Badge or Crest?

[goldcoaster]

In the 90’s, most clubs departed from a traditional coat of arms style badge and went for the American-style mascot badge. But it seems nowadays more clubs are reverting back to traditional style badges.

We’ve seen Wigan, Hull FC, Wakefield and Salford revert back to an old-style badge (and Hull KR always kept theirs as is). While in the lower tiers the likes of Halifax, Fev, Oldham, Hunslet, Workington Town and Doncaster have moved back to a classic badge after briefly having a ‘modern badge’.

i think this is a great move and I hope more clubs adopt this. Most of our traditional Northern clubs are 120+ years old. The history in the badge should be enough of a selling point. Why trade that in for a cheap cartoon Rhino or Tiger? Sure, the expansion clubs can’t invent history, so I’ve no issue with them having American-style moniker. But I think our traditional clubs should market themselves on their history.

[doc]

I'm hoping, that when the Widnes 2020 strip comes out, the old badge will have gone, as it was from the previous useless regime. The town crest  and a new Vikings logo would be ok with me!

[Damien]

I agree and it is one thing that Union, in England anyway, has done well. When Rugby League jumped on the Americanisation bandwagon they did not and largely stayed clear of it. I think Rugby League clubs in particular have a long proud history and this should be a selling point, for me it just feels a little more prestigious, for want of a better word, and a little less tacky.

[Eddie]

The suffixes are dreadful, Saints did well to avoid them, who on earth thinks of Wigan as the Warriors for example. Wakefield Trinity sounds really cool and traditional to me whereas adding Wildcats makes them sounds like a high school softball team. 

[Tommygilf]

I like rhinos personally and always have. I understand though for other clubs its just not worked.

I wouldn't suggest that that could be reversed just by going back to a town crest though. I think the clubs aught to look to simplify and modernise any crest style badge so that it is easily identifiable in the digital age.

The Irish provincial RU sides have done a good job with it.

[Oliver Clothesoff]

I really don’t care, if I’m totally honest. I don’t follow a particular team because of their nickname or their badge. 

[Rupert Prince]

Well, its well known that King Arthur came to fight battles at celtic Wigan,  so the appelation "Warriors" is quite appropriate!!

For me, the various coats of arms look small, fussy and indistinguishable. 

[Tommygilf]

Just now, Rupert Prince said:

Well, its well known that King Arthur came to fight battles at celtic Wigan,  so the appelation "Warriors" is quite appropriate!!

For me, the various coats of arms look small, fussy and indistinguishable. 

I agree, clubs need to look at what a team like Fev have done with their crest and made it a blend between a traditional coat of arms and simplified it. I don't think its even the best example but it works better than the old one did at making itself distinctive.

[wilsontown]

I reckon Trinity have the best one - simple, traditional and instantly recognisable (well, at least if you follow RL).

For the mascot type of badge, I reckon ours is pretty decent.

[The Hallucinating Goose]

The kind of thing I like the most are simple images I think, certainly not anything cartoony. I love our crowns cos it is simple and a nice traditional image, Wakefield's Fleur de Lys is another great one. A simple image is instantly more recognisable and easier to remember I think. 

[Dunbar]

53 minutes ago, Tommygilf said:

I like rhinos personally and always have.

I am pleased that you see this as a safe environment where you can share these things.

[whatmichaelsays]

57 minutes ago, Tommygilf said:

I like rhinos personally and always have. I understand though for other clubs its just not worked.

I wouldn't suggest that that could be reversed just by going back to a town crest though. I think the clubs aught to look to simplify and modernise any crest style badge so that it is easily identifiable in the digital age.

The Irish provincial RU sides have done a good job with it.

Leeds have certainly worked hard at making the Rhinos brand stick. Bradford did the same with the Bulls. For certain generations of supporter, 'Rhinos' or 'Bulls' will mean more to them than 'Loiners' or 'Northern'.

Some clubs clearly rebranded without being invested in that new name - I think they reluctantly followed a trend or simply hoped that a new brand would stick without much work. 

That said, I'd definitely update the Rhinos crest to something more modern. 

[Harry Stottle]

I don't like Leigh's Centurions and never have done, it was I suppose novel in 1995 when they adopted it being the centenary of the game and Leigh being a founder member, but I suppose it is far better than the name that preceeded it, Leigh Bears, where the hell that came from I don't know, sorry Tommy if you are reading this but like the Rhino's I cannot see the relevance, my favourite of Leigh's was the town crest with Leigh over the top and simply R.L.F.C. beneath it.

[Eddie]

1 minute ago, Harry Stottle said:

I don't like Leigh's Centurions and never have done, it was I suppose novel in 1995 when they adopted it being the centenary of the game and Leigh being a founder member, but I suppose it is far better than the name that preceeded it, Leigh Bears, where the hell that came from I don't know, sorry Tommy if you are reading this but like the Rhino's I cannot see the relevance, my favourite of Leigh's was the town crest with Leigh over the top and simply R.L.F.C. beneath it.

I always assumed Centurians was because of Roman Centurians, and thought it was quite different and cool (for a RL suffix), am disappointed to learn otherwise!

