indeed their catchment area, they only average gates of around 150, and these have been declining season-on-season, despite the decent football being played. It must be remembered though that if anything, football is the fourth sport in the area, so hopefully their gates will start rising as the popularity of the game increases locally.

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Fisher FC (England)

2010-08-08T14:52:00.001+01:00

Fisher are at the same time one of the newest and one of the most historic of all London's non-league clubs. Fisher FC were only founded in 2009, but they rose from the ashes of a famous name in the capital's football, Fisher Athletic. The new club was founded by members of the Fisher Supporter's Trust when Fisher Athletic were wound up in the High Court after serious financial difficulties. They were immediately accepted into the Kent League, the ninth tier on the pyramid, although they had been used to playing at a much higher level in recent years.

Fisher Athletic were formed back in 1908 by the head of the Dockland School in Bermondsey, to provide sporting facilities for the under-priviledged youth of what was a very run down area at the time. They were named after the Catholic martyr Saint John Fisher, one of many churchmen executed by king Henry VIII after refusing to recognise him as the head of the head of the Church of England. They spent most of their more recent years in the upper echelons of the non-league system, getting as high as the National Conference, the highest level of English non-league football, after winning the Southern League in 1987. They stayed there for four years, but it was perhaps this run in the big time that started their financial decline.

Coming from a city with some of the biggest clubs in the world, and being based only a short hop down the Thames from the well-supported Millwall, they have always struggled to get decent crowds, and their march up the leagues wasn't met with as corresponding swelling of gates. After a very successful season in 2008 that saw them reach the Conference South play-offs, an exodus of players moving to richer clubs followed, and their fortunes took a dive. The following season, massive debts piled up, and players were paid between November and the date of a final winding up order in March. the High Court held it up until the end of the season so that the club could fulfil its fixtures.

The newly reformed club play at Fisher Athletic's recent home, in a ground share at Dulwich Hamlet's Champion Hill Stadium, once one of the biggest grounds in the non-league with attendences of up to 20,00 in its prime. But these days they are limited to a far less windswept 3000. Despite having to start a few levels lower down the pyramid than they are used to, it will be interesting to see if the new club can maintain its momentum and work their way back to the level they clearly feel they deserve. Good luck to them on their travels.

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Northern AFC (New Zealand)

2010-08-08T14:21:00.001+01:00

Northern claim to be the oldest continually existing club in New Zealand, having been formed in 1888. In fact, that establishment date also makes them older than any club in Australia too, which would make them the most aged team for many thousand miles in any direction. They are based in the city of Dunedin, situated right near the bottom of South Island, making them the most southerly of all the clubs who play in black and white stripes.

They are currently members of the Football South Premier League, the highest level of football on South Island, and effectively one level below the franchised New Zealand Football Championship, where they play alongside another seven clubs from the city - although their Garden Grounds stadium is based in the North East Valley suburb, a fair way from the centre of town.

And they've got some history behind them too. In 1962, the tobacco company Rothmans sponsored the first national inter-club series, featuring a kind of champion's league affair where the regional champions of the main urban districts played each other to decide the first true national champions. Northern made the final and beat Eastern Suburbs 3-2 in a two-leg final. This made them the very first national champions of New Zealand. They've also got good history in the Chatham Cup, the nation's premier knockout tournament, which they won in both 1959 and 1961 - although they've also been runners up on a massive six occasions.

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Haro Deportivo (Spain)

2010-08-08T13:47:00.001+01:00

Club Haro Deportivo are based in the town of Haro in Northern Spain, smack in the middle of the wine growing region of La Rioja. Indeed, so bonkers for wine are the locals that the annual Haro Wine Festival always ends up in a massive wine fight called the Batalla del Vino where the locals all arm themselves withe massive water pistols and turn each other pink with the booze. So it's perhaps unsurprising to learn that their fans are notoriously and pleasantly bonkers too.

The club formed in 1914, when a group of locals who admired the popular clubs of the Basque Country just to their North decided they wanted in on the fun. For the first few years they played unregulated matches on a pitch in the middle of a field used for grain threshing - and to this day their ground is named after that place - El Mazo, or The Corn. There is another theory as to the ground's name, that its direct translation - The Deck - refers to the shape of one of the stands, but it's not anywhere near as interesting. It wasn't until 1921 that they were accepted into the Spanish FA and started to play in more orgainised leagues.

They currently play in Tercera División - Group 16 - one of the tougher groupings in the Spanish game's fourth level, and their historic El Mazo ground holds a pleasant 4000 happy wine-drinking fans. They have played in the Tercera División almost every year since the 1960s. Their one glory year though came in the 2004/05 season when, after coming fourth the season before, they had just the one year in Segunda División B. Sadly the excitement soon shriveled to disappointment as they finished plumb last. But that one season has given them hope that perhaps one day they can do it again. And I'm sure everyone would drink to that.

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Hanwell Town FC (England)

2010-08-07T17:14:00.001+01:00

Hanwell Town may be based in the West London suburb of Perivale, but their hearts are well and truly planted in the North-East. They were formed in the nearby suburb of Hanwell, as their name would suggest, in 1920, by group of exiled Newcastle United fans working in the area. So it was no surprise to anyone when they decided what strip they should play in. And funnily enough their nickname is The Geordies.

They soon joined the London League, which saw football of a pretty high standard back between the wars, but dropped down to a more parksy level after World War Two. That was until 1970 when they started their climb back up the ladder by joining the Middlesex County League. Regular promotions soon saw them battle their way up to the prestigious Spartan League in the early eighties, where they still plough their footballing furrow today.

They moved to their current 3000 capacity Reynolds Road ground in 1981 after over 20 years playing at the Ealing Central Sports Ground. They put their floodlights up in 1989, and to celebrate invited a Spurs side along to give them a good beating. Their all time club hero ios a chap called Phil Player who holds the current club appearance record with over 600 games under his belt - although there is no exact figure, so we guess that's as high as the club abacus could count.

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Colney Heath FC (England)

2010-08-07T16:57:00.001+01:00

Colney Heath is one of those nice little Home Counties towns not too far from London, which is pleasant enough, but never harbours too much in the way of excitement. So it was a great surprise when a place so usual that it considers nearby St Albans the big city saw their football team promoted up to the ninth level of English football.

Formed in 1907, Colney Heath FC are yet another team in stripes who are otherwise known as The Magpies. Like many of the English clubs on this list, they did very little for the first 100 odd years of their existance, but it was the turning of the 21st century that saw them finally achieve a little to be proud of.

In 2001 they had their best ever FA Vase run, when they made the second round, and they went and won the final of the Bingham Cox Cup in 2006, when they beat local Hertfordshire rivals Park Street 3-2 after extra time in the final. It was also the decade that saw them reach their highest ever level of league football. Like the town they come from, there's not too much to speak of in their history book, but that they have soldiered on for so long is testament to a proud club with a long history.

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Warlingham FC (England)

2010-08-07T16:43:00.001+01:00

Warlingham are a Combined Counties League team based the tiny Surrey village of the same name right on the South-Eastern border with London. They were formed in 1896 and for years were based in the village, but more recently have taken part in ground-sharing agreements with first Merstham FC and latterly Whyteleafe FC as their original ground in the village didn't come up to scratch for the tenth level in the English game. Which was a shame as they are a club who were intrinsically linked to their place of birth.

The village itself is planted bang in the middle of The South Downs, at an elevation of 650 feet above sea level. As such it is one of the few places that snow will settle in the South of England, and a constant annoyance for the club over the years when their home games were cancelled when the rest of the league got to play theirs, leading to constant fixture pile ups at the end of many a season. Thank heavens for then them that it's a bit warmer these days, then.

