The London 2012 Olympic Games will be the biggest East End knees up in history with the official ball that will be used in the Olympic football tournament named as “The Albert”.

With exactly one year to go until the start of the Olympic football tournament, adidas, the Official Sportswear Partner of London 2012, have announced the unique name for the football. The Albert was suggested by Robert Ashcroft from Long Eaton in Derbyshire after the Great British public were invited to ‘name the ball’. Mr Ashcroft submitted his suggestion of The Albert with his reasoning being the link to cockney rhyming slang – with ‘Albert Hall’ (one of London’s most iconic landmarks) meaning ‘Ball’.

In fact, the name Albert proved to be a very popular entry with over 10 variations of the name (Alberthall, Albertball, The Albert, Albert, Alberthallball etc) entered in the competition. Mr Ashcroft was the first to submit the name ‘Albert’ within the entries. Aside from the ‘Albert Hall’ link plenty of other iconic London phrases and places make the name Albert even more fitting – Uncle Albert from Only Fools and Horses, Albert Square from EastEnders, Albert Bridge over the River Thames and not forgetting the Albert Docks found in Newham, one of the Host Boroughs for the London 2012 Games.

The competition not only proved popular amongst the public with over 12,000 unique names submitted in the ten day period but also some of the country’s top sports stars got in on the action suggesting names; Tom Daley stated a claim for ‘The Stratford Bouncer’ and England’s Ashes hero, Steven Finn suggested ‘The Record Breaker’.

Nick Craggs, adidas UK Marketing Director said: ‘We are delighted that we were able to offer the British public the opportunity to name the London 2012 Olympic football, and to receive so many great names. The London 2012 Games are becoming synonymous with the East End of London and it was important to us that the name reflected this strong heritage – ‘The Albert’ creates mass appeal to the British public as well as creating global intrigue.’

Robert Ashcroft from Derbyshire who chose the winning name said: ‘I can’t believe that my name was chosen for the ball that will have such a big part to play in the biggest sporting event on earth. The name was an obvious choice for me. With London hosting the 2012 Games it made sense to name a ball with the London Cockney rhyming slang heritage.’

Paul Deighton, CEO of the London Games Organising Committee LOCOG, said: “It’s fantastic that adidas involved the public in the naming of this very special football for this very special tournament which will take place across the UK in 2012”.

The design of the Official London 2012 Olympic football will remain under wraps until its launch in Spring 2012.

Source: therightwinger.co.za/

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