The Club Name

[Dave Naylor]

We had a thread earlier in the year about the club logo/name etc but I thought I'd raise it again as a new topic.

 

The present Oldham club is about to enter into its 20th season and there are plans being developed to celebrate that anniversary.  That's going to involve a degree of marketing and as always, the stumbling block is how the heck do you market a Roughyed.

 

Back in 1997 the club either allowed itself to be labelled with the Oldham Roughyeds title or it was an assumption people made in the absence of any other random beast or thing to call us.  It's sort of stuck around ever since and it's easy to play along and call the club that too.     

 

I like being a Roughyed and as we know it means more than being a supporter of our home town's rugby league club.  It's a generic nickname of people from Oldham and also the longstanding nickname of the rugby club too: The Roughyeds.  I wouldn't want to see the name completely discarded but it should be consigned to its nickname roots.  Think Warrington Wolves -> Wire, Widnes Vikings -> Chemics and then Leeds Rhinos -> Loiners, etc etc.

 

In truth I prefer plain old Oldham RLFC, even just the original Oldham FC, but I'm prepared to accept that we live in different times and maybe we should embrace something new.  It'd be great to have an identity that we can splash all over marketing material, push out to kids and try and draw in new fans of all ages.  

 

As a start I'm personally on a crusade to stop the Oldham Roughyeds name becoming any further embedded in rugby league culture.  I'll use just Roughyeds as a hashtag on social media for now but not Oldham Roughyeds, because that's not the  name of the club.  There's actually a move at Wikipedia to have the club page there moved over to Oldham RLFC.  That wasn't started by me but I've dived in to try and rally to the cause.

 

Long term though we should have something else.  I've been trying to dream something up that reflects the history of the town and it's inhabitants.  It's hard work to get something out of a cotton mill heritage so I'm disappearing off at tangents in my thoughts and coming up with all kind of weird and wonderful names.  I appreciate adopting something new is going to ruffle a few feathers but if we ended up being Oldham Jetstream or Oldham Buffaloes and that brought people through the door, that'll do for me.

 

Anyone creative enough to come up with a killer theme?

 

 

 

 

[thinboyfat]

As I've said before Dave....Griffin's as on the town coat of arms.

[tandle]

we had Oldham bears once look where that ended up so leave well alone and just look forward to next season

[BryanC]

Generally provokes an "Oldham what?" reaction from outside the game.

 

The club is steeped in history and heritage and doesn't need bears, griffins, owls, roughyeds, chickens, squirrels or anything else.

 

OLDHAM R.L.F.C is all it needs to be.

 

Simple, meaningful and beautiful.

 

Let's go back to basics.

[Tony Mac]

Hi Dave, I'm with you on this as I too believe that we have to try and attract new fans. The name had to have good marketing potential - just look at the Rhino for Leeds. My Grandchildren always enjoy Roary and this is the sort of thing that keeps the youngsters returning.

Some of the names I've thought of that might fall into this category are things along the lines of The Oldham Raptors/Velocoraptors, the Oldham Orcas (Killer Whales to you) or, on the town heritage theme, The Oldham Owls. I also think that it is a great pity that we couldn't use The Oldham Bears again as I have very fond memories of Braddy playing the bear. One other name that came to mind when we were first reformed was the The Oldham Phoenix which could have depicted us rising from the ashes.

There are others I'm sure but I think the main thing is having a name that is marketable.

Really hope this comes off and please keep us all in the loop will you.

[The Art of Hand and Foot]

Personally I like Roughyed. And it can be promoted.Honestly it can! When we beat hull kr the national tv news read out the result and the newsreader said what great name name for a rugby club. The world is full of rovers, warriors, uniteds , bulldogs, devils and hornets. But there's only one roughyeds.

I envisage a logo using the head of a helmeted warrior/fighter. Looking tough. A true Roughyed. Maybe the helmet could have the semblance of a scrum cap/saxons helmet. Those of you who may not know, oldham was once owned by a knight hospitalier of the order of St John, who bounded the area with 7 crosses. Hence why cross st is so called. So maybe a knight of St John.

[tandle]

I agree aht.

there are no rhinos in leeds.

there are no vikings in widnes.

there are no wolves in warrington.

there are no red devils in Salford.

there are no tigers in Castleford

there are no wildcats in wakefield.

but there are a lot of roughyeds in Oldham.

[AmigoTopping]

It's Oldham FC for me

[tandle]

so you are a latics fan are you  not doing so good but never mind

[eclecticsheep]

Roughyeds is unique, and, it doesn`t have to mean anything to be marketable...the "Yeds" is also uniquely recognisable...If it aint broke.....

 

ahem.....

 

Stalybridge Roughyeds....

 

 

Ill get my coat.....

[TOSH1960]

I understand the incentive to market the club better. I also see the need to attract more new and younger fans but whatever the new name, we will always be the Roughyeds or the Yeds. 

[Connor mcb]

Roughyeds can be good for marketing because it creates curiosity if I saw the word roughyeds for the first time it make you think what is that? Then bam they are through the turnstile to check it out but . Oldham owls bears bunnyrabbits don't create the same curiosity

[eclecticsheep]

Owls...Owls...Nay lad nay!!!

 

though (sticks tongue firmly in cheek and puts helmet on) there might be some mileage in Oldham Academicals....