They gained promotion to the Cherry Red sponsored league after a fabulous win in the Surrey South Eastern Combination, and have every intention of both moving their way up the tables and returning to their spiritual home once they've got their own Warlingham Sports Club facility up to scratch with those pesky league rules.

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Swaffham Town FC (England)

2010-08-07T16:24:00.001+01:00

Swaffham Town are one of many Suffolk clubs who play in the famous black and white striped kit. Quite why the strip is so popular up that way is unclear, but still very welcome. At this point in their development they play in the Eastern Counties League - the tenth level of English football - where they have been for most of the last decade - although they first reach this level back in 1990.

Known locally as The Pedlars, they were formed in the tiny Suffolk town of Swaffham in 1892 - a place perhaps most famous for being the location for Steven Fry's Norfolk-based legal drama Kingdom - although they changed the name of the place to Market Shipborough for the series.

Back in 1959 they splashed out and bought the one and a half acre site that they turned into their Shoemakers Lane Ground, for a princely sum of £250, and built their first proper clubhouse on the site in 1967 after getting a loan from a local brewery for the building work. Recent years have seen them improve the facilities greatly, in the hope that they will eventually be able to work their way up the leagues on the pitch. But with many of the clubs at this level, most of the work is done on a volunteer basis by the fans, committee and players themselves. Fan involvement plays such an important part at this level, and it's the foundations that grassroots are built on. Good on 'em all!

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Long Melford FC (England)

2010-08-07T15:51:00.001+01:00

You may not have heard of them, but Long Melford are one of the oldest clubs in England, and indeed the world, having been first formed in 1868 in the village of Melford on Suffolk's southern border with Essex. At the time of writing they are about to start their seventh season in the Eastern Counties Football League Division One, the tenth step on the pyramid.

Their biggest successes have come in the Suffolk Senior Cup, having won the knock-out a total of six times right across their history. They started with a pair of quick wins in 1894 and 1895, waited until the fifties, when they held it three times off the bat starting in 1953, and then again more recently in 2003, when they hammered Stanton 5-0 in the final. They also have five Essex & Suffolk Border League titles, and three league cups from the same organisation under their belts.

They play their home matches at one of the best stadiums at this level in the modern and pretty well-appointed Stoneylands ground, where you can enjoy the delights of the local cult eatery, Sam's Snack Bar. Newly decked out for the 2010/11 season, they're noted for their bacon and egg bapss - in fact, they'll put bacon in pretty much anything you ask them too - but they'll also serve you with a rather more classy cappuccino too, and as such have perhaps the best catering in the entire tenth tier.

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Woodbridge Town FC (England)

2010-08-07T15:26:00.002+01:00

Woodbridge Town started their footballing career with a bang when on 7th November 1885 they beat St Helens (Ipswich) a cool 10-0. The same year they became founder members of the Suffolk County Football Association, as well as the very first winners of the Suffolk Senior Cup, beating Ipswich Town 3-1 at Portman Road in a second replay, after draws of 2-2 and 0-0 in the first two games, under their original name of Woodbridge Combination.

The following years saw a string of trophy wins in a scattered variety of local and regional leagues and cups, and theirs is a pretty busy trophy cabinet, holding in total 29 portions of silverware. They play at Notcutts Park in the town of Woodbridge, a tide harbour town on the River Debden. The area gained international notoriety in 1980 when unexplained lights let to a number of UFO sightings in what came to be known as the Rendlesham Forest Incident. It is unclear whether they were real UFOs, secret aircraft flying about at the nearby US Airforce base RAF Woodbridge or just the floodlights of Notcutts Park on a misty evening.

Many teams who play in black and white stripes have nicknames connected to the ainimal world. There are dozens of zebras, quite a few magpies and a good few assorted badgers, ravens, penguins and friesians. But Woodbridge's nickname is a little more unique and more related to their name than their colours. Come on you Woodpeckers!

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Dereham Town FC (England)

2010-08-07T15:02:00.002+01:00

Dereham Town are a Norfolk club who play their football in the Eastern Counties League Premier Division, part of England's ninth tier They were formed in 1884, in the clock-making town of Dereham, some 15 miles West of Norwich. They have played nearly all their football in either the Norwich District or the Norfolk Senior Leagues, and it is only relatively recently that they started to work their way up the pyramid a little.

They purchased their 3000 capacity Aldiss Park facility - named after the science fition author Brian Aldiss, who was born in the town - in 1991, with a view to progressing to a higher level of football. And the scheme worked, as they they achieved Eastern Counties League status after winning the Anglian Combination Premier title in 1998 - their first full season at their new home.

They are perhaps most famous in the area for their hospitality and their battling but fair spirit, and they frequently win the region's annual Sportsmanship Trophy - which is about as nice a title as any club could aspire to. Their slightly colleagues from across the way, Norwich City are regular pre-season visitors, and despite treating them to frequent hammerings, manage to break their club attendance record every time they come - although officially it is always numbered as 'just over 3000' for health and safety reasons...

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Chipping Norton Town FC (England)

2010-08-07T14:38:00.002+01:00

Chipping Norton Town come from the picture book Oxfordshire town of Chipping Norton, and have a long and successful history in the lower leagues in the South of England. Established in 1893, they were founder members of the Hellenic League in 1953 after winning the Oxfordshire Senior League for two season before that. They went on to win the Division One title of the league in 1961 and 1971.

But it was the late 1970s that saw their really glory days. They won the Helenic Premier in 1978, taking a couple of Oxfordshire Cups around the same time, before working their way up to the Midland Combination. A couple of seasons later in 1981 they won that title, proving to be like a non-league Spurs in winning a title in a year ending in a one. Sadly though this terrific run saw them reach too deeply into their pockets and financial difficulties forced them to drop back into the Oxfordshire leagues rather than go out of business.

However, recent years have seen them drag their way back up to the Helenic Premier, and were well on their way to a dream of reaching an even higher level of football when things took a curious turn of events. Chairman Sean Robson announced that because of a lack of interest by the local residents, it wouldn't be commercially viable to continue at their current high level, and promptly resigned the club from the league, and continue at a lower level. This time it wasn't for financial reasons, but what the club called a 'lack of physical resources'. Whatever the reality of the reason, we hope that they soon wake up the good citizens of Chipping Norton into realising that they've got a passionate and very watchable football team on their doorstep and go an help them out. After all, how could you not love a team whose nickname is The Chippy!

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Ledbury Town FC (England)

2010-08-07T14:16:00.001+01:00

Ledbury Town come from the beautiful Herefordshire market town of Ledbury. The club was formed in 1893, and in keeping with the rural nature of their surrounds, as well as the black and white colour of their strip, are known as The Friesians to their fans.

They've got a curious history of working their way up the regional leagues, only to resign and go back down to county level. They joined the West Midlands Regional League in 1974, and were promoted almost by accident four years later, when despite finishing fifth they were considered to have better facilities than the clubs above them and bumped up a division almost against their will. However, in 1983 it all got a bit too much for them and they dropped out of the league altogether to go back to local football for the next eight years.

In 1991 they decided it was time that they moved back up into the biggish time again when they joined the Midland Combination, but soon tired of this and switched back to the West Midland Regional League again, where they got as high as the Premier Division until 2010, when they decided to shrink operations back again and join the Herefordshire Football League. But give them a couple of years and no doubt they'll start flipping their way through the leagues rather indecicively again.

