Wider Reading: Albion Road

We all make ambitious claims.

I claim to be some kind of footballing muse. Martin O’Neill claims to be from planet earth. And Richard Scudamore claims dole payments.

Well, he should do.

I got an email the other day from Jeremy, which mentioned his website. So I had a look and, lo and behold, a claim: his website “attempts to be an encyclopedia of the world's football clubs”.

Quite a claim, no?

Albion Road

Albion Road was launched in April 2005, named after a fantasy football league in which Jeremy competed. I’d love to know how Jeremy decided to have a crack at such an ambitious project. He wants Albion Road to explain the meanings of team names, nicknames, crests, kit and traditions of every team possible.

It’s a pretty major undertaking, and he has a rather impressive network of helpers.

So how good is it? I decided to find out. You guys have probably read enough about Aston Villa, Napoli and Boca Juniors. So I decided to challenge Albion Road to teach me about my local Premier League side, Fulham. Not exactly obscure, granted, but I didn’t want to confuse myself.

At the top of Albion Road’s Fulham page, you find the usual profile information: year of formation, stadium info, nickname, all that sort of stuff. Looks pretty accurate to my reasonably uneducated Fulham brain. Fulham’s rivals are listed as Chelsea, QPR and Brentford and, knowing fans of all four, I’d say that’s not far off the park.

I learned Fulham’s previous name, and that they’ve played bloody everywhere in south west London including Parsons Green. I know Parsons Green because it’s a tube station. See how cosmopolitan I am?

The nickname is explained - obvious in this case, but it’s reassuring that it’s there. And images of Fulham’s strips and an aerial view of Craven Cottage provides the starting point of an embedded Google Map. Very useful.

Not bad at all, then, and similar profiles can be found for clubs, leagues and countries around the world. There’s a news section which, at the time of writing, is over a week out of date. But that’s hardly the point, is it? I can get news anywhere, but easily accessible club profiles are more tricky to pinpoint.

I’m sure it’s not perfect, but Albion Road looks like a cracker, and I’ll be trying it out anytime the need arises to blog about an obscure club or include showy-offy facts in a post. Nice work.