The Last Close Season Silly Thread.

[HawkMan]

The new season is upon us soon, so here's a silly idea to bow out the close season.  My brother is pretty sports savvy,  regular Arsenal watcher,  good golfer,  plays off a low handicap,  laps up the Olympics and Tennis and watches Yawnion, well okay he's got his faults! But he had NO IDEA what RL was.  He actually thought Union meant international competition and Rugby league was Union club matches. The public do get confused with union and league,  I regularly come across this,  we may all do. It's the word " Rugby" in both sports. Nobody confuses Basketball and Netball and they're similar sports. But supposing Netball was NEVER called that, but called British Basketball,  right from its inception,  yep British Basketball,  what confusion what reign now. " Basketball ? Sorry pal do you mean American or that British game"

So here's a question could TGG benefit from a total split from Union, even NAMEWISE, call it something else, nobody would ever confuse the two again.  This is just a bit of fun, it'll never happen,  but what would you call TGG ? It's not easy to think of something,  I've thought long and hard and come up with POWERBALL. Any ideas ?

[Padge]

"Sigh"

[GUBRATS]

Not again

[The Hallucinating Goose]

[Bearman]

Oh come on lads. Don't be so hard on him. After all this is the first thread on this this year. 

[HawkMan]

I did say this is for fun. But there's a serious point, people do get confused,  in the business world if a product isn't reaching the required number of customers a name change is an option, ie Marathon to Snickers. It's 100% certain in 2021 when the world cup starts some folks will be puzzled,  they'll wonder why there's a WC when the last was in 2019 in Japan. Some may even start watching thinking they'll see line outs and contested scrums. I'm not for one moment saying I want a name change and throw a hundred years of history under the bus,  but marketing strategists will tell you name changing is a valuable tool.

[Damien]

I know we have had this thread many times before but the points are valid. In an ideal world I think the game would have been better up coming up with a distinct name in 1895 to better differentiate itself. As is, 125 years down the line we are now stuck between a rock and a hard place. The term Rugby has been completely taken over by RU, and RL has let that happen, and we are now in a position where in the latest promo the tagline is " We play League" with no mention of Rugby. I argue with RU fans over the use of the term Rugby as much as anyone but I cant help but think that the game needs to better differentiate itself either. A name change is the obvious way to do that.

[The Hallucinating Goose]

20 minutes ago, HawkMan said:

I did say this is for fun. But there's a serious point, people do get confused,  in the business world if a product isn't reaching the required number of customers a name change is an option, ie Marathon to Snickers. It's 100% certain in 2021 when the world cup starts some folks will be puzzled,  they'll wonder why there's a WC when the last was in 2019 in Japan. Some may even start watching thinking they'll see line outs and contested scrums. I'm not for one moment saying I want a name change and throw a hundred years of history under the bus,  but marketing strategists will tell you name changing is a valuable tool.

 

[dkw]

 

[Wigan Riversider]

There's lawn tennis and real tennis

Royal rugby or real rugby

Rugby even

Silly suggestions granted

[dixiedean]

There's American, Canadian, Gaelic, Australian, Rugby League, Rugby Union, and Association.

All football...

[doc]

Thing is, how to we get Union to change its name?

[Futtocks]

I think it is pretty cute that the OP thinks this will be the last silly thread before the season kicks off.

[Tonka]

More than confusion we experience bias by those who think or want it to be the inferior game.  I had a colleague once who said something like, “rugby league oh that’s the rubbish one” to which I said “oh do you watch a lot?” and of course she never had.  Which I suppose isn’t her fault, she was taught somewhere along the line to believe it was rubbish.

But I think “rugby” is more than just a name, it identifies what the sport is and is about so I don’t really want to drop it from the title and I’m not convinced it would make much difference.

[MZH]

6 hours ago, HawkMan said:

I did say this is for fun. But there's a serious point, people do get confused,  in the business world if a product isn't reaching the required number of customers a name change is an option, ie Marathon to Snickers. It's 100% certain in 2021 when the world cup starts some folks will be puzzled,  they'll wonder why there's a WC when the last was in 2019 in Japan. Some may even start watching thinking they'll see line outs and contested scrums. I'm not for one moment saying I want a name change and throw a hundred years of history under the bus,  but marketing strategists will tell you name changing is a valuable tool.

I don't think too many people would disagree that it can cause confusion. Its just that this discussion has been done to death. It's a topic that pops up every few months on here. 

I wouldn't at all be against a name change so long as it is something that is true to our roots. So far everything I have ever seen suggested has been pretty naff. 

[Padge]

"Sigh"

The game is football, the code is rugby league.

The game is football, the code is association.

The game is football, the code is rugby union.

The game is football...

 

[Tonka]

Just now, Padge said:

"Sigh"

The game is football, the code is rugby league.

The game is football, the code is association.

The game is football, the code is rugby union.

The game is football...

 

Is it ###### though really

[Padge]

Just now, Tonka said:

Is it ###### though really

Well if you get past the sweary filter we may know what you are on about.