Unusually though for a club at this level they've had an active international on their books, when Latvian cap Alex Volosanovs put in a small stint for them. But the biggest day of their footballing lives was when a reasonably strong Manchester United side visited to play a benefit match for a local family who'd lost members in a motorway crash. Ledbury made a good account of themselves, and even got a couple of goals, but lost 4-2 in the end. It's not mentioned in Van Der Sar was in goal or not though...

Stone Old Alleynians (England)

2010-08-07T13:53:00.001+01:00

The Old Alleynians were originally formed as an Old Boys club from the Alleynes Grammar School in Stone in Staffordshire in 1962. Former pupil Dave Bonnett figured that it would be a good way to keep in touch with his old school chums and got the team subsidised by the institution's Old Boy's Society to buy shirts - although they had to supply their own socks and shorts.

But despite being made up mainly of teenaged recent school levers and the odd teacher they soon made their mark on the local leagues and started picking their way up the divisions. In 1966 they won their first silverware when they took the Mid Staffs League Division One title with their third 100+ goal tally running.

They changed their name in the mid nineties after their second string started doing well and the local FA deemed that they had to have distinct and different names. The reserves became Alleynians FC, while the seniors added their home town to the front of their name and they from then dubbed the rather regal sounding Stone Old Alleynians. During the club's most successful period on the 1970s they played in yellow and green, but for the last 15 year have reverted to the far more agreeable black and white stripes. Their Springbank Park ground has recently been renamed the Motiva Stadium, and they currently play in the West Midland League Division Two, the twelfth tier of the English game.

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Tipton Town FC (England)

2010-08-07T13:31:00.001+01:00

Tipton Town are a rather onomatopoeic sounding club from the West Midlands. They were founded in 1948 under the name of Ocker Hill United. Despite Tipton's position between Dudley and West Bromwich, they started their footballing life in the Wolverhampton and District Amateur League. In the mid sixties they were taken on in the West Midlands Regional League, and deceided to change their name to their current title so as to attract more people from their home town to come and watch them play.

In their early days they played on the rented the works ground of Lee Howl & Co, but in the early seventies they banded together with some other sports clubs in the region to create the Tipton Sports Academy, a multi-sports facility built on an old landfill site. The stadium is licenced to hold an even 1000 punters for footballing affairs. They currently play in the Midland Football Alliance, the ninth stage on the pyramid.

Their titles have been few, having won both divisions of the West Midlands Regional League once each, and a few local midweek cups here and there. But they are perhaps best known as being the club that spawned an English cult hero. Ex-England and Wolves goal machine Steve Bull started his career here, and soon earned the nickname the Tipton Terror. Indeed, he was born only a few streets away from Town's ground in the nearby Moat Farm Estate. He went on to score over 300 goals for Wolves in all competitions - a feat rare in the modern game - and it all started at this small but homely club.

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Hayling United FC (England)

2010-08-07T13:05:00.001+01:00

Hayling United could almost count themselves as an international representative side, as they come from that curious place called Hayling Island in Hampshire. Shaped like an upside down letter T (or Lisa Simpson doing the splits, if you prefer), it's just along the coast from Portsmouth, and is a popular holiday desitination - made even more attractive by the long held rumour that it is the only place in England without any wasps.

United, the island's principal football club, were formed in 1884 as simply Hayling Island, although they've always been known by the quaint nickname of The Humbugs. They changed to their current name in 1999, clearly hoping such a move may sway FIFA to consider them as the national side of the island!

They play at a dinky little ground in the grounds of Hayling College, and play their football in the Wessex League Premier Division - part of the vast regionalised ninth level of English football.

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Whickham FC (England)

2010-08-07T01:46:00.001+01:00

Whickham FC are a rarity among English clubs in that they were founded in 1944 - smack in the middle of World War II. And like many of their peers who play in black and white stripes, they had a background in coal. Originally called Axwell Park Colliery Welfare, they come from the small North Eastern town of Whickham, some four miles east of Gateshead. Perhaps tellingly of who made up the bulk of their team back in their formative years, they were more commonly known as The Home Guard Team - a nickname that has stayed with them to this day.

Over the years they have won a number of local leagues and trophies, including the Wearside League, the Northern Combination, the Northern League Division One, and the delightfully-named Ernest Armstrong Memorial Cup. But their biggest successes have come in the FA Vase. In 1979 they made the semi-finals, losing to Almondsbury Greenway at the final hurdle. But in 1981 they went two steps further and won the competition, coming from two goals down to beat Willenhall Town 3-2 in a Wembley final. An estimated 5000 Whickhamites made the long journey down to London to cheer them on. This makes them the last club from the North-East to win a Wembley final.

These days they play their football in the Northern League Division Two - the tenth level of English football - and they call the Glebe Sports Ground on Rectory Lane their home.

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Spennymoor Town FC (England)

2010-08-07T01:11:00.002+01:00

Spennymoor is a middle-sized former mining town in the Wear Valley in County Durham. It is perhaps only famous for three things: It was the place that Henry Bessemer discovered a process for the cheap and easy manufacture of steel; It was the home of local MP Robert Shafto, immortalised as Bobby Shafto in the 18th century folk song; and as the home of Spennymoor United - Spennymoor Town's historic predecessors. However ill health forced them to merge with another local side, Evenwood Town, in 2005 - although Evenwood fans would have it that it was just a straight take over.

United were formed in 1877, and in their day got as far as The Northern League - then the top flight of English non-league football - which they won seven times over the years. They were also FA Cup regulars, their best run coming in 1936, when the lost to West Brom in the third round. This era was also noteworthy because they had a chap playing for them called John Collins - whose son went on to become the comedian Frank Skinner.

Evenwood Town had a pretty successful history too. Winners of the Northern League three times, they formed in 1931, and despite not having as illustrious career as United, had a pretty strong fan base in their own right. After the merger, things picked up almost immediately, and the newly formed Town won Division Two of the Northern Premier League. Three years later they won Division One, becoming on the second club in the league's history to reach 100 points in a campaign. Sadly their 6000 capacity Brewery Field ground wasn't considered up to scratch to gain promotion to the seventh tier, but with a lot of work happening to their ground in the closed season, things are looking up for some more successful seasons in the near future.

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Rochdale Town FC (England)

2010-08-07T00:28:00.000+01:00

Rochdale Town are officially based in Rochdale, although they play their games in the small town of Castleton, a settlement right on the very fringes of town, and almost on the border with Manchester. They formed in 1924 as St Gabriels, the football team of the St Gabriel & the Angels Church. They kept this close link with the church right up until the sixties, and player not only had to be Catholic, but they had to attend both church and Sunday school every week.

Funnily enough, once this rule was lifted the club finally began to win some local trophies. They moved to their current home, the 1500 capacity Butterworth Park in 1979, and finally changed their name to Castleton Gabriels in 1990 - the same seaon they were accepted into the North West Counties Football League Division Two. They quickly became mid-table specialists. However, by the 21st century things took a turn for the worse and they finished bottom of the league three seasons in a row, conceding over 120 in two of them, and losing 10-2 to FC United. Fortunately the structure of the league at that time, and the fact that it was undersubscribed with clubs saved them from relegation.

Just as things started looking like they were on the up, the league said that they might relegate them anyway as their ground was not up to scratch. After a couple of seasons sharing with Oldham Town they returned to their pleasantly improved home - now called Castleton Sports Centre - in 2005. In 2008 they decided that their old name wasn't exactly pulling in the punters, and decided to change it to Rochdale Town to try and help lure in supporters from the wider Rochdale area rather than just castleton alone, despite there already being a considerably more successful team called Rochdale already. Not only that, but the newly christened Town also changed their strip to match the more sebior Rochdale club's centenary colours - the black ands white stripes. Here's is a club who've made a good number of curious decisions over the years - but it's made them all the more interesting for it!

