The Gold Coast Suns. That was the name being floated for the AFL’s 17th club yesterday, with the claim items with the name have already been printed and the revelation the AFL have bought a number of domain names relating to the title.
When you throw in the fact this year’s membership campaign has “Rise Up” as its theme, the dots practically join themselves.
Gold Coast did not confirm the rumours, it should be said. But that’s exactly what you’d expect from a club selling tickets to next Thursday’s guernsey and nickname unveiling for $175 per head.
While nothing is expected to be official until then, the prospect of a “Suns” in the AFL became a big talking point yesterday.
As you’d expect, there were those in favour of it and those that weren’t. Surprisingly, there was a pretty healthy level of support from those in favour, which is something of a rarity when new clubs announce their new names – especially when those names are perceived to be “too American”.
The Suns name has its origins with the NBA’s Phoenix Suns but has also featured locally in the NBL with the Townsville Suns, who later had to change their name to the Crocodiles after a trademark dispute with their Phoenix-based counterparts. You would like to think the AFL have ensured such issues won’t come up again, if this is the name they go ahead with.
The name seems to be a natural enough fit for the new club, however. The sunshine is definitely one of the things outsiders would associate with the Gold Coast and given a Queensland sporting franchise has already seen fit to use the name, there’s a good chance it will resonate with the locals as well.
And from a personal viewpoint, the fact the nickname is plural provides another plus. Non-plural nicknames are very hard to pull off, with the A-League’s Melbourne Victory being an exception rather than the rule.
One potential downside to the name will be finding a suitable mascot. Somehow one doubts a Jackie Moon-inspired look would suffice. More realistically, the club will probably be stuck with something along the lines of Fremantle’s surfer boy mascot, who doesn’t resemble that club’s nickname, which wouldn’t be ideal.
But overall, the name seems to be a pretty decent choice. Some of the options might have seemed more appealing, but the club could do a lot worse than Suns. Even then, it will probably seem a bit more natural once we’re all used to it, another thing that is typically the case when new clubs unveil their branding.
It will be interesting to see how Gold Coast respond to the question of how they came to choosing the name, however.
It should be remembered that the club has already held one dinner to supposedly announce its name. At that time, they left fans hanging with the “Gold Coast Football Club” title and said they wanted a nickname to evolve over time, and for supporters to drive it and not the club. How much influence supporters have had this time around remains to be seen.
For a club that has handled most aspects of its development with a pleasing level of professionalism, the handling of the name and colours – something else that might change next week – doesn’t appear to have come along so seamlessly.
But we’ll be able to dissect this side of the debate more thoroughly after next week’s announcement.
For the time being, it’s looking very much like the Gold Coast Suns will be the side that runs out next year. It might take some getting used to, but for mine, it’s not such a bad choice.
Football United
Roar Pro
siam you're thinking of
Frank Acariatre
Guest
In keeping with several other AFL clubs a name after a bird would have gone down well. What about a local one such as the Spangled Drongos. A terrific looking bird.
Brett McKay
Guest
Michael, I'd have to say 'Suns' is the best of a bad bunch there... If they get Ablett they could maybe, legitimately, go with 'Gold Coast Star', but I'm sure they wouldn't want to paint themselves as a one-man team...
Mega
Guest
Stars is awful and has no significance to Gold Coast. It'd stick with Suns over Surf.
Michael DiFabrizio
Expert
Got a bit of an "exclusive" update, if you want to call it that. Some searches today have confirmed the AFL have (at least) three names registered under a number of different domain names. Other than the Suns, these names include the Gold Coast Surf and Gold Coast Stars. Examples of these domains are: gcsurf.com.au, gcsurf.com, gcstars.com.au, goldcoaststars.com.au and gcstars.com. Curiously, all the ".com" domains were registered on 17 May, including those featuring the Suns name. All the ".com.au" domains were "Last Modified" yesterday, including those featuring the Suns name. For those wanting to run their own searches, you can use: http://www.austdomains.com.au/whois.html and http://whois.ausregistry.net.au/whois/whois_local.jsp?tab=0&t=1279258423943 This falls in line with the AFL's comment today that three names have been shortlisted, although it doesn't explain the (rumoured) printed material with the Suns name on them or why GC didn't use the excuse of having three shortlisted names yesterday. So ... would you prefer the Gold Coast Stars, Gold Coast Surf or the more likely candidate, Gold Coast Suns?
