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Why we're called the Grecians............

Red Lion

Red Lion

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The 2 feeble explanations I've heard are;

1. At the time we got the nickname our team played like Greek Gods. (Yeaah right!)

2. Because at the time, where we played, close to Sidwell Street was (only repeating the rumour I've heard) a bit of a rough area, and the kids were not too familiar with soap, they were referred to as the 'greasy 'uns'. (God I hope that's not how we got our nickname!)


We went to Killerton House (near Silverton) today. In one of the lovely old rooms is the most fabulous trophy. Reeaally, really ornate, the handles of the trophy are carved out so they look like snakes. I had a really good close look at it, and I burst out loud the words inscribed at the very top, in tiny weeny writing; "Grecian".

Bless him, the volunteer who was in charge of that room sensed my excitement, came over and explained to me that Grecian was a racehorse, owned by the owners of Killerton House, and he obviously won a seriously important horse race. The race was a one-off, and they kept the trophy.

I asked when this was............in 1700 and something.

Wow. didn't know that PaddyPower had been going for that long, and is there a link from that geegee to our Club?
 
Phil Sayers

Phil Sayers

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I like the one where a reporter at one of our games in the 30's heard us chanting 'We hate the Green Ones' and mistook it for 'We are the Grecians.' Very unlikely but it pleases me all the same.

I believe (in so far as it is possible to know) that the reason is that to the walled City inhabitants it felt like the Sidwell dwellers were beseiging the City as the Greeks did to the Trojans.
 
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tisdale 1

tisdale 1

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it is a good one though onlt team with it in the country compered that to the gulls...
 
LOG

LOG

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Its because we urn our results.
 
Grecian Royal

Grecian Royal

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I was asked this after Wembley and got this from somewhere on the official site:

In July 1726 there was a fair on Southernhay in which the Siege of Troy was enacted, and for some not entirely stupid reason, the inhabitants of St Sidwell's (outside the city walls) identified themselves with the attacking Greeks, or Grecians. By 1737 there was already a tradition of football matches between the city dwellers who called themselves the Blues and "the rugged inhabitants of St Sidwell's", who called themselves the Greeks.

A century later "Greeks" had given way to "Grecians". Residents of St Sidwell's described themselves as Grecians in letters to the local paper and the term was familiar in local parlance. Obviously it was never going to loom as large in the national consciousness as "c*ckney", "brummie" or "scouser", but for generations who lived in or around Exeter, "Grecian" instantly identified a St Sidwell's resident.

By extension, it was not at all surprising that the football ground just off the end of Sidwell Street should acquire a "Grecian Gate". And when the team who played there, St Sidwell's Old Boys, changed its name to Exeter City, it must have seemed almost natural that it would be given the nickname "Grecians."

Everything is entirely logical if you know the local history; without that knowledge, of course, it is a mystery defying explanation, which is why most soccer reference books either decline to explain "Grecians" or guess wrongly about the derivation.
 
Oldsmobile-88

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Its a pity the club has never had a commercial deal with a certain male hair product..;)
 
E

el pelegrino

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It's a derivation of a name of a part of Exeter. Should you be interested Exeter and Chester mean the same thing in Anglo Roman. A bit like Taw and Torriddge in Celtic or Torquay for that matter!
 
exeweb

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Grecian Royal said:
I was asked this after Wembley and got this from somewhere on the official site:
Click to expand...
This explanation should actually be credited to this site - as per my agreement with the club - written, as it was, by my "somewhat articulate father".

:)
 
LammieLammieLammie

LammieLammieLammie

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Just like the old days...
:D:D

So for how much longer are you going to get a giggle out of that description mate? :D
 
cameraman

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Grecian Royal said:
I was asked this after Wembley and got this from somewhere on the official site:

In July 1726 there was a fair on Southernhay in which the Siege of Troy was enacted, and for some not entirely stupid reason, the inhabitants of St Sidwell's (outside the city walls) identified themselves with the attacking Greeks, or Grecians. By 1737 there was already a tradition of football matches between the city dwellers who called themselves the Blues and "the rugged inhabitants of St Sidwell's", who called themselves the Greeks.

A century later "Greeks" had given way to "Grecians". Residents of St Sidwell's described themselves as Grecians in letters to the local paper and the term was familiar in local parlance. Obviously it was never going to loom as large in the national consciousness as "c*ckney", "brummie" or "scouser", but for generations who lived in or around Exeter, "Grecian" instantly identified a St Sidwell's resident.

By extension, it was not at all surprising that the football ground just off the end of Sidwell Street should acquire a "Grecian Gate". And when the team who played there, St Sidwell's Old Boys, changed its name to Exeter City, it must have seemed almost natural that it would be given the nickname "Grecians."

Everything is entirely logical if you know the local history; without that knowledge, of course, it is a mystery defying explanation, which is why most soccer reference books either decline to explain "Grecians" or guess wrongly about the derivation.
Click to expand...


This is as close as it gets to the truth.

When I was researching the history for my Centenary DVD in 2003/2004, the 'Oliver' brothers, who had the hospitality box behing the videoing Gantry/Podium, kindly loaned me 'the book' written by their uncle Tom Oliver, one of four men who inhabited the 'DRUM&DONKEY pub, and reputed to be the founders of Exeter City when they changed the name from Sidwell Street Old Boys, and the strip from Green and White hoops. to the present Red and White.

Basically the origin of 'The Grecians' was very similar to what was said as above
 
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