Football giants Manchester United may be known the world over as 'The Red Devils' - but a little known fact is the nickname was copied from the rugby league team down the road.

It came from an early tour to France when the Press dubbed Salford 'Les Diables Rouges' for their playing style - which translates as 'The Red Devils'.

The club was founded in 1873 - five years before United - and for this reason they sometimes refer to themselves as the 'Original Red Devils'.

However, despite having links to one of the biggest and most successful football clubs, that is where the similarities stop as the Salford City Reds have not won any notable silverware since the 1970s.

In 1895 when the leading clubs from the Lancashire and Yorkshire regions held a meeting in Huddersfield to form the breakaway Northern Union, Salford initially opted to stay loyal to the Rugby Football Union. A year later, though, they opted to join the League.

In the early 20th century Salford made steady progress by finishing runners-up in the Challenge Cup three times and semi-finalists on two other occasions between 1902 and 1910, while in the League they were runners-up for three successive seasons from 1901.

Silverware finally arrived in 1913 when they beat Huddersfield in the final of the Rugby League Championship.

The club went on to win the League three more times before the Second World War, as well as finally getting their hands for the one and only time on the Challenge Cup in 1937.

Since the Super League was introduced in 1996 the club have been relegated and promoted on a number of occasions, but under Australian coach Shaun McRae Salford City Reds are back in the Super League and guaranteed their status until 2011.

Under McRae the club created history in June 2007 when they beat Harlequins 5-2, the first time a Super League game had been played without a try being scored.