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A-League fans of west Sydney, as a Canberran I’m currently feeling a great deal of jealousy of you and all the excitement surrounding your shiny new unnamed A-League club.
You have many exciting times ahead. Derbies, goals, rivalries, big games laced with heartbreak and elation. These are some of the things that help forge a club’s identity over time, but there’s more to it than that.
The FFA has taken the decision to delegate the naming and team colours of this new club to the fans, and with this decision comes great responsibility. A team’s name is its identity, and if chosen well should represent the values, history and people of the represented region.
I write this blog as I’m a little concerned with the way this decision is heading.
While new names will still be given consideration, a short-list of five has been drawn up after the series of fan forums undertaken by the FFA in the west Sydney region. These names are: Athletic, Wanderers, Strikers, Wolves and Rangers.
I ask, what do any of these names have that represents the people and region of Sydney’s west? Anything? Or have fans just scoured the lower divisions of British football for names to tack onto the end of ‘Western Sydney’?
I think it would be a mistake to choose any of these names. It’s a dilution in brand value that leaves behind the one chance this club will get to create, rather than recycle, an identity.
I’m not from western Sydney, I don’t know what makes the region tick, but I do think the Americans do sports branding best.
Sticking with football, take a look at what they’ve done at Philadelphia Union, using the history and values of the city to drive the club’s branding. The result is a team name fans feel is theirs, they have a connection to it.
Seattle has done well, too. The name ‘Sounders’ might sound stupid at first but it obviously resonates with the city (it was chosen in a fan vote not dissimilar to this west Sydney one), and is now synonymous with Seattle in a way a recycled name never could be.
‘Galaxy’ is the same. When you hear that name, every football fan in the world thinks of LA. ‘Rangers’ or ‘Wanderers’ will never do that for you.
What people need to get past is that every original name will sound questionable at first, but offers better club identity in time.
Think about Gold Coast United. Last season if you had overheard two guys in a Gold Coast bar talking about the “United game”, would you assume they were talking about Gold Coast? Manchester? Or some other United?
However, if you’re in Melbourne and overhear two people talking about the Victory game, you know exactly what they’re referring to.
While obviously there are a lot of other factors at play, I felt part of the reason Gold Coast United went under was that they chose poor branding with weak identity.
Where the AFL Suns have it right and get crowds even while consistently losing (again with many other contributing factors).
So choose wisely people; you’re only going to get one shot at this, and I for one would be disappointed to see this club make a bad decision based on fans that can’t separate football culture and England.
It’s not too late to have a rethink, but it’s getting close, and a bland homogenous identity looms on the horizon.
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May 11th 2012 @ 3:59am
Johnno said | May 11th 2012 @ 3:59am | Report comment
i always liked the name the west sydney razorbacks, and i like the west tigers name too,.
SO a name is good, west sydney rovers doesn’t sound good . So names help a team marketing if right feel.
Eg dallas cowboys, Man united, west ham the hammers, new york yankees, brisbane broncos, denver broncos, LA Lakers, chicago bulls, brisbane roar, perth glory all good names here, .
May 11th 2012 @ 9:39am
Captain Obvious said | May 11th 2012 @ 9:39am | Report comment
Good point about the marketability of a good name, but remember that the LA Lakers were once the Minneapolis Lakers…
May 11th 2012 @ 5:22am
Foxy Brown said | May 11th 2012 @ 5:22am | Report comment
How about the “Western Sydney Westside West Stars of the West FC”
May 11th 2012 @ 7:45am
Aka said | May 11th 2012 @ 7:45am | Report comment
I think the name is only important in the short term. Once the club gains a bit of tradition the name is simply accepted and then loved by it’s fans, and I don’t think that takes too long. Of course success speeds up the process. Heart was a terrible name but after a year of it being used just as a ‘working name’ it became accepted. Glory also would have been pretty awful to begin with IMO, but you reckon the fans would change it now? In fact I think the worse the name is to begin with the better it gets over time. If North Queensland got another team into the A-league would they go for Fury?
May 12th 2012 @ 1:02pm
PeterK said | May 12th 2012 @ 1:02pm | Report comment
I, in NQ, hope so, but I’m well aware that many locals here do not. (I think they want to see a clear break from our painful past — a past which was only painful towards the end.)
Yes, when “Fury” became our name at first, it seemed a bit peculiar, but we soon got used to it. And I suppose if we ever did re-enter the national comp but with a name different from Fury, we’d probably quickly get used to that new name.
I still think “Broncos” is a very “unAustralian” name, but have to admit that if you say Broncos to me, then I don’t need the word Brisbane to tell me what you’re talking about. I feel much the same about the name “Cowboys” which to me sounds very American.