 

You saw what I did there didn`t you...LOL!

[AmigoTopping]

so you are a latics fan are you  not doing so good but never mind

 

Latics fan??!! we existed before the football club. We should use Oldham FC again

[ultimate roughyed]

Whilst we're in the Championship, keep it traditional as that where the strength lies in this division. A lot of long standing, old historical clubs........Halifax, Featherstone, Hull KR, Batley etc. Roughyeds is unique, actually has a historic meaning to the town and as TAOHAF says, it can be marketed with his fine example.

[howardm1978]

Personally really don't like bears, bulls etc... Sounds a bit daft for a rl side to me. If anything though I'd want Oldham Pennine Raiders or similar. Agree that the Roughyeds name should be a nickname

[craigfev]

Really there is no need to change. The Bears was a bit daft. Oldham Athletic are known well by everybody. Especially for their time in the Premier league and their heroic Cup runs. The Rugby team have always been known as the Roughyeds. Does not matter if you revert back to Oldham RLFC or stay with that in the title. Everybody knows and respects who you are. Just try to stick with a traditional old style kit this coming season. More people should get to Stalybridge. It is a neat ground.

[roughyed34]

I'm pretty sure the official name is Oldham RLFC and the Roughyeds title that seems to be tagged on to us is still actually a nickname but seems to be used as though it is the official club name. Ask CH Dave,he will know? Personally I don't want any of the American style names that have nowt to do with the town's, when was a Viking or a Wolf ever sighted in Widnes or Warrington.

Maybe one answer is to leave the club name and badge alone and attract the young fans with a sort of junior section adorned with Roary the Roughyed on some merchandise and marketing in schools etc.

As long as the proper club badge don't get messed with, with some modern bear or some other contrived cartoon thing it ain't no big issue to me. We will always be the Roughyeds no matter what. I can't see why,for people over say for the sake of argument 14, a new moniker would attract more support from the teens up.

The club needs to drum up support in Tameside and Oldham, unless you know there is a game on there are no flyers/adverts etc to advertise the sport.Im not sure wether it's a case of a name change or wether the club need to blanket Oldham and Tameside with offers on tickets and adverts in local press/pubs etc.

We have a huge generation gap at Oldham, majority of the crowd in my opinion is 25+ or maybe more. For the club to thrive in years to come we do need to get the kids interested again,by whatever means we can. How we actually achieve that is the conundrum.

[roughyedspud]

Aye..offically we are OLDHAM RLFC

Roughyeds is just a nickname

[moorside roughyed]

I like the roughyeds, we've always been the roughyeds. Most people in the game know the nickname. Why invent some phoney cheesy nickname that no one's heard of.Oldham bears was bad enough. Agree with 34 that roary needs to be used to get more of the younger generation involved with the club.

[LittleboroRoughyed]

I brought my 5yr old for the first time last season and he enjoyed it and loved Roary. He also liked playing with the other kids but there were only about 6 others throughout the season. Average age of fans must be 40+. If they did more kids stuff he'd get involved and I'd cough up more cash. Need to get into schools and market the club.

[Daz H]

Changing the name of the club will do nothing in attracting new supporters, keep to what we have been known has Oldham Rlfc and Roughyeds has our nickname, what is needed is what everybody has been screaming out for god knows how long, proper marketing, there is a huge area for potential new supporters in both Tameside and Oldham, get into the local schools and sell the great name of this club.

[howardm1978]

When I first started as a kid, I was a junior roughyed and got in for 50p I think it was. It might just be a nice idea to do a modern equivalent of the old junior membership for younger fans.

 

Tameside FM should be mentioning when home games are at least.. I know Oldham Community Radio devote a lot of their airtime to the club which is great but not sure of exposure outside of Oldham.. 

[Ex-scrumhalf]

Personally I hate the name Roughyeds and would welcome a change to something more modern or even as some have said simply Oldham FC. It has served Hull well enough. As a kid I remember all the nicknames clubs had like Widnes The Chemics, Leeds The Loiners etc but I still cannot remember Oldham being called Roughyeds. Oldham FC will do fine for me but if a new modern name will attract younger fans then so be it but Roughyeds is terrible and I don't think anyone in or outside the game has a clue what it means except Oldhamers.

[roughyed34]

As far as I know ,since I started going in the 70s the Roughyeds nickname was around then. A quick look at some sources refer to "the Roughyeds" in the early 50s. Be interesting to know when the Roughyeds nickname was born exactly,im sure one of the trust members could enlighten us. The name of the club really isn't an issue, it's simply Oldham RLFC, that's how it should stay imho. Oldham FC is too likely to cause confusion with most association football clubs using that suffix. The RL part of it says we are a Rugby League club and provides an identity. I honestly don't see how a name change will attract new fans, people need to be part of a club, bring back a junior supporters club, market the club all over, expand the current supporters association to involve more communities with events that they can feel part of. I love being a Yed, it's a unique name which ,and this may surprise folk ,people outside of Oldham in the RL world do know who we are.

PS. If the club do want a total name change, maybe the answer is to hold a vote over the first 2 home games next season, give people the proposed names on a ballot sheet and let the supporters vote democratically? Just a thought and may provoke a bit of extra interest through the gate?