Mega
Guest
Sorry to say but you got the rough end of that deal. As a Tigers fan, I like how things have worked out at present ;-)
Redb
Roar Guru
Now your just rubbing it in Mega. :-)
Mega
Guest
Ironic that Essendon is coached by a Richmond great and Richmond coached by an Essendon great.
Redb
Roar Guru
yes in hindsight not picking Hardwick is a shocking decision. Hardwick has all the elements you want to see in the Essendon side, bit a toughness at the ball, uncompromising, etc. (of course now he is not available) They say teams play like their coach. ;-) We miss Hille a lot.
Art Sapphire
Guest
I would have preferred Hardwick. I've been looking for that Delorean but have had no luck :(
Redb
Roar Guru
Mega, Should Knights be rolled in aircraft fuel and burned at the stake: The perfect scenario for a Bombers fan.... James Hird - Coach Mark Williams - Assist Coach/mentor
Mega
Guest
Redb, would you be happy if Essendon got Mark Williams?
Redb
Roar Guru
We lose Saturday night by 6 goals plus and Knights will be sacked. We won't .
Art Sapphire
Guest
redb - we better not lose that one, otherwise the members will burn their membership cards and throw Knights into the fire. People forget that Essendon, were like the suffering Richmond supporters back in the 70's
Redb
Roar Guru
Loving the Tigers at the moment. Never thought I'd enjoy watching Richmond and Hawthorn do well. :-) As for Ablett, no doubt the AFL is secretly hoping he goes, but its a clear need for GC to have some experienced top talent and not bad if it drops the Cats down a peg or two. Anyway I''ll be there Sat night against the Eagles. Go Dons
Art Sapphire
Guest
I agree redb - there is so much football on the telly these days, I reckon punters are getting fussy with what's on the menu. I also reckon Fox Sports ratings are up because they don't show ads. Why watch the saturday night game on Ten when you have uninterrupted coverage on Fox. This is why the Suns (good name by the way - on topic) will get more viewers if Ablett is playing for them. More so than Hunt. This is why I tune to watch Franklin and Rioli run around even though I don't like Hawthorn.
Harvey the Scouser
Roar Guru
if every team was doing well, ratings would go through the roof!
Michael C
Roar Guru
as Redb covered below, re the 'friendly' teams, most certainly - - which hit's us North Melb folk (Friday night footy pioneers) all the harder. GC and GWS will be interesting for the first few rounds, and then first couple of years. And Folau and Hunt still may turn out to repay in full many times over (or not). If they both can adapt and do okay, and their sides can be at least competitive with signs of improvement (hope for the future), then, again ..... who knows.
Michael C
Roar Guru
btw - Channel 7's Friday night football audiences are down 8.9 per cent, from an average of 462,000 last year to 421,000 this season. But the quality of games on Foxtel's Saturday night coverage has seen its figures jump by as much as 20 per cent. so, it's not all bad. Depends how numbers are broken down. What we need is a broken down update on the NRL from this report after the first 10 rounds which indicated : -Free-to-air television ratings riseof just two per cent in Sydney, -while Brisbane was down 12 per cent -and regional down9 per cent. -Fox Sports ratings were dodownwn 12 per cent. That was only back at Round 10, not that long ago. An update would be good????? So, if I read that the AFL FTA Friday night is down 8.9% but the AFL Sat Foxtel is up 20% you start to see that there's a little more to the story when viewing the NRL picture above.
Redb
Roar Guru
Art, I'll have to correct you, neither Ablett or TV ratings has been mentioned in this article. Anyway I gave you a fairly considered and well thought out response. :-) Essendon has not helped, the ANZAC Day game was terrible on all counts. Every time Collingwood plays on Friday Ngiht, the ratigns go up for sure. Bulldogs (low fanbase), Saints (terrible style), Geelong (mid fanbase), but win too often for neutrals and that is your potential top 4. Hawks good to watch, really good to watch. Essendon and Carlton not helping as their fanbase is pretty p1ssed off! The AFL needs a strong Crows and Eagles as well for TV ratings. The perfect combo for Tv ratings would be Ess, Coll, Carl, Rich, Haw, WCE, Crows, Sydney and Brisbane with good teams. Anyway , a good smack in the gob now and then is healthy for the AFL, dont you think?