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Norton United FC (England)

2010-08-06T20:33:00.000+01:00

Norton United are based in the small town of Smallthorne, part of the wider urban sprawl of Stoke-on-Trent. In common with many of their brethren in black and white stripes, Norton hailed from what used to be a coalmining area, although the pits wound down in the late 1970s. The club play at the Norton Miners Welfare Institute and Cricket Club named after the nearby Norton Colliery, which is where they get their name. To that end, they are not named after the pit itself, but the Miner's Welfare Institute that serviced it.

A fairly new club, they formed in 1989 when the president of the cricket club thought the institute ought ot branch out into the beautiful game. Starting life in the Staffordshire Senior League, they soon found their way to the Midland League, where they were three-time champions. These days they play in the North West Counties Football League Division One, which is the tenth tier of English football.

Their ground at the Welfare Institute is so small that it doesn't have an official capacity, but it's recently been completely resurfaced and have just had floodlights installed, so they're definitely a club on the up. However, seeing as the ground is only a mile-and-a-half from Port Vale's ground they might have trouble attracting as many punters as they would like of a Saturday, so good luck to them on their quest up the leagues.

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Club Atlético Claypole (Argentina)

2010-08-06T19:57:00.002+01:00

CA Claypole are an Argentinian club from the curiously-named city of Claypole, just to the south of Buenos Aires. The town got its name from a chap called Pedro Claypole, who was married to the one of the family who bought the local lands from an older convent. They donated a small patch to the nation to build the railroad, which they called Claypole Station, and the town was built from there. It is said that the official foundation date of the city came when the first train passed through, on 15 April 1884.

The club were formed in 1923. There are two stories as to how the club chose its colours. one, according to the official club history, that they were so impressed by the visit of a well-known English club that they chose to play in their colours. The problem there is that they claim the visiting Brits were Sunderland. So either The Black Cats had a bit of unexpected Toon envy on their travels back in the say, or they've got the wrong North Easterners. The other reason has got a much nicer feel to it, whether it's true or not.

It is said that Claypole were due to play a local side called Defensa y Justica, but both sides turned up in the same plain white strip. Such a fuss kicked up that two passing widows tore strips off their mourning gowns to paste to Claypole's shirts to differentiate the two teams, and they liked the idea so much that decided to keep it. We prefer the latter version of events, but the whereabouts of the two old girls has yet to be confirmed.

After a long time milling around the local small leagues, the finally becoming members of the AFA in 1978, they play in the Buenos Aires- based Primera D Metropolitana, which is the fifth tier of Argentinian football, and the only league that they've ever won, when they took the title in 1997. Their brief spell in the glory of Primera C didn't last long and they were soon relegated back down to D, where they have remained ever since. They call the right old mouthful of a ground their home - the Estadio Rodolfo Vicente Capocasa, and on a good day it can hold 1300 punters.

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Congleton Town FC (England)

2010-08-06T19:24:00.000+01:00

Congleton Town are from the grand old Cheshire market town of Congleton, and were founded back in 1901. They currently play in the North West Counties Football League Premier Division - the ninth level of the English game - but have played in practically every league in the Cheshire and Macclesfield area, winning five of them... these being the Cheshire County League Div 2, Mid Cheshire League Champions, Macclesfield & District League, North Staffs & District League and the Crewe & District League. So as you can see, they like to move about a bit.

The Bears have made the first round of the FA Cup on only the one occasion, when they lost 2-0 away to Crewe in 1989. They play at the 5000 capacity Booth Street ground, although their highest ever gate came when Macclesfield Town payed them a visit in the Cheshire County League in 1953 - no one's entirely sure how many people squeezed in, but they stopped counting at 7000.

These days though the gates are a bit lower, and averaged at 113 over the season in 2008/09. However, we're quite sure that if their old Cheshire County League mates Macclesfield came to pay them a visit that they could get near to filling the old place again. Although we'd hope that they've got a bit better at counting since the last time...

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Dunbar United (Scotland)

2010-08-06T01:33:00.000+01:00

Although Dunbar United formed officially in 1925, their history can be traced back as far as 1880, when a team called Dunbar FC played Aberlady in a friendly. Over the intervening years, a number of Dunbar clubs were formed and disappeared almost as quickly, with fabulous names like Dunbar Bluebell, Dunbar Thistle, Dunbar Britannia, Dunbar Castle, Dunbar Star and Dunbar Comrades. All of these threads came together in 1924 when a juvenile club called Dunbar United were formed, but a year later their committee decided that they were ready fot the step up to Junior football, and they joined the Berwickshire Junior League.

Since then, this fine club from the lovely seaside town of Dunbar in East Lothian, just 28 miles to the east of Edinburgh, has won the Edinburgh & District League twice, the East Region Division Two three times and the East Region Cup another three times. But their biggest honour came when they won the prestigious and hard-to-win Scottish Junior Cup in 1961 - a feat akin to winning the FA Vase in England.

They play at the 25000 capacity New Countess Park, part of a multisports facility that they share with the town's rugby club. But despite such a long and successful history the club nearly folded in 2008, when a mix of financial problems and lack of interest almost put paid to them. But they bounced back stronger than ever, and with a new committee at the helm they hope that their greatest achievements still lay ahead.

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Sherborne Town (England)

2010-08-06T01:05:00.000+01:00

Another grand old team of non-league football who are now playing in their third century, Sherbourne formed in 1894 in this historic Dorset market town. Despite playing diligently every season since then, they only made it to a reasonably high standard of league when the joined the Dorset Combination in 1962.

There they stayed for over 40 years until they finally made it to the Western League Division One. Obviously the novelty of this promotion lark hadn't worn off, as they promptly went up to the Western League Premier Division - the ninth level of football in England - two years later, and have stayed there ever since.

After 91 years at their Marston Road home, they decided to move across the lane to Raleigh Grove in 1985 - but it wasn't easy. At the time it was grazing land, with a massive slope and a pond in one corner. But they persevered through the undergrowth and carved out the 150 capacity ground that they have today - although that number only accounts for the seated area, and many others can stand around the perimiter. This was proved in 2003 when a gate of 1000 sqeezed in to watch them play an Eastleigh side featuring Matt Le Tissier in the Andy Shephard Memorial Match.

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UD Badajoz (Spain)

2010-08-06T00:34:00.000+01:00

We've spoken about their neighbours CD Badajoz elsewhere on this site, but UD Badajoz, their similarly titled cousins from down the road, don't only sound a bit like them but look identical, as they wear the famous black and white stripes as well. But unlike their chums from across the way they're much younger, slightly smaller, and not nearly as good. Although they're well on their way to rectifying that.

Born practically the other day in 2006, their first two seasons saw them first win their town league, and the next finish runners up in their area competition, gaining them promotions in their first two seasons. however, when they got to the Tercera Division they finally met their match. Playing in the Badajoz-based group 14 - part of the fourth Spanish tier - they've stalled at 13th place in both seasons that they've played there, so will be looking to build on that and catch up with Clube Deportivio again after played against them the previous two seasons.

This new club from the citadel city play in the 8000 capacity Viejo Vivero stadium - a homage to CD's popular old stadium. Quite why they decided to form a new club so similar to their city neighbours is unclear, but it looks like the town can support two such clubs - well for now at least.

