We live in an era in which the brand is everything. Nothing is more integral to a club’s brand than its name. Name changes occur very rarely, if only because supporters resent them.
There are three main sets of circumstances in which a name change occurs. One is when a club moves. When Arsenal moved north of the river it no longer made any sense to call them Woolwich Arsenal. More controversially, when the Wimbledon ‘franchise’ was acquired for Milton Keynes, the new club took the name MK Dons.
We live in an era in which the brand is everything. Nothing is more integral to a club’s brand than its name. Name changes occur very rarely, if only because supporters resent them.
There are three main sets of circumstances in which a name change occurs. One is when a club moves. When Arsenal moved north of the river it no longer made any sense to call them Woolwich Arsenal. More controversially, when the Wimbledon ‘franchise’ was acquired for Milton Keynes, the new club took the name MK Dons.
However, when Clyde moved from Glasgow to the new town of Cumbernauld, they retained their old name. Naming clubs after a river may suggest a broad appeal, but it didn’t work for Thames who appeared and quickly disappeared in the Football League in the inter-war period. One wag even suggested that Charlton should re-branded as Estuary.
The second set of circumstances is when there is a merger. An example in the Scottish Premier League is Inverness Caledonian Thistle, combining the names of the two clubs that came together, although they are often referred to as ‘Caly’. When Rushden Town was merged with Irthlingborough Diamonds, the new club was called Rushden & Diamonds. Their theme song was at one time ‘Diamonds are Forever’, but sadly this proved not to be the case.
The third set of circumstances is when the name is changed for purely marketing reasons. A case discussed here recently is that of AFC Fylde, formerly known as Kirkham & Wesham. The ambitious club felt that having the name of two small Lancashire towns might put off fans they hoped to attract from elsewhere in the area.
Hull City had their attempt to change their name to Hull Tigers rebuffed by the Football Association, but they have now been told by an independent panel that they can try again next year. The panel found that the original ruling gave too much weight to objections by supporters. The full reasoning behind the decision, which will please the club’s owners but disappoint many supporters, can be found here.
However, the all comers’ record for name changes is held by Combined Counties League outfit Mole Valley SCR who are changing their name to Sutton Common Rovers. The club was formed in 1978 as Inrad FC. After that it became Centre 21 [?] and then Sutton Common Road [sounds like a railway station]. The name then changed depending on the sponsