What's in a name? They often tell a tale

GOLF:WHEN WE spotted Pat Halpin's team impressively rising from 17th to fourth overall last week it struck us as a bit inappropriate that he had named his line-up Bunkers of Doom. Bunker Avoiders, or the like, would have surely been more apt?

Alas, when we went looking for Pat this week his doom merchants were nowhere to be seen, until we reached 87th in the overall list. That, it has to be said, suggests that any of his players who actually turned up for duty in week three spent a whole lot more time in bunkers than on the fairway.

Team names can, indeed, give us an insight to a manager’s levels of self-belief and confidence in his or her selection.

Nicola Grannell, for example, opted for No Idea What I Am Doing, which was an overly negative self-assessment given the line-up tied for sixth in the weekly leaderboard. Have more faith in yourself, Nicola.

Neil Stokes, meanwhile, picked kfjgkjaseorfiapwdfl;walkf as his team’s name, leaving us wondering if he has a problem with his keyboard, or if he was just anticipating spending the Fantasy Golf season cursing his players’ form.

Kevin Feeney displayed a similar lack of faith in his employees when he named them Shanks Galore.

And David Copeland seemingly doubted the courage of his charges by dubbing them Yellow Bellies 2011. Ian Holmes also appeared to have low expectations: his team is named Fore!

Aaron Vallely, perhaps unwisely, called his team Tottenham Hotspur, thereby condemning them to finishing outside the top four, while Alan O’Rourke was no kinder to his line-up by naming them The Nutters With The Putters.

Ian Slacke opted for a more neutral route when asked to pick a team name at registration time. Can’t Think Of One, it’s called.