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Chorley FC (England)

2010-08-05T19:31:00.000+01:00

Coming from the Lancashire town of the same name, Chorley FC are one of the oldest clubs in the region, and have had a couple of close brushes at glory. Formed in 1875, they played the first eight years of their life as a rugby club, before good sense prevailed and they switched codes to to the proper version of football in 1883. Their very first game saw them beat present-day Premiership outfit Wigan.

They swiftly joined the Lancs Junior League, then the Lancs Alliance, which they won in 1893, before taking the step up to the Lancashire League, which they also won in 1897 and 1899. later that year they applied to be elected to the Second Division of the Football league, but sadly came a distant sixth in a poll that saw only the top two teams go through. It would be another 88 years before they had their next near miss with the league, as after years of gradually working their way up the Northern leagues they were promoted in 1987 to what was then called the GM Vauxhall Conference - one step below the Football league proper. Sadly though that was as near as they got to the glory, and they lasted a mere two seasons at the top level of the non-league game.

These days they play in the Northern Premier League Division One - the eight level of English football. They play their home games at the 4000 capacity Victory Park stadium, a ground that came close to making the headlines for all the wrong reasons when it burned down only minutes after a crowded FA Cup game against local rivals Accrington Stanley in 1945.

They are currently managed by the former Blackburn Rovers midfielder Garry Flitcroft, although they have two players in their history who have become even more notable. In the 1960/61 season striker Peter Watson set a record that is still to be beaten in the senior game, scoring 71 goals in a single season - 57 of them in the league. That he did it in the lower leagues shouldn't in any way diminish his achievement. But perhaps their most famous player is their former keeper Archibald Pinnell who played for them between 1894-98. Despite having played for Everton, Preston and Plymouth, he may not have had the most distinguished footballing career, but a photograph taken of him in the Chorley strip has gone on to be one of the most iconic images ever taken of the Victorian English game.

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Club Atlético Central Córdoba (Argentina)

2010-08-05T01:35:00.000+01:00

Strangely more frequently known by a name even longer than their mouthful of an official name - Central Cordoba de Santiago del Estero - Club Atlético are from the oldest of all cities in Argentina to have been formed by Spanish settlers, Santiago del Estero. Formed in 1919 (the club that is, not the city - that was first settled a tad further back in 1555), they hail from the north central region of the country, which is mainly made up of dry and deserty flatlands. It is also notable as being the most southerly area that Quechua - the language of the Incas - is spoken, making this one of the very regions with an indigenous language in the whole of Argentina.

At present they play in Torneo Argentino A, which is the localised third tier of the national league system. But they have tasted the full flavour of top flight football on two brief occasions, in 1967 and 1971. The first stint in the big time saw them relegated after finishing 14th out of the 16 clubs - although the season did give them the unforgetable experience of beating Boca Juniors at the Bombonera. Their second stint saw them finish 13th out of 14 clubs.

Their lively and flag-happy fans are famous for being partial to a good sing-song, and are known as the Ferroviarios - roughly translated as The Iron Rail - and gather for home games at the 15000 capacity Estadio Central Córdoba Santiago del Estero - well, you wouldn't expect their ground to have a short name after the length of some of the club's official monikers now, would you!

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Retford United FC (England)

2010-08-05T01:05:00.000+01:00

Retford United, known as The Badgers to their friends, come from the Nottinghamshire town of the same name - some 31 miles outside of Nottingham. Formed relatively recently in 1987, theirs has been a short but eventful footballing career.

They started their footballing odyssey small, beginning their journey in the relatively junior local Gainsborough League, they spent a brief spell in the Nottingham Alliance before joining the Central Midlands League in 2001. Three years later they stepped up to the Northern Counties East League. They gained promotion to the NCEL Premier Division in 2006, which they won at the first attempt, going up a notch to the Northern Premier League Division One South, that they promptly won twice before gaining promotion to the NPL Premier Division - the seventh level of English football.

In total this journey has seen them win a total of six titles - all of them in the last nine years. Quite an achievement at any level. They play at the 2000 capacity Cannon Park, where they moved in the year 2000.

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CD Victoria (Spain)

2010-08-05T00:32:00.000+01:00

Club Deportivo Victoria are a club from the town of Tazacorte, on the West Coast of La Palma in the Canary Islands. It's a small town, with a population of just over 5000, and most of the local industry revolves around agriculture, and bananas in particular. However, despite this apparently healthy lifestyle, the area has one of the ighest cancer rates in the country, and it is feared that this is due to the heavy use of pesticides in the area's farmland.

It may be a small town, but it's big enough to support a half decent football club. Formed in 1954, they currently play in the Tercera División Group 12 - the Canarian sub-division of the fourth level of Spanish football. In total they have played 13 seasons at this level, but most of them, bar three seasons in the lower local divisions of the middle of the last decade, have been since 1995.

They play at the pretty decent 5000 capacity Estadio Municipal a few short kilometres to the south of the town. Their only remotely famous player was the Togolese journeyman Adoulazizi Seipou Napo-Damba, although for the most part, and to their credit, they prefer to gather players from the immediate Tazacorte area.

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Kendal Town FC (England)

2010-08-05T00:12:00.000+01:00

Kendal Town were first brought to life in 1919 in the beautiful Cumbrian town of Kendal, on the very edge of the Lake District. They were originally known as Netherfield AFC, a name that they would keep for most of their long history, and the reason that hardcore supporters still refer to them as The Field.

They were formed after the First World War when employees at the town's K shoe factory decided that they fancied a slightly more organised kickabout than their usual lunchbreak shufflings. Their 2400 capacity Lakeland Radio Stadium ground remains on the site near the factory - although obviously it wasn't called that when it was first built. Their first sniff at silverware was in 1925 when they won the Westmorland County Cup, and they truned semi-pro in 1945 when they joined the Lancashire Combination, winning it four years later. A handful more Combination and Combination Cup wins led to their invitation to become one of the founder members of the Northern Premier League in 1968. It is now the seventh level on the Pyramid, and it is where they still play their football today.

In 1980, Netherfield broke a record that is likely to remain unbeaten. Their FA Trophy match with Bridlington Trinity set the record for the number of replays played in an English cup tie. The two clubs played a total of seven matches before a winner was decided, and kendal ran out 2-0 winners. Such a feat is unlikely to happen again after the rules about replays were changed by the FA.

It wasn't until 1998 that the club finally decided to change their name. the town of Kendal was expanding, so they wanted people from outside of the town to have more of an idea of where they were from, so changed their name to Netherfield Kendal. This name didn't last anywhere near as their first one, and they changed it again two years later to Kendal FC - the label they go by today.

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Club Atlético Fénix (Argentina)

2010-08-04T01:00:00.001+01:00

CA Fénix are based in Pilar, a city on the very outskirts of Buenos Aires, but still big enough in its own right to house around a quarter of a million people. The city is known as The Cradle of National Federalism, as it was were The Treaty of Pilar - an agreement that led to the birth of the Federal Republic of Argentina - was signed in 1820. More recently though it has become a satellite commuter settlement for the more affluent workers of Buenos Aires to come and live in safe gated communities.

The club was formed in 1948, named by their founders after the mystical bird that rose from the ashes. They currently play their games in Primera C Metropolitana, the regionalised fourth tier of the Argentine Football system. But despite over sixty years of history, they have yet to make it to the top flight of theior country's leagues. This is hardly surprising though, given the relative affluence of the area, and the enormous clubs playing within a short hop that they have to compete with. But they have won stuff in the past, in the shape of the Primera D Metropolitana - the national fifth tier that they won in both 2000 and 2005.

They play in the 8500 capacity Estadio Municipal de Pilar, have former Boca Juniors boss Alberto Acosta as their manager and can count former Wallsall and Fortuna Dusseldorf striker Walter Otta, and Lazio, Parma and double-Argentinian World Cup defender Matías Almeyda among their noteworthy old boys.