May 11th 2012 @ 7:55am
Australian Rules said | May 11th 2012 @ 7:55am | Report comment
Athletic, Wanderers, Wolves and Rangers…just trying way too hard to be like UK football.
Agree with the Aaron, give the new W.Syd (and its fans) their own identity. Of the 5 options, the Strikers is best.
May 11th 2012 @ 8:39am
Kasey said | May 11th 2012 @ 8:39am | Report comment
Its got nothing to do with aping the Poms. Wanderers was the name of the first team to play Association football in Australia [Wanderers v Kings school in 1880], you can’t get more connected to Australian sports history than that.(unless the Wanderers survived the intervening years and still played Kings every year in some old school-boy tradition – might make it easier to have football accepted as part of Australian history if the toffs and elbow patch brigade believed in it as they do Rugby. I hope they go with wanderers and adopt a red & black hooped colour scheme(like Brazil’s famous Flamengo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clube_de_Regatas_do_Flamengo
football history. Its been here longer than some hater would like to suggest/think:
http://www.migrationheritage.nsw.gov.au/exhibitions/worldcup/timeline.shtml
May 11th 2012 @ 9:00am
nordster said | May 11th 2012 @ 9:00am | Report comment
big +1 on the flamengo strip, though they have mentioned white being part of the colour scheme. Hopefully socks and/or shorts only.
as far as Athletic goes, i always liked that as well as Wanderers … for some reason Athletic always seemed to have a more European or South american vibe to it than UK for me personally.
and i like WSA as an acronym as well as WSW.
oh yeah and Sydney Rangers is taken (tho not West), still have a run with those guys occasionally
May 11th 2012 @ 9:05am
Kasey said | May 11th 2012 @ 9:05am | Report comment
White is used as a trim colour on CF Flamemgo merch kits. No reason it couldn’t be included here too. White is versatile. I have to say I really hated the Sydney Rovers “St.Kilda” shirt divided into equal thirds mock up that was shown around a few years ago.
May 11th 2012 @ 9:09am
nordster said | May 11th 2012 @ 9:09am | Report comment
that singlet-esque effort was a shocker
i know VicRules fans are used to it, but can never get my head around those tops they wear!
May 11th 2012 @ 10:33am
gurudoright said | May 11th 2012 @ 10:33am | Report comment
+1 on that kit, leave the white for the away strip
May 11th 2012 @ 12:20pm
Australian Rules said | May 11th 2012 @ 12:20pm | Report comment
Kasey, I was unaware of the “Wanderers” link…so too, I would guess, are 99% of the sporting public. But I take your point.
However, that name may have some historical link to football in Sydney, but today, it’s overwhelmingly connected to UK football (though I note it’s also a well-known sports club in NZ…as well as a famous South African stadium).
Whatever, it’s still the Strikers for me.
May 11th 2012 @ 12:32pm
Fussball ist unser leben said | May 11th 2012 @ 12:32pm | Report comment
What’s the relevance of “Strikers” for West Sydney?
Wanderers, Rovers, Excursionistas have been adopted by clubs outside the UK that didn’t have home ground.
So we have:
ARG: Club Atlético Excursionistas
CHI: Santiago Wanderers
MLT: Silema Wanderers
URU: Montevideo Wanderers
IRE: Bray Wanderers, Sligo Rovers
Maybe, those who think “Wanderers” is too close to UK Football would prefer the name West Sydney Excursionistas?
May 11th 2012 @ 12:48pm
Bondy said | May 11th 2012 @ 12:48pm | Report comment
It’s a good point there Fussball those nations have taken some historical element to the game of football where whether people like it or not England is the home of “modern” football , and it shows other nations aren’t to hung up about that .
May 11th 2012 @ 1:56pm
Australian Rules said | May 11th 2012 @ 1:56pm | Report comment
That’s probably true Bondy.
My thinking was simply: new team, new image, new name.
May 11th 2012 @ 2:23pm
Cpaaa said | May 11th 2012 @ 2:23pm | Report comment
kasey i agree totally with the wanderers for the tradition value as being the first club out of Sydney. What i dont understand is the why the colours of red and black. I would have thought that all white would best suit the west for its neutral colour. Also all white is a lot easier to wear as a casual fashion sense for fans. Away strips can be what ever they like. But does red and black have any particular meaning for west sydney ? i feel that these colours have just been plucked out of the air, also all white is not represented in any other code colour as their home strip.
