West Brom's Boilerman and the worst sporting mascots in history

There have been plenty of terrible mascots over the years – we’ve taken a look at 16 of them

Say hello to Boilerman. West Brom’s new mascot, who appeared for their game with Bolton Wanderers on Saturday. The Baggies are sponsored by Ideal Boilers this year, which explains it all.

Wichita State University’s mascot is described by the website as ‘a big, bad, muscle-bound bundle of wheat’. How very intimidating.

Pretty much the only thing not great about London 2012 was the mascots. What Wenlock and Mandeville were meant to be is anyone’s guess, but they were far from memorable. The Usain Bolt poses did them no favours either.

Bradford City have The City Gent as their mascot. He is quite literally a man from Bradford, wearing a hat, tying a scarf around his wrist and walking around the pitch. Each to their own…

Stanford University’s mascot is just laughable. There are a couple of different versions of the tree, each as ridiculous as each other. Another one that would scare you off.

Sammy the Shrimp represents Southend United up and down the country. You cannot say he doesn’t look like a shrimp, but maybe that was the best route to go down for the Shrimpers. His extra-large head is a little scary.

Grimsby Town’s Mighty Mariner looks like a budget version of Father Christmas. Enough said.

Patrick Thistle’s mascot, Kingsley, was international news when Turner Prize winner David Shrigley designed it five years ago. To this day, nobody knows what went through Shrigley’s mind when he came up with Kingsley.

Yeovil Town’s Jolly Green Giant is meant to be a happy man, instead he just looks a little petrified and ill.

Fleetwood Town are the Cod Army, so you’d expect their mascot to be a nod to that. But Captain Cod is a bizarre looking fish.

Burton Albion’s Billy the Brewer is an odd looking mascot. He certainly looks like he has spent plenty of time at the local breweries

And Billy’s other half, Bettie, is of similar ilk. With eyeliner you’d expect from a KISS tribute band, you can’t imagine children flocking for photos with this duo.

FC Schalke’s mascot is Erwin Koslowski. What is it? Supposedly a caricature of a Schalke fan, it just looks like a weird, made up creature.

Plymouth Argyle’s mascot Peter the Pilgrim could be normal, until an enormous moustache was plastered on his face. Coupled with a giant scarf that he must trip over at least once a season, this is not a great look.

This is Appy, the mascot from the 2012 European Athletics Championships in Helsinki. Appy was not actually meant to look like a dishwasher tablet, but it was supposedly a nod to technology and design.

Suri was the mascot at Copa America in 2011. It was meant to be an ostrich, one that is permanently surprised by the looks of it.