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Cinderford Town AFC (England)

2010-08-04T00:21:00.000+01:00

The Foresters are another English team who play in black and white stripes with an intrinsic link to the coalmining industry - only this time they're not from the North-East or Nottinghamshire, but instead the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire. It's a strange old party of the island, nestling as it does on the border with Wales, and thought by many urbanites from the not-too-distant cities of Bristol and Newport as being the nearest thing in Britain to the Wild West. But it is in fact a close-knit community with a love for their local football - and Cinderford is at the very heart of it.

They were formed in 1922, and played in the Gloucester Northern Senior League until 1939 when tnhey joined the newly formed Bristol Charity League - which promptly folded a fortnight later with the rather inconsiderate outbreak of World War II, making it perhaps the shortest-lived league in history. They joined the Second Division of the Western league after hostilities ended, and even won the thing in 1957. But after three years at the higher, post-promotion level proved too much financially they elected to drop down the leagues for a spell. These days they play in the Southern League Division One South & West, where they've played since they won the Hellenic League in 1995.

Their 3500 capacity Causeway Ground used to be famous for its 18-foot slope from corner to corner, but sadly they had this wonderful spot of originality levelled off in 1994 - although the locals weren't complaining after the club saw its most successful campaign the following season, when they won the aforementioned Hellenic Premier Division, Hellenic Premier Division Cup plus the Hellenic League Floodlit Cup. Over the years they've had a few players graduate onto the heady heights of Cheltenham Town or Newport County, but they have had one player go on to shine on the international stage. Yes, for a brief time, Olympic gold medal athlete Darren Campbell kicked a ball around the Causeway Ground in anger - and there's not many league clubs, let alone non-league ones, that can claim that.

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Whittlesea Zebras FC (Australia)

2010-08-03T00:47:00.000+01:00

Another of Australia's many Zebras, Wittlesea are a relatively new addition to the canon, having formed as recently as 2007, after a series of mergers between a number of teams from Melbourne's local Italian community. First of all in 1997, three clubs - Brunswick Juventus, Box Hill Inter and Bulleen Lions - pooled resources to form a newer, stronger club, then ten years later, the fruit of that merger, the Bulleen Zebras, joined forces with the Whittlesea Stalions for create the footballing version of a zedonk Whittlesea Zebras FC.

Based in the suburb of Epping, some 15 miles out of the centre of town, they play their home matches at the surprisingly large Epping Stadium, which with a capacity of some 10,000 used to host the old Carlton SC's National Soccer League matches, as well as being the venue for the occasional pre-season game for the A-League's Melbourne Victory.

They currently play their football in the Victorian State League Division 1, after suffering relegation from the state premier league in the 2009/10 season. This was seen as quite the surprise locally, as they had won the more senior league in their previous incarnations in both 1998 and 2004. Their current home league is effectively the third tier of the Aussie game, although there is little chance of gaining upward mobility into the A-League - particularly as Melbourne already have a franchise at that level.

Despite their apparent lowly status, they've seen a good number of eventual Socceroos pass through their books. Lazio's World Cup star Mark Bresciano started his career here, as did the former Man City back Danny Tiatto, and former national captain and the second most highly capped player in Aussie history, Paul Wade, also put in a decent stint here in the mid-1980s. So keep any eye out at the younger players on their books, 'cos they might soon be wowing them on an international stage near you soon!

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Glapwell FC (England)

2010-08-03T00:17:00.000+01:00

Glapwell are a relatively new club, formed as recently as 1985 in the Derbyshire village of Glapwell - only five miles from Mansfield and seven miles from Chesterfield. Mentioned in the Domesday Book, it became a thriving pit village during the industrial revolution, although when the pit closed in 1974 nearly all employment left the settlement, and now people mostly work in the two aforementioned towns. however. Glapwell - or The Well as they are known to their fans - commemorate the mining tradition of the town by both playing in the black and white stripes usually beloved of pit teams, and featuring a davy lamp on their club crest.

Currently members of the Northern Premier League Division One South - or The Evostick League as its gluely sponsor would prefer you to call it - they played for most of their short history at the minimal Hall Corner ground in the north of the village - a proper small-town facility holding up to 1500 punters. However, after their gentle rise up the league pyramid began to clash with the new exacting league stipulations, it was required that they either improved their ground or made other arrangements. The latter alternative saw an unexpected turn when the club convinced Conference Premier team Mansfield Town to let them use their hefty 10,000 capacity Field Mill ground for home games from the 2010/11 season onwards.

Their rise up the leagues from plucky village faves to a pretty decent level of league was both quick and surprising. The brainchild of local businessman Roger Caton and his wife Ellen, they started out in the parish leagues of Derbyshire, and had already notched up a couple of league and cup wins before they were accepted into the Central Midland League and gained a much sought after place in the pyramid in 1989. Each of the next three seasons saw them earn successive promotions, and from there they gradually climbed their way up to the NPL with very limited resources.

But they have one other claim to fame. That popular, mulleted former England star may have started his footballing career at a team from a small pit town playing in black and white stripes - Tow Law Town - but he also felt compelled to end it at another - Glapwell, for who he kicked his final competative ball in 2002. I believe he played for some other team in black and white stripes somewhere in between, but for the moment I can't for the life of me recall who it might be...

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Pollok FC (Scotland)

2010-08-02T01:36:00.001+01:00

Pollok are a Scottish Junior side from the Glasgow suburb of Newlands. But they're not a youth side - in Scotland the Junior game is roughly equivilent to the English non-league set up bellow the Conference level. And as such it is a fiercely contested and well-attended corner of the game. And as far as the Junior league go, Pollok are among the biggest teams.

They regularly draw crowds in excess of 550, which may not sound a lot to you, but is still much higher than many teams in the Scottish Second Division, even though they play in the SJFA Stagecoach Superleague Premier League, effectively the fifth tier of the Scottish game. They formed in 1908, but did little of any great note until 1967, when their nearby neighbours Third Lanark disbanded and they took on many of their fans. This extra input eventually urged them on to their first Central League title in 1979 - and went on to win it eight times in total. They've also won the prestigious Junior Cup on three occasions. After a league restructuring they went on to win the new West Premier League a further four times.

They play their home games at the nicely terraced 4000 capacity Newlandsfield Park ground on the south side of Glasgow, where they've been based since 1928. Their many former ground have included Haggs Park on the Pollok estate, Roseberry Park and the rather delightfully named Queen Mary Tea Gardens at Spiersbridge. You'd definitely have wanted to have put that down on your list of grounds that you'd attended!

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Tow Law Town (England)

2010-08-02T01:06:00.001+01:00

Tow Law is a small town in the A68 in County Durham whose most recent claim to fame was as the site where most of the North East's diseased cattle were disposed of down a disused pit on the edge of town during the 2001 foot and mouth outbreak. However the town's football club has brought a good deal of good times to the area to make them forget about the pong.

Formed in 1890 as simply Tow Law (because they weren't big enough to be considered a town at the time), they were founder members of the Auckland District League two years later. They currently play in the Northern League - the ninth tier in English football - which they first joined in 1894, and have stayed there pretty much ever since, winning the title in 1924, 1925 and 1995. But it is as a cup team that they are perhaps best remembered.

