There are so many football clubs whose nickname relates to an animal. There are the Magpies of Notts County, the Bulls at Hereford United, the Tigers of Hull City and so on.

And here at CounDerby ty, the club is nicknamed the Rams and is perhaps one of the most iconic nicknames for a football club in the country, but why? Here we delved into our archives to give you the background on how the club became associated with an animal that is said to symbolise strength, determination and leadership.

Derby is known for many things – aero-engines, railway manufacturing, fine china to name but three. The city even lays claim to being the true birthplace of the Industrial Revolution. After all, the world’s first fully mechanised factory – John Lombe’s silk-throwing mill on an island in the River Derwent – was built here.

But a ram? Of course, it is all down to that world-famous English folk song The Derby Ram, or As I Was Going To Derby as some folk prefer to call it. Thanks to that song we call our football club the Rams, the mascot of the local army regiment is a ram – and in East Street we even have a statue of the massive beast.

When in 1867 Llewellyn Jewitt wrote his book The Ballads and Songs of Derbyshire, he claimed that, by then, The Derby Ram had been sung for at least a century. It is claimed that in 1796 the first US president, George Washington, sang The Derby Ram to a friend’s children. No one knows where, or why, the song originated.

But in 1855 the first Regiment of Derbyshire Militia adopted a ram as its regimental mascot. Through many re-organisations of the army we still see Lance-corporal Derby XXIX – he was promoted as a reward for his good behaviour – paraded around Pride Park Stadium when the 2 Battalion the Mercian Regiment is in town.