CaleyJags nickname

[Guest caithnessgal]

Ok, I'm not a local and a 'newish' Caley supporter.  I'm trying to find out the origins of the CaleyJags nickname, in particular the Jags bit.

Can anyone tell me where it originated and what it might mean?

Thanks.

[Guest ICTangie]

Thistles have been known to be a bit 'jaggy'

Geddit?

[Scotty]

might want to read this section Club Guide > Club History

[Alex MacLeod]

Can tell a lot about someone from their posts.

This thread is started by a female, 18 - 25 age group, brunette with blond streaks, lives around Caithness, is not native to Scotland and enjoys top class football so is prepared to make the journey down the A9 to see a class team.

If you get a chance drop by the stadium shop and pick up a copy of Charles Bannermans book, 'Against all Odds', for all you need to know about the formation of the club. Or Ian Broadfoots 'Going Ballistic' for the last ten years.

Edited to correct mistake as highlighted by caleyboy

[caleyboy]

Why not try Charles Bannerman's book Against All Odds which gives a very good account of how the club was formed. Ian Broadfoot also wrote a book of statistics abot the first 10 years of the club but I can't remember the title.

[Alex MacLeod]

I stand corrected once again lad. Its Ian Broadfoots book Going Ballistic that I meant to mention actually. Funnily enough when Ian launched his book I went to ask him to sign a copy for me and mistakenly called him Charles.

I've edited my mistake on first post

[Scotty]

I stand corrected once again lad. Its Ian Broadfoots book Going Ballistic that I meant to mention actually. Funnily enough when Ian launched his book I went to ask him to sign a copy for me and mistakenly called him Charles.

Just buy both of them  :004:

might want to read this section Club Guide > Club History

The club history section I mentioned above contains a 'summarised' account of each season in Caley Thistle history as supplied by the aforementioned author and official club historian Ian Broadfoot.

[Guest caithnessgal]

Thanks ICTangie and Scotty, Alex and caleyboy, I wil be sure to follow up the info you provided.

Can tell a lot about someone from their posts.

This thread is started by a female, 18 - 25 age group, brunette with blond streaks, lives around Caithness, is not native to Scotland and enjoys top class football so is prepared to make the journey down the A9 to see a class team.

Not sure where you got my hair colour or age from, even I can't find that info on my profile  :001:,  just for clarification hair is brown and age is 35, and yes I am a massive football supporter and happy to travel the distance to see decent SPL football  :001:

[The Mantis]

yes I am a massive football supporter and happy to travel the distance to see decent SPL football  :001:

Come off it, Alex (aka Silver Fox) never said anything about your size  :015: :015: :015: :015: :015: :015:

[Alex MacLeod]

The hair bit based on commonality. Age, a bad guess. And like Mantis say's I never asked how massive you were :015:

[Johnboy]

This thread reminds me of a time when someone (who'd better remain nameless) once asked :

Why does Steven Pressley get called  "Elvis".....!!!!

[Guest kingkojak]

as nicknames go ours isnt too tricky to fathom.  best nickname in the spl has to be the arabs - which is about the only good thing about the club just now. 

[Alex MacLeod]

Reason the arabs were so called, apparently, stems from a multi failed attempt to play a SC tie at Tannadump back around 72. Severe frosts, snow and no US heating. On the morning of the fourth or fifth attempt things didn't look promising so the club brought in hundreds of tonnes of sand during the day to spread over the pitch. The lines were all marked out and the game went ahead. Commentators and players, at the time, likened it to playing in the desert and the nickname 'arabs' was born.

Whether thats true or not I don't know but it sounds good.

[Kingsmills]

The origins of our nichname are obvious, the most unfathomable nickname in Scotland must be "Bully Wee".

[Alex MacLeod]

The word Bully was a slightly slangy term for Good. The Bully Wee were simply the Good wee Clyde.

[Charles Bannerman]

On the subject of the Bully Wee, I remember reading a newspaper article which came up with several ideas as to its origin but could come to no conclusion.

It's also interesting that a multiply postponed DU Scottish Cup tie should be mentioned in a thread where the "Jags" part of ICT is being asked about, because the record for postponements happens to be held by Inverness Thistle.... 29 for a Scottish Cup tie against Falkirk early in 1979.

Now to digress just a little, that winter was one of two on the trot which were extremely cold and at that point people were asking if we were going into another ice age. Then they invented global warming.

Can't remember if I mentioned the 29 postponements in Against All Odds or not. You've got me thinking we should maybe get it put online now but I don't know if Highland Printers would still have the original discs.

Oh, by the way Caithness Gal, you may or may not know that when Jags Park went out of use as a football ground after the merger in 1994, the floodlights and enclosure were sold to Wick Academy to upgrade Harmsworth Park to specification for the Highland League to which they'd just been elected in place of Thistle, Caley and Ross County. And here's a bit of trivia.... the day the Wickers loaded the stuff on a lorry and took it "up ee rodd" was the day DU beat Rangers 1-0 in the Scottish Cup Final, the goal coming from a certain Mr. C Brewster!

[Guest kingkojak]

On the morning of the fourth or fifth attempt things didn't look promising so the club brought in hundreds of tonnes of sand during the day to spread over the pitch. The lines were all marked out and the game went ahead. Commentators and players, at the time, likened it to playing in the desert and the nickname 'arabs' was born.

according to legend, the reason they had to cover the pitch in sand was because they burnt the grass by using a road heater type roller machine thingy over it to try and thaw it oot. obviously that totally feckered the grass

[Kingsmills]

Not unlike the state of the pitch at Kingsmills when that much postponed Scottish Cup match with Falkirk was eventually played.