I think this is what sticks in my craw. I'm not against nicknames per se, but 'wildcats' is purely arbitary and there is no link to the city or the club. It smacks of laziness and the alliteration just makes it cheesy.

At Keighley we've had the Cougars moniker for 20 years now. It's become synonymous with the club. You don't hear in conversation "Are you off to watch Keighley (or The Rugby) this weekend?" You hear " Are you watching Cougars this weekend?".

The club have always been keen to make sure that the fans be they young, new or old understand that Rugby League didn't start in Keighley with Cougarmania. Our main supporters bar is our Hall of Fame with framed montages of all the great players (yes we've had some) who've played for the club in the past including team photos, newspaper reports and programmes from the era that they played in. It doesn't cost anything extra to go in and have a look around when there's a game on.

I know a few other clubs so something similar, Hunslet being the first one off of the top of my head. It would be nice to see a lot more clubs bring something in like that.

Leeds Rhinos works for me but the badge is terrible.

Wakefield Trinity sounds good and the name is associated with Rugby League. The whole wildcat package is a poor one.

Wigan - OK but the mascot looks like an idiot.

Huddersfield - Same as Wigan.

I don't like Saints new badge.

Catalan Dragons and the Bradford Bulls have the best 'new era' names & badges.

IMO

On the whole I'm not a huge fan of the rebranding, especially where there is no real tie to the adopted name (ie Bulls, Rhinos, and thankfulyl shortlived sharks), the logos are generally tacky (again Rhinos & Sharks I'm looking at you). Would much prefer the "historic" names and nicknames were kept, and am pleased that Saints, Rovers and Hull not bothered with the new names and logos, or where they did, not stuck with them,

All that said, Widnes Vikings works due to the historic presense of vikings, and the new(ish) logo is very smart, if there were more like that I'd perhaps not be quite as anti them.

The club had plenty of young fans before it became Leeds Rhinos, and crowds now are not IMO disproportionately larger than they were in the pre-Rhinos days before the team started winning things. Having watched the implementation of the Rhinos name, I would use exactly that phrase - it was half-d. They came up with a totally inappropriate name, then got themselves a logo, got a mascot, chanced upon someone who could create a character inside the rhino suit and, bingo, that was the rebranding done.

Since then they have done a fair amount with it, but I have seen little evidence that it is totally reliant on the Rhinos name - although removing it now would be impossible as it has managed to become associated, one way or another. Plenty of clubs in other sports have worked with mascots without renaming the entire club to suit. Leeds, along with the rest of SL in 1996/97, were caught up in the clearly foolish idea that an appendage to the name would change everything. It required, and requires, a lot more work than that as Bradford and Keighley showed.

The SL names which continue to stand out are Rhinos, Wildcats, Warriors and, arguably, Vikings which seem incongruous and undistinguished for some of the game's finest clubs. Pre-Giants Huddersfield weren't much of a club to begin with so I won't include them in that.

Leeds Rhinos - Goes well with the club, it has really stuck well, as well as separating themselves from Leeds Utd and Carnegie. Badge is a bit poor but hey ho.

Bradford Bulls - Rolls off the tongue well, club colours are incorporated well, similar to Leeds.

Huddersfield Giants - Again the club colours remain in tact, seems to have stuck quite well with the fans.

Warrington Wolves - Like someone mentioned previously this has not just been slapped upon Wire but is quite historical and is all around a good bit of branding.

London Broncos - Does it matter what they're called? Nah, OJ but this club more than any need a strong identity in London and I think Broncos has stuck with the club.

Widnes Vikings - Once again I think this suits the club well, similar to Huddersfield in many ways.

Wigan Warriors - There is no 'Warrior' as part of their logo, think the Warriors part could easily go and no one would be bothered.

Salford City Reds - Don't see how this benefits the club really, but it's not really an 'offensive' name to hear or see, but I suppose some branding is needed.

Cas Tigers - Were known as Tigers long before Super League AFAIK? Black and Amber obviously go well will the branding, all in all a very good package.

Catalan Dragons - I don't know any Catalan fans nor do I know where Dragons came from, personally I think it is ok though, as I like Dragons



What is quite prevalent is that in all cases the club colours are worked into the logo well, but Wakefield just have a big yellow cat?

I reckon Wildcats should be kept as part of a supporters club for kids, use the branding on kids clothes or whatever. But I hate walking around with a great tacky yellow cat on my clothes. The new logo is much better but still has that big cat on it.

anyone else find it ironic that a thread on the 'destruction of the game's hertage' through the 'serious issue' of club names and mascots was started by someone whose username is Connor Giantsfan, rather than the more heritage correct Connor Fartowner?

TFC: Dragons comes from the fact that the patron saint of Catalonia is San Jordi - or St George as he's called in English

Très Interessant, once again the branding actually comes from [isomewhere[/i and once again the colours are incorporated well.

Rochdale Hornets tried this yonks before anyone else. Did it work? Did it b*ll*cks.

Those who object most to the modernised monikers and suchlike, seem to do so based on personal dislike rather than any factual or objective reasons; from my own personal experience, I can say with certainty that both my kids refer to their team as 'Wakey Wildcats' without a hint of distaste or embarassment and whilst I'm not over-enamoured with it, I certainly don't feel the need to yell "TRINITY!" in their faces each time they do so. My daughter also loves Daddy Cool and must receive a high-five from him pre-game, otherwise the rest of her afternoon has no merit, regardless of the result. Again, I could live without him, but since it's very definitely not aimed at me, I can also find nothing especially objectionable.

