Shepshed Dynamo (England)

Dynamo come from Shepshed in the North-West of Leicestershire, said to be the largest village in the UK. They were founded in 1994, but follow in a long line of Shepshed clubs playing in black and white stripes at their home ground, called The Dovecote, including Shepshed Albion and Shepshed Charterhouse, so strictly speaking they are all the same club - and most certainly in the eyes of their loyal fans.

They've been playing their football in the Northern Premier League Division One South since 2004, where they moved after many years as the most northerly club in the Southern League. But it was back in their Charterhouse days from the mid-1970s that they first came to national attention. Between 1978 and 1984 they went on a remarkable run, rising from the lower reaches of the Leicestershire Senior League to the heights of the Southern League Premier Division, gaining seven promotions in a row - six of them consecutive titles. But this sudden rise came to an almost as sudden halt as the club, now known as Shepshed Albion again, went out of business in 1984. Which is where Dynamo came in.

Their club badge is a homage to the stylised cyrillic D usually found in the old Soviet Dynamo teams sponsored by the KGB - although there's no suggestion that the club is in any way owned by the Russian secret services. But the main thing that fans who travel to their 2500 capacity ground is its location, down the end of Butthole Lane. It's easy to giggle, but it's an old historic name of which the locals are rightly proud - although it does lead to one or two entertaining terrace chants from time to time, as you can imagine.

All photos © lays with the owners
Videos from YouTube. Underlying © lays with the owners of the clips.