[Harry Stottle]

Just now, Eddie said:

I always assumed Centurians was because of Roman Centurians, and thought it was quite different and cool (for a RL suffix), am disappointed to learn otherwise!

Sorry!

[overtheborder]

Yeah i agree here, not a fan of the nicknames - I'm against it as far as my club Wigan is concerned, I don't mind the odd "reds" or "blues" tag, but Salford for instance changing their name I'm just not a fan of at all.

[tuutaisrambo]

I designed the current fev badge a few years ago back when our marketing budget was pretty much zero.

I used to help out with Graphic design bits and bats here and there.

It's obviously a simplified progression of the town coat of arms we'd previously always used which they struggled to reproduce on some merchandise.

Some modern logos are quite nice.........Torontos is a good one........some like Huddersfield Giants is not so good.

[tuutaisrambo]

Worst rebrand ever has to be Halifax Bluesox

[Damien]

19 minutes ago, whatmichaelsays said:

Leeds have certainly worked hard at making the Rhinos brand stick. Bradford did the same with the Bulls. For certain generations of supporter, 'Rhinos' or 'Bulls' will mean more to them than 'Loiners' or 'Northern'.

Some clubs clearly rebranded without being invested in that new name - I think they reluctantly followed a trend or simply hoped that a new brand would stick without much work. 

That said, I'd definitely update the Rhinos crest to something more modern. 

At the start of Super League clubs were forced to, Saints getting an exemption for obvious reasons. Some embraced this more so than others. For some it just hasn't worked at all.

[tuutaisrambo]

Fev tended to chop and change with various logos over the years as you can see below........following the trend for NRL style logos mentioned we went with a Pirate (not to sure why).......think we only used it for 2 seasons.

When Davide Longo joined the club he rightly decided to pick a brand and stick with it and i think the current logo is pretty successful.

We also changed our mascot from a Pirate to 'Percy the Pit Pony' which makes more sense and has also been pretty well received.

 

[Angelic Cynic]

2 hours ago, goldcoaster said:

In the 90’s, most clubs departed from a traditional coat of arms style badge and went for the American-style mascot badge. But it seems nowadays more clubs are reverting back to traditional style badges.

We’ve seen Wigan, Hull FC, Wakefield and Salford revert back to an old-style badge (and Hull KR always kept theirs as is). While in the lower tiers the likes of Halifax, Fev, Oldham, Hunslet, Workington Town and Doncaster have moved back to a classic badge after briefly having a ‘modern badge’.

i think this is a great move and I hope more clubs adopt this. Most of our traditional Northern clubs are 120+ years old. The history in the badge should be enough of a selling point. Why trade that in for a cheap cartoon Rhino or Tiger? Sure, the expansion clubs can’t invent history, so I’ve no issue with them having American-style moniker. But I think our traditional clubs should market themselves on their history.

  You seem to have conflated the badge,and the use of the American name(s) to the sport of rugby league.

   

Quote

The first indication of an American influence in rugby league was the loss of traditional titles through the re-naming of individual clubs. Clubs added suffixes to their original titles to become the Rams, Hawks, Sharks or Wolves. Clubs like Bradford, previously known, as ‘Northern’ now became the Bradford Bulls, readily admitting their name change had been adopted from the successful USA basketball team, the Chicago Bulls.

  Taken from this excellent research and publication,from many years ago,proving that original thoughts and ideas never seem to emanate from this country.

  Our Canadian friends may wish to read this - http://shura.shu.ac.uk/3161/2/10697447.pdf

  Sheffield Eagles,who took the full name in 1984,long before Super League in 1996.Kudos to them.Have a new badge/crest/logo to be released shortly.The name remains the same. 

[Irish Saint]

I wish Saints would return to   R.L.F.C. instead of R.F.C.

[Eddie]

11 minutes ago, Irish Saint said:

I wish Saints would return to   R.L.F.C. instead of R.F.C.

Agreed, it makes it look like a Union badge. 

[Gooleboy]

13 minutes ago, tuutaisrambo said:

Worst rebrand ever has to be Halifax Bluesox

Wasn't Nigel Wood in charge when they came up with that?

[Tommygilf]

2 hours ago, Harry Stottle said:

I don't like Leigh's Centurions and never have done, it was I suppose novel in 1995 when they adopted it being the centenary of the game and Leigh being a founder member, but I suppose it is far better than the name that preceeded it, Leigh Bears, where the hell that came from I don't know, sorry Tommy if you are reading this but like the Rhino's I cannot see the relevance, my favourite of Leigh's was the town crest with Leigh over the top and simply R.L.F.C. beneath it.

No thats fair enough. I really think Leeds are out there in making Rhinos stick and as such we have chants etc around that name. Indeed in the city its probably helped us differentiate ourselves more clearly from Leeds United and on most of our merchandise/branding the Rhinos element is either equal to or more prevelant than the Leeds aspect in many ways. Of course thats not the same for all clubs and I appreciate some it just hasn't worked for. 

Wakefield Trinity for example is a classic name with a classic badge style. Cas and Bradford on the other hand are clubs that have embraced the identity.