Tomorrow, the Pool head for Cardiff for the biggest game in their 97-year history.

No. That's not right. "Tomorrow, Pool head for Cardiff. . .". No, no. Still not right. Add an 's'. "Tomorrow, the Pools head for Cardiff. . .". No, no, no. Lose the definite article. "Tomorrow, Pools head for Cardiff for the biggest game in their 97 year history."

Is this correct?

The problem is, although there is only one professional football team in Hartlepool, there were once two Hartlepools.

There was the ancient Hartlepool and the modern West Hartlepool.

The ancient Hartlepool stood on the Headland from time immemorial. The headland itself may even once have been an island - probably called Stag Island by the Anglo-Saxons who knew it as a place where deer roamed.

When the sea retreated, the headland was left attached to the mainland with a bay beside it. This, it is said, is the pool where the hart - deer - drank.

This pool grew into the most important port on the North-East coast in the Middle Ages. So important that, in 1569, the Dutch and Spanish planned to capture it to foment the Rising of the North.

During the Civil War (1642-51), the Scots did occupy Hartlepool briefly and the French drew up more plans to capture it.

So, although Hartlepudlians may be mocked for hanging a monkey during the Napoleonic Wars (1803-15), their fears were understandable. A French ship, the Chasse Maree, was wrecked off their coast. The only survivor was a hairy thing dressed in a naval uniform. When they questioned it, it answered with foreign noises. They had never see a real life Frenchman so, amid such a centuries-old climate of fear, they naturally assumed it to be a French spy and hanged it.

How were they to know that French ships regularly carried around monkey pets to amuse the crew?

By then, though, the port was on the wane. It was only when the railways came a century later that ancient Hartlepool revived. But the promoter of the railway, Ralph Ward Jackson, found the old port authorities too fuddy-duddy. So, in 1847, he founded his own port - West Hartlepool Dock - and around it rapidly grew the industrial town of West Hartlepool.

In 1881, West Hartlepool formed its first sports clubs: a professional rugby team and an amateur footie team. The rugby club collapsed in 1908 and within a week a professional football club had been formed to take over its Victoria Ground.

Controversially, this pro club was called The Hartlepools United Football and Athletic Company Ltd. Because it was based in West, local people thought it should have West in its name. But the moneymen wanted a broader appeal across both the Hartlepools. And so Hartlepools United began their assault on the English Football League.

In 1967, the municipal authorities united the two towns of Hartlepool and West Hartlepool into the borough of Hartlepool.

In 1968, Hartlepools United won promotion into the Third Division - but they never got to play in it. New division, new name, so in the new season the club followed the borough and dropped the 's'.

Today, locals still fondly hark back to the days of "Pools" - they never, to these ears at least, use the definite article - even though for the last 37 years they have really been "the Pool".

Whoever they are, we wish them luck tomorrow in Cardiff.

Published: 28/05/05