They had a great run in the 1967/68 FA Cup, where after beating Mansfield a superb 5-1 in the first round proper, they drew 1-1 with Shrewsbury in the second. The third round draw, held before the replay at Gay Meadow, caused much excitement in Tow Law as they drew Arsenal at home, but unfortunately Shrewsbury spoiled what would have been the biggest day in the town's history by hammering them 6-2 in the replay. But they did get to Wembley, for the 1998 FA Vase final, where after a battling game they lost 1-0 to Tiverton Town.

They play, as they always have at the 3000 capcity Ironworks Road ground, a pitch that has been graced by some footballing royalty. Leicester City star Steve Howard started his career there, but more impressively, the bemulleted England star Chris Waddle also began his immense footballing journey with The Lawyers back in 1978.

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AS Biellese 1902 (Italy)

2010-08-01T17:06:00.001+01:00

Associazione Sportiva Biellese 1902 are a small italian club based in the equally small Italian town of Biella, which nestles in the foothills of the Alps, not far from the country's border with Switzerland. As with many such settlements in the Alpine area, the town was once famous for its wool, as the region's mountain pastures and ready water supply made for easy production of the much sought after fabric. To this day, many of the buildings and monuments still to be seen there.

The club, as their name suggests, were formed in 1902, and currently play in the A Division of Serie D - the fifth level of the Italian footballing pyramid. Despite it only being five steps down, the pyramid has fanned out so far by that point that there are a total of 166 clubs involved in its various regional divisions. They had a brief flirtation with the fourth tier in 2009 when they won the A Division, but sadly bounced stright back down from the Lega Pro Seconda Divisione.

They play their home games in the expansive Stadio Lamarmora - Vittorio Pozzo, which can hold 3800 football loving visitors. And despite it being one of those municipal multi-sports areas with a big running track around it, the ground is situated in such a lovely spot that it would be a shame not to pay it a visit if ever you found yourself in this remote but beautiful neck of the woods.

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Askern Villa FC (England)

2010-08-01T16:32:00.002+01:00

Completely unconnected to their near-namesakes from the West Midlands, this Villa come from the South Yorkshire spa town of Askern. And of course, they don't play in the claret and blue either, electing to keep the much more agreeable black and white stripes that they adopted when they were formed as Askern Welfare back in 1924.

Indeed, the Villa suffix is only a very recent addition to their name, coming as recently as 2008. That year they became champions of the Central Midland League Supreme Division, gaining promotion to the big time of the Northern Counties East League Division One - the tenth level of English football. With such a major leap in rank they decided to celebrate with a name more in keeping, and chose to change it to their current puntastic appelation. Whether it was done in all seriousnes or with their tongues slightly in their cheeks is unknown - but it's kind of cute whichever way you look at it.

Retaining at least one link with their past, they play their home games at the town's Welfare Ground - which is considered to be one of the best facilities in the whole Doncaster area... although I'm quite sure they've considered changing it's name to something more apt to their new name - like Welfare Park, perhaps.

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Club Social y Deportivo La Emilia (Argentina)

2010-08-01T16:10:00.001+01:00

Club Social y Deportivo, or the Sports and Social Club come from the small Argentinian town of La Emilia, about 160 miles up river from the capital Buenos Aires. They play in the Torneo Argentino B, one of two leagues that make up the fourth tier of the country's football. La Emilia have won their regional provincial title, the Liga Nicoleña de Fútbol, a tasty seventeen times.

The club formed in 1930, and play at the 6000 capacity Estadio Jacinto Gato Lopez, and go by the nickname of The Drapers, as when they formed they were effectively the works side of a major textiles factory in the area. There was some fear in the area back in 1985 when the factory was sold off and subsequently closed, but the great efforts of local town councilors, businessmen and the fans themselves helped keep the club - a major source of pride for the town - up and running as a competative footballing concern.

Since that day, the club has operated as a non-profit sports society, working with the town to keep the locals fit, healthy and entertained and helping, as they say, to "capture children and young people away from the evils of society." As a club they are owned by the town and are at the very heart of the local community. The results on the pitch almost don't matter when a club holds such importance to the very fabric of a town - although the rabid support of their fans certainly helps them out along the winning trail. Long may they thrive.

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Coalville Town FC (England)

2010-08-01T15:37:00.000+01:00

Coalville are based in the appropriately named mining town in Leicestershire. They were formed in 1926 as Ravenstone Miner's Athletic, one of many miner's teams to come from the vilage of Ravenstone - hence their nickname The Ravens. They pottered around in the district and county leagues for most of their history, but started doing so well in the late 1980s, that in 1991 they were invited to join the First Division of the Leicestershire Senior League. But one of the stipulations of promotions was that they had to have floodlights installed, and the local council took against this idea and flatly refused to grant them planning permission.

But the club weren't going to stand for such nimbyism and prompty upped sticks and shifted the whole operation to nearby Coalville instead, who welcomed them with open arms. And success in their new home came quickly. In only their second season they gained promotion to the Premier Division, an achievement they immediately emulatedm winning each division, and working their way up the Midland Alliance, the ninth tier of English football, where they play their football today.

Their home pitch is at the 2000 capacity Owen Street Sports Ground, which has seen some interesting times in their short time there. Perhaps the most exciting was in 2004, when they entered the FA Cup for the first time in their history. Starting in the Extra Preliminary Round - the very first stage of the competition - they worked their way though the qualifying rounds until they were beaten by Wycombe Wanderers in the first round proper. This incredible journey made them only the second club in the cup's history to achieve this feat.

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CD Badajoz (Spain)

2010-08-01T02:32:00.000+01:00

Club Deportivo Badajoz come from the old frontier town of Badajoz, bang on the border with Portugal, smack in the middle of the Spanish interior department of Extremadura. They're not the only club from this city to play in black and white stripes, rather confusingly, as their upstart newcomer neighbours UD Badajoz also share the colours, just by way of confusing matters a little - but we'll talk about those elsewhere. All that you need to know right now is that CD are by far the most senior - both in age and status.

Founded in 1905, they currently play in regional group 2 of the Segunda Division B, which it the third level of Spanish football. They gained their place back in that division after winning the division below in 2010 - confusingly the same league that UD play in. They were created after the merger of two longer standing Badajoz clubs - Racing and Sport - but it took them until 1931 to become accepted in the main Spanish leagues. They've spent practically their whole career yo-yoing between the second and third tier - although their best second division run came during pretty much the whole of the 1990s. Alas, they've never quite been strong enough to make it to the top flight, their best result coming when they came sixth in three consecutive years between 1996 and 1998. Hopefully though this wasn't some biblical numerical sign of their impending doom.

They play at the 15,200 capacity Neuvo Vivero stadium - which translates as the new Nursery, and among their more notable ex-players they can name the Liberian international striker Prince Daye, the highly capped Guatemalan star Martín Machó, former Yeovil and Brighton defender Nathan Jones, and the short-term Spanish international striker Eloy. Although they were formed with the more English sounding name Sport Club Badajoz, in 1941, the Spanish Olympic Committee deemed it illegal to have any foreign words in the name of any Spanish sports club, so they promply changed it to the more local, and to be honest not all that different Club Deportivo.

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Ashington AFC (England)

2010-07-31T20:03:00.001+01:00

You're pretty sure you know most of the teams who have been in the English Football League down the years, right? You remember clubs like Halifax, York City and Kidderminster playing the the big 92, and have vague recollections of clubs like Barrow, Southport and Workington gracing the top four divisions. You've even got half an idea that names from the past like Nelson, Bootle and Bradford Park Avenue had a few brief season back in the day. But did any of you know that a team called Ashington Community AFC were once a third division club? I must admit that I didn't.

