Yes, Bossuet used the phrase and my old notes show that he wrote "Ah, la perfide Albion, la foi du Sauveur y est abordee", probably referring to the Stuart Restoration in 1660 and French hopes that the closet Catholic Charles II would roll back a hundred years of Protestantism in England. But Wiki now tells me that the phrase was around even earlier, in the 13th century, so my guess is that it goes all the way back to King Harold breaking his vow to William by taking the crown in 1066.
Returning to WBA (in what is nominally a football forum!) if no one calls them "perfidious" do their own fans actually use their official nickname and shout "Come on you Throstles"? Doesn't quite inspire awe, does it? But then neither do other clubs' names: "Come on you Potters" (Stoke), or "Cottagers" (Fulham); and as for "Come on you Canaries" at Norwich, no I can't see it.
P.S. it's good to know that there was at least one time when Liverpool was patriotic.
I've seen WBA usually referred to as the Baggies — God knows why — and some of them seem to refer to themselves like that. I take your point about “official” nicknames — I've never heard one single person, either at Maine Rd or the Etihad, blurt out “Come on you Citizens!”
… They'd probably be ejected summarily — not by the stewards, but by those around them. As for Fulham being cottagers — that
could be taken the wrong way…
In Europe I'm always amused by Grasshoppers Zurich, Go Ahead Eagles (which sounds so sweet, like an eager school PT teacher urging on his under-12s from the touchline), or — best of all —
Young Boys Berne. All official names, of course, not nicknames. Somehow, I can't see any of those names striking fear into the hearts of people at the San Siro, the Bernabeu, the Allianz Munich, or indeed the Etihad. Imagine Pep in the presser putting on his solemn face (as he does), “We're playing Grasshoppers tonight, they're
so, so dangerous in the transitions…”
If we could carry on annoying the other posters with our “history nerd” exchanges for a second — I'm interested to learn that Albion was originally used by the ancient Greek cartographers. I've always supposed that it comes from the white cliffs, clearly visible from the French coast on fine days.
As for insulting phrases batted back and forth between the British and French — it's always amused me, as a bilingual, to see that they're used identically, simply reversing the names, i.e. “to take French leave” (or waggin’ it, as I used to hear at Marple Hall grammar school years ago, don't know if it's still current) =
filer à l'anglaise.