May 11th 2012 @ 6:31pm
Kasey said | May 11th 2012 @ 6:31pm | Report comment
Cpaaa,
I’m not exactly sure where the Red&Black colours came from. As far as I can tell its from the fans in the forums. They want a simple red v blue differentiation between them and SFC mirroring the great worldwide derbies(Inter v Milan, ManYoo v Man Citeh etc). Predominantly red with a hint of black gives the marketing gurus something to work with in branding the team and is a good combination on its own right IMO. Its pretty obvious that in the Sydney sporting scene, red and black are a simple colour scheme up for grabs since the demise of the North Sydney bears RLC and despite the AFL’s best efforts I would venture that in 10 years time assuming the WS HAL team goes with Red&Black of course if you showed a red & Black bar scarf to a youngster in Blacktown, he would plump for the A-League team and not Essendon FC if asked to nominate who it represented. white is an interesting choice from a sports psychology point of view. it has been shown in many studies that teams that wear red get the rub of the green more often from officials, and tend to intimidate opponents, whereas white is bland and tends not to.
source: http://www.usatoday.com/sports/2005-05-19-winning-color_x.htm
May 25th 2012 @ 11:33am
DemonJuju said | May 25th 2012 @ 11:33am | Report comment
Actually I was under the impression that the red and black were chosen tin reference to Blacktown City.
I’m a big fan of black and white halves ala SK Sturm Graz a few years back.
May 13th 2012 @ 8:13am
Jon said | May 13th 2012 @ 8:13am | Report comment
Red and black hoops belong to the North Sydney Bears RUFC which will probably return to the top comp as the Central Coast Bears RUFC. When I see red and black hoops in Australia I think the Bears.
I would prefer red and black stripes in the AC Milan style.
As for the name, so what if we copy the UK names. I would much prefer to use the UK names than the American names. American ‘soccer’ (hate that term) to me scream plastic clubs and plastic fans. We are trying to build a ‘football’ club in western Sydney with traditional values.
Strikers is the old Brisbane name isn’t it? I think Brisbane anyway. Wolves is the old Wollongong name.
I like Wanderers and we will make it our own if this is to be the name. We don’t need any Americanisation with team songs and cheer squads, I really hope this doesn’t happen. I want a traditional FOOTBALL club with vocal supporters on the terraces.
May 11th 2012 @ 9:49am
Jay said | May 11th 2012 @ 9:49am | Report comment
Adeliade have the same name for their Big Bash team which will play during the same time as the A-League season.
May 11th 2012 @ 9:58am
Ian Whitchurch said | May 11th 2012 @ 9:58am | Report comment
West Sydney Strikers, sponsored by the CFMEU.
May 11th 2012 @ 10:18am
Kasey said | May 11th 2012 @ 10:18am | Report comment
Too bad Mark Arbib just joined SFC. could have been a potential WSSFC board member;)
May 11th 2012 @ 7:09pm
Football United said | May 11th 2012 @ 7:09pm | Report comment
theres already a brisbane strikers who are a hugely significant team in australian football history. we should respect our history and leave that and wolves (wollongong) alone
May 11th 2012 @ 8:21am
jamesb said | May 11th 2012 @ 8:21am | Report comment
? These names are: Athletic, Wanderers, Strikers, Wolves and Rangers.”
You can take off the wolves name out of that list. South Coast deserve to have the nickname the wolves, as it has history.
May 11th 2012 @ 8:48am
Kasey said | May 11th 2012 @ 8:48am | Report comment
Just like Sounders is historically tied to Seattle and the fans demanded it in 2009 for their MLS franchise. I agree with jamesb. the great history of the Wollongong Wolves always ties that name to the South coast/Illawarra region. Even today when a random pom says Wolves thinking of the team in Burnt orange playing at Molineux, I think first of Brandon Park away trips and that famous comeback win against Perth in the 2000 NSL GF at Subi.
May 11th 2012 @ 8:21am
PGNEWC said | May 11th 2012 @ 8:21am | Report comment
How about something Australian for a change — the West Sydney Possums.
May 11th 2012 @ 8:56am
PGNEWC said | May 11th 2012 @ 8:56am | Report comment
Or maybe a multicultural name to reflect the Regions Ethnic Diversity The West Sydney Kebabs
May 11th 2012 @ 8:57am
Kasey said | May 11th 2012 @ 8:57am | Report comment
Is that you Mr McGuire?
May 11th 2012 @ 9:03am
Stalker said | May 11th 2012 @ 9:03am | Report comment
Kebabs- awesome!
May 11th 2012 @ 9:03am
Stalker said | May 11th 2012 @ 9:03am | Report comment
Oh dear. Lol. I liked the Blacktown Bagsnatchers. But seriously, wanderers and kings, is too English.
How bout Western Sydney Widowmakers?
May 11th 2012 @ 9:05am
nordster said | May 11th 2012 @ 9:05am | Report comment
something indigenous would have been nice … Wolgal is one localish tribal name (geographic) … they could have looked for some indigenous words for things like ‘Union’, ‘United’ etc.