Despite having the year 1888 featured on their club crest for no reason that anyone is sure of, they were formed in 1883 in the Northumbrian mining town of Ashington, they moved around Northern-Eastern leagues like the east-Northumberland League, the North-Eastern League and the Northern Alliance until the historic day in 1921 when they were elected to the Football League, to become founder members of the new Third Division North. And there they stayed for eight seasons, seven of them rather reasonable, finishing as high as ninth in 1926. But 1929 saw them finish plum last, and they were voted out of the league by FA members, to be replaced by York City.

Since then they've been playing in a variety of local leagues, these days plying their trade in the Northern League Division One, the ninth tier of the English game, and the second oldest league in the country, after the main Football League itself. They play their home games in the 2000 capacity Woodhorn Lane, where they moved in 2008 after many years at their famous old home of Portland Park. The last game there, against Seaham Red Star attracted a massive crowd of 1954 nostalgic locals, while the first game at their new home drew a slightly less respectable 341.

Backroom spotters may be interested to know that the team known as The Colliers to their fans are led on the board by a chap called Ian Lavery, president of the National Union of Mineworkers. They've also had an England international playing in their ranks in recent years - although it was the double-Ashes winning cricketer Steve Harmison rather than a footballer, who played for them briefly as a teenager before he decided to change sports and become an international bowling superstar.

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Melhus IL (Norway)

2010-07-31T02:15:00.000+01:00

Melhus Idrettslag are a general sports club from the village of the same name in the middle of Norway. They formed in 1898, and as well as the football, are notable for their handball, skiing, powerflifting, volleyball and orienteering. They currently play in 3. divisjon herrer, the fourth tier of the Norwegian game, which consists of 288 teams divided into 24 regional leagues.

The village itself is in the middle of a massive grain farming area, some 20 minutes from the city of Trondheim. The village's coat of arms features the legendary local archer Einar Tambarskjelve from the 11th century.

They play at the cute Gruva Stadium, a ground in the woods so small that it doesn't have an official capacity. Despite their long history, their senior team has very little but dust in the trophy cabinet. Instead, like many Norwegian teams, they have an extensive youth set up, with teams at all age groups, and work very closely with the local community. To Melhus, success is measured in the fitness and well-being of their local youth rather than the amount of silverware the first team has lifted - and tnhey seem quite happy plaodding along like that. What a thoroughly civilised place that Norway is.

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Stafford Rangers FC (England)

2010-07-31T01:41:00.000+01:00

Rangers are a Conference North team - the sixth tier of English football - from the county town of Staffordshire. It's unclear as to when they were actually formed, as all their records got destroyed during the First World war, but there are two schools of thought. One that they were started by a bible class in 1877, and another that suggests that newspaper records prove they were formed a year earlier. Either way, this would make them one of the oldest clubs in England.

They were perhaps most successful in the 1970s, when they won the FA Trophy twice in 1972 and 1979, and took another visit to Wembley as losing finalists in 1976. Then in 1975 they beat three league clubs - Stockport, Halifax and Rotherham - on their way to the fourth round of the FA Cup, where they lost to Peterborough in front of 31,160 fans after electing to shift their home game to Stoke City's Victoria Ground. Their biggest proper home gate though was when 8536 saw the third round defeat of Rotherham. These days though their Marston Road ground is only allowed to hold a slightly safer 3000. They were also founder members of the first united top flight of non-league football, the Alliance Premier League.

They've got a pretty good roster of notable - and in some cases notorious - former players. Stan Collymore started his career here, and earned the club a substantial six-figure fee when he was bough by Crystal Palace - and that was a lot of money back in 1990. New Birmingham City keeper and brief England custodian Ben Foster stood between the sticks for a spell early on in his career, and old pros like Forest legend Kenny Burns, Villa defender Des Bremner and West Brom and Wolves charmer Don Goodman had brief stays late on in their careers.

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SC Corinthians Paulista (Brazil)

2010-07-31T01:00:00.000+01:00

We've spoken about their interlopers from up country Corinthians Paranaense elsewhere on this list, but now it's time for the real deal - the one true Corinthians of Brazilian football - Sports Club Corinthians Paulista. Known variously as Big Team, The Almighty and The Bunch of Crazies, they are one of the most successful clubs in all Brazil, and the second best supported team in the country, bested only by the enormous Flamengo. They the team that practically every one else wants to emulate, but it all started from very inauspicious beginnings.

Formed in 1910 by a bunch of European ex-pat labourers in São Paulo to take on the existing elite of local football, they named themselves after the English amateur gentleman's football team Corinthians FC, who had recently done a tour of exhibition matches in the area - and that Corinthian spirit has statyed with them through the ages, both in the way they play and the way they carry themselves off the pitch.

In 1982 the club took part in what came to be known as The Corinthians Democracy, a move that was to help steer the country away from military dictatorship. Led by the noted intellectuals Socrates and Wladimir, the players took elements of control away from the management and decided to make some major decisions on behalf of the club. Their suggestion to print Vote On The 15th on the back of their shirts to urge the people to vote in the elections that eventually rid the Brazil of their dictatorship once and for all is seen as one of the most important moments in their country's move to democracy.

And if that wasn't enough, they're pretty good at football too. They've won the Brazilian Série A four times, the Brazilian Cup three times, the São Paulo State Championship a record 26 times (three of them unbeaten), and were the very first winners of the FIFA World Club Tournament. They've made record in other unexpected ways too. In 1976 their fans descended on the Maracanã in Rio during the championship semi-final game against Fluminense in what became known as the Corinthian Invasion. Over 70,000 Paulista's took over the stadium in what is said to be the biggest human displacement in peacetime.

Like many Brazilian teams, they've got a couple of home stadiums - the 40,199 Estádio do Pacaembu for the big games, and the 17,900 Estádio Alfredo Schürig for the more meat and spuds matches. And like their many imitators their relationship with the black and white stripes is patchy at best. Their current first strip features the tiniest of black pinstripes in a field of white, although they also play in a shirt of mainly black with broad white bands - but of course being Brazil this can change at any time.

Their list of notable old boys reads like a hall of fame of football. Just listen to this little list... Rivelino, Garrincha, Dunga, Rivaldo, Roberto Carlos, Sócrates, Dida, Freddy Rincón, Rivaldo and more recently Javier Mascherano and Carlos Tévez. There's also a slightly chunky buck-toothed marvel called Ronaldo who's just made the move there to see out his career. And believe me there's another couple of dozen names that would make you gasp just as much. They really are one of the greatest club sides in world football.

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Heybridge Swifts (England)

2010-07-30T20:40:00.002+01:00

The Swifts have got a long history, having been formed in 1880, but for the first 90 years of their existence they played happily in the local leagues around Heybridge, Malden before they worked their way up to become founder members of the Essex Senior League in 1970. They pottered about mid-table for a few seasons, before three consecutive league wins saw them finally accepted to the Isthmian League in 1984, where they've played their football ever since.

Their best ever league finish was when they came second in the Isthmian Premier Division in 2006, when they narrowly missed out on promotion to the Blue Square South after they lost a penalty shoot-out to the now-defunct Fisher Athletic in the divisional play-off final. Sadly this defeat knocked them off their stride a little and they've since slipped back to Division One North.

They've reached the first round of the FA Cup three times, in 1994, 1997 and 2003, where they met up with Gillingham, Bournemouth and Bristol City respectively - the latter rather impolitely beating them 7-0 in a live televised match. They've also got a half-decent track record in the non-league cups, reaching the last 16 of the FA Vase in 1987, and the quarter-finals of the FA Trophy ten years later, where a well-fought defeat to Woking saw them squeeze in a record 2477 punters into their 3000 capacity Scraley Road ground.

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