After more than 12,000 suggestions, the name for the London 2012 Olympic football has been chosen. And the winning name is....'The Albert'.
Adidas, who are to make the ball, ran a competition inviting anyone and everyone to send in their ideas for names, before eventually choosing the name suggested by Robert Ashcroft- a 45-year-old from Derbyshire. Whilst the connection between a football and the name Albert may seem a little odd, it is actually from cockney rhyming slang, where ‘Albert Hall' (pictured above) means ‘ball'. For this reason, Mr. Ashcroft believed "The Albert was the obvious choice for me. It made perfect sense to name a ball with the rhyming slang heritage."
An Adidas spokesman agreed, revealing that:
"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."