May 11th 2012 @ 9:37am
Titus said | May 11th 2012 @ 9:37am | Report comment
West Sydney Walkabout?…..or what about the West Sydney River Cats
May 11th 2012 @ 9:45am
nordster said | May 11th 2012 @ 9:45am | Report comment
walkabout … a pointer to their directionless midfield?
The cove will get some nice tifo out of it!
May 11th 2012 @ 9:41pm
Ken said | May 11th 2012 @ 9:41pm | Report comment
Western Sydney Stone Axe
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darug_people
May 11th 2012 @ 6:40pm
Kasey said | May 11th 2012 @ 6:40pm | Report comment
Which team names from: Athletic, Wanderers, Strikers, Wolves and Rangers. aren’t ‘Australian’?
May 11th 2012 @ 8:35am
wickedlenny said | May 11th 2012 @ 8:35am | Report comment
Tend to agree, you don’t want to tie the club too much to England or another league. As someone born and raised in Western Sydney, I can’t say I’d really like any of those names, but as has been said above, names tend to take on a life of their own and after a while, if they’re beating Sydney FC, nobody will care. I just hope they don’t sign Del Piero, as I read on a certain pay-tv network website. Signing has-beens was what made the NSL look embarassing at the end. That and the culture clashes – neither of which I hope we see in a Western Sydney A-league franchise.
May 11th 2012 @ 9:18am
Kasey said | May 11th 2012 @ 9:18am | Report comment
Nicola Berti anybody?;)
Del Piero can get his retirement fund topped up in the sand pit leagues of West Asia. We should already be above that sort of crap.
May 11th 2012 @ 9:03am
hunter sports said | May 11th 2012 @ 9:03am | Report comment
West Sydney Wanderers, the name has tradition (1880) and sounds really good and if you visit the official west sydney forum you will see that it is the overwhelming favourite
May 11th 2012 @ 9:15am
Kasey said | May 11th 2012 @ 9:15am | Report comment
Be very surprised if they choose anything other than West Sydney Wanderers FC playing in Red & Black(perhaps with white trim) . watching the forums that SBS have taped and put online and reading a couple of online football forums, it seems to be the overwhelming favourite combo amongst the potential fan base.
May 11th 2012 @ 9:27am
nordster said | May 11th 2012 @ 9:27am | Report comment
would be brilliant if they worked 1880 into the official name, even just the emblem if not the full name.
1880 West Sydney Wanderers, still known as West Sydney or Wanderers for common usage.
(might be a stretch on a technicality level but still a nod to the names origin)
May 11th 2012 @ 10:08am
Kasey said | May 11th 2012 @ 10:08am | Report comment
I think working 1880 into the team name, in the Germanic fashion, might be considered just a bit “try hard.” I’m no marketing expert, but I think just keeping it simple is something football needs to do here. Play on the traditions of the game without hitting people over the head with it. If they go with wanderers, at the unveiling remind the press corps of the 1880 Wanderers v Kings school link, but leave it as the loose link, without explicitly tying the new team to the 1800s. Names like Wanderers and Athletic just kind of sound right to our Anglo-centric cultured ears. Personally I’d love to see Wanderers as the official name and have the supporters propose some sort of terrace mascot like a Funnel Web Spider as their emblem in a similar way to how MVC appropriated the Eureka flag as ‘their’ emblem. I’m not sure Sydney football fans are that organised though.
May 11th 2012 @ 11:25am
nordster said | May 11th 2012 @ 11:25am | Report comment
as long as its tryhard euro then thats an ok kind of tryhard
but true though the WS market is more anglo than you’d assume on first glance. It has the middle west suburbs which is where many of the NSL/state league clubs are from … more euro influence … outer like penrith though more anglo.
May 11th 2012 @ 9:17am
striker said | May 11th 2012 @ 9:17am | Report comment
Gotta agree how do these names relate to the large ethnic communities that love the game with a passion, id rather west sydney FC than those british names, i know people who will not suport the club with those sorts of names.
May 11th 2012 @ 9:22am
Kasey said | May 11th 2012 @ 9:22am | Report comment
Glory sounded very naff when it first debuted, but is now an extremely valuable ‘brand’ and a valued part of football history in this country. The name has to be chosen to turn away the least amount of potential fans initially. the team’s success and play will then decide how the club develops. If the region is as hungry for football as the wisdom suggests, they’ll get behind it regardless. One of the names thrown around for AUFC back in 2003 was Adelaide Fire SC. I would have supported them as I was desperate for a broad-based club to follow in the NSL , but I much prefer the blander choice (if you consult marketing gurus) of ADL United and the nickname of the Reds which has grown more organically.
May 11th 2012 @ 9:21am
Tanu said | May 11th 2012 @ 9:21am | Report comment
This should all be left up to trendy marketers.