Is it time to change the name of the Waratahs?

[Rob42]

A bit harsh om the Wanderers, HW&C. The first recorded organised game of soccer in Australia was played between a team called the Wanderers and Kings School in Parramatta, so I think a very sensible choice of name.

 

[Hell West & Crooked]

Might be true, the Wanderers back then were probably a bunch of Poms... - but makes it only mildly less irrelevant in my book - Doesn't matter, because I am NOT suggesting that they change their name....

 

[Hell West & Crooked]

Perhaps they ought to have gone back to the first game in 1875, and called themselves the Western Sydney Lunatic Asylum?

 

[Hugh Jarse]

./...snip.../.

If they do that, You could call them the NSW "High Luminosity Large Hadron Colliders" and people would still turn-up to watch them play.

They could try to call them that, but people like me would find a way NOT to call them that. We'd shorten it somehow. It's what we do.

In your example I'd reckon they'd be the NSW "Hulks" or "Hilks" from HLLHC. This would also bring on board and help identify the NZ expat supporters. If we went for "Hulks", they'd tell their mates that they were going along to the Sudney Fotball Stadium to watch the Hilks play, and vice versa.

 

[Hell West & Crooked]

On that basis, we would need to find a name that has alot of 'e's and '6's in it....

It might be another reason why the Super Rugby won't expand: NZ could never market a 'Super Sux Teen' competition...

 

[Hell West & Crooked]

HIGH LUMINOSITY LARGE HADRON COLLIDERS 72
SOUTHERN SPEARS 10.

 

[Hell West & Crooked]

The state team was just known as "New South Wales", they had the waratah emblem, but the "Waratah" name was not used at all.

Not to be rude, but - How old are You? I have been following Rugby since the late 70s, and they were always the NSW Waratahs when I watched them.. (Its the QLD Team I can't remember - whether they called themselves the 'Maroons' or the 'Reds')...

In any case, in those days, the only time you were able to pull on a NSW Jumper was for the annual NSW-Queensland Game, or the odd run against a Touring Team - sometimes playing in a 'Sydney' jumper one week, and in a 'NSW' Jumper the next - but in essentially the same lineup.... Using the term 'Waratahs' was not always the primary emphasis back then - but it was referred to as a 'Waratahs Jersey' - if you were picked to play for NSW... Newspapers regularly reffered to 'Waratah Headquarters' when selection time came round each year...

Something has changed in Rugby since professionalism.. these slick marketing-types have encouraged teams to drop their regional names in order to appeal to a wider market - it seems not too bad in Oz Rugby, but in NZ the Crusaders used to be the CANTERBURY Crusaders, the Chiefs used to be the WAIKATO Chiefs, and to be fair - the Reds used to be the QUEEENSLAND Reds - (maybe they still are, in QLD). The All Blacks USED TO BE the New Zealand All Blacks...

The same has happened in NRL and AFL: The Roosters used to be Eastern Suburbs, The Bulldogs used to be Canterbury (Allanhu Akbar)! and The Kangaroos, and Bulldogs used to be North Melbourne and i dunno - was it West Melbourne? Then again... the Brumbies used to be the ACT Brumbies...

The Tahs have always been the Tahs, and tho I wish the commentators would include the past 100 years when they give Win-Loss records between NSW and QLD, they always will be and still Flatter to Disappoint Every. Single. September...