The famous white cockerel is on the badge of Tottenham Hotspur, but it might well have been a parrot instead. The club made a ground-breaking tour of Argentina and Uruguay in 1908, a trip that took weeks by ship. On the return two Spurs players used pirate costumes and the ship’s parrot to win a fancy dress competition. The parrot was presented to the club when the ship docked again in England and the bird took up residence at the White Hart Lane ground where, after a pampered 11 years as a mascot, it died.