Fortunately for the marketing depts of the various clubs in question, the intransigent old farts who hate anything new will eventually die out, and they'll be left with a group of stakeholders who are more reasonable and less constrained by the weight of history.

As someone cleverer than me once said, "The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there."

Our children may learn about heroes of the past. Our task is to make ourselves architects of the future.

Jomo Mzee Kenyatta

Love that quote!

Rugby League has never been held back by tradition or history. It shouldn't start now.

Although I reject the OP's assertion that we are tossing aside history, the blanket inverse response that all change has to be good is equally stupid IMO.

Surely you haven't inferred from my post that I believe all change has to be good?

"blanket inverse response"...doesn't work correctly in the context of your sentence for one thing(Inverse response to what exactly??), nor has any poster said that all changes are good. Have you selectively picked out small parts of people's responses or are you reading from elsewhere? In this context, blanket means everyone, yet I don't see one person saying all change is good?

Rebranding & change happens within all areas of life, it's called trends. Sometimes it isn't done right with minimal impact, sometimes it has adverse effects, but sometimes it can change things for the better.
In RLs case I believe it was to enhance the brand ala NFL/Basketball/Baseball stylie with an emphasis on getting away from the stereotyped flat clappers names. At a time when kids had so many other options other than RL, trying to make the sport appealing other than what was going on on the field was all important. A 5/6/7/8 year old isn't bothered if his dads team are called rhinos or Wolves, they just see a character associated with the club. there's no real negative effect to the youngsters and older fans won't stop going to games because of a name change (or shouldn't)
I don't see any loss of the essence of a club, the heart is still the same, the generations still hand down tales of days gone by and players who graced TGG.
Stressing about the names is the least of fans or the RFL's worries....

St Helens could never have a nickname other than the Saints, it wouldn't make sense.

As for having remained traditional, we have a new badge (and were rebranded "Saints RL" last year whilst on the road) so we have not been immune to leaning towards a more marketable image.

The fact that Wigan are now called Wigan Warriors does not detract one jot from their history IMO. They are still the same club, just with a camp Warrior mascot running around the pitch for the kids before a game.

It's undeniable that RL "deviated" from its history - of course, this was the purpose and zeitgiest of the SL era. The only problem with this break in lineage from the club's roots was that the era of 1996 didn't come ex nihilio, but was just another "passage of time" - and what we have now 16 years later are a bunch of silly misplaced logos and daft names, which owe nothing to the culture that preceded Super League, and have little relevance to British sporting culture after the initial trend. Of course, nicknames like Chemics, Gallant Youths, Dreadnoughts didn't come out of a vacuum, they [iwere[/i created in just the same way as Rhinos, Bulldogs, Wildcats were - except these former nicknames came with the infancy of the clubs themselves and possessed relation to the community, and had a direct narrative of meaningful discourse between language and the abstract.

Now, whether if this important or not, it's up to you. If you appreciate history and meaningful ties which language connects and points to things, then it'll probably be important. But, if you don't, then I guess that's more in line with the spirit of [ithese [/itimes.

Why couldn't St Helens be called the St Helens Cardinals or something along those lines? Like many people have said on this thread, we have just got used to it, and so would Saints. As for the small re branding, that is a nice bit of work St Helens have done there, nothing has been compromised that would offend fans, but like you say, it has given them a more marketable image.



Of course not, I don't think this re branding has or will detract from a clubs history, it just doesn't suit some clubs IMO, and is not something to shout from the rooftops about as an adult. Wigan have dodged the bullet of having a Warrior as part of their badge at least.

I hate getting stick from my football loving mates banging on about Bradford Cowboys Red Sox Bulls vs Leeds Rhinos Mavericks, some of them just think it's hilarious how 'Super' League is branded and won't take the sport seriously because it has that dumbed down feeling surrounding it. They even give me stick about the play off system being used to determine champions of the league, but then some will say they actually enjoy watching the sport. As much as I disagree mostly with what they say, its hard to deny that is how the sport is perceived by many.

And some of us who watched Tommy McCue, Tommy Shannon, Nat Silcock, Duggie Greenall, Eric Ashton, have decided not to "die off" as you tactically put.

If you want to say whose fault it was, that some of our heritage has been rubbed out, look no further than Maurice Lindsay, who in the words of Don Fox "is just an effing bookie".

What gets me is why animals were chosen as brand names. There was nothing wrong with Trinity for Wakefield and Hull Kingston Rovers had a good sound to it.

In Widnes, Warrington will always be "Wire" no matter what they call themselves.

On a different note, it's interesting that on April 1st 1974 a government spokesman once said about the county boundary changes that "The new county boundaries are administrative areas, and will not alter the traditional boundaries of counties, nor is it intended that the loyalties of people living in them will change despite the different names adopted by the new administrative counties." 38 years since it is quite clear, that the [inames of things[/i in an official capacity does ultimately lead to the dilution of former names, and modes of being, no matter how much the generation affected prattles on about them being otherwise. You will ultimately get to a point where the name "Wire" will be as antiquated as sixpence, and codpiece to the successive unaffected generations.

And whilst we're at it, the ITV Quiz Show "The Chase" had a question, "Which Rugby League team plays at the Gratton Stadium?". Enough said.

And thus in 1895 RFL became a sport that would not sit on its merits, but would embrace change and move with the time.

If you dont like change then i suggest watching the onions

I agree. It's not 1996 anymore, and we're not American or Australian. So, bye bye Wildcats? No. Ridiculous excuse.

Its up to the club and there fans, As Bren2k says his Kids identify with Wildcats so why change it? Im a Cas fan and love "Tigers" my kids ref to going to a match as "going to watch the Tigers play" cant see them buying back into the "Glassblowers"