Football clubs around the world like to flex their muscles in different ways. Some prefer to flash money during the transfer window to rope in the biggest names. Others like to show their strength on the pitch. But a football club in Bolivia may just have earned the bragging rights to be called the strongest club ever, simply by virtue of being called… The Strongest.
Yes, you read it right!
Compra tu TIGRE DE ORO 2017 y demuestra que eres un Stronguista de corazón.
Incluye camiseta oficial y paneton navideño. pic.twitter.com/35GlFtTdaV— Club The Strongest (@ClubStrongest) December 12, 2016
While clubs around the world are traditionally named after the city or region they are based in, this football club in Bolivia, started in 1908 in La Paz, stands out.
#LFPB #TheStrongest La tremenda arenga de @Pescobar10, atendió a todos en la fiesta del @ClubStrongest Campeón! pic.twitter.com/mn4nweRZ3L
— Latedeportes Bolivia (@Latebol) December 25, 2016
The quirky name, of course, comes with a quirkier back story. The name came about as the founders were determined to be part of a club which would be strong enough to stand the test of time, having seen many a football club in the high-altitude city not even lasting a decade.
@ClubStrongest merecido campeón 2016. Gracias a los Gladiadores, Cuerpo Técnico, personal de apoyo y administrativo y al Presidente Salinas pic.twitter.com/9fWHx7w6da
— MARTIN ITURRI (@MARTIN_ITURRI) December 26, 2016
So having toyed with the idea of naming the club ‘Strong’, the founders decided that just being ‘strong’ was not good enough. So, The Strongest was born.
Justifying its name in more ways than one, the club has been around for the last 108 years, even winning their 12th Bolivian league title on Saturday.
The Strongest have a tragic past
They have also faced tragedy similar to the one faced by Brazilian football team Chapecoense last month when in 1969 a plane carrying their entire team crashed in the Andes Mountain while on their way back from a friendly match in Santa Cruz. The team lost 17 players apart from staff members in the crash, termed as the Tragedy of Viloco.
However, the club showed they are made of sterner stuff and raised another squad from scratch, with a little help from clubs like Argentina’s Boca Juniors and River Plate.
Of course The Strongest is not the funniest name for a football club. That distinction arguably should go to Bahamas’s Insurance Management Bears, who, not surprisingly, prefer to be called The Bears.
Legend goes that since the owner of the club received a generous grant to start the football club from his employers, Insurance Management Bahamas Ltd, he named the club after them.
Funniest club names
Others who can stake a claim to be called the club with the funniest names are Argentina’s Deportivo Moron, South Africa’s Botswana Meat Commission and Norway’s Fotballaget Fart.
However, there should probably be just the one contender for the strongest football club: one nestled in the lofty heights of Bolivia’s La Paz.
Source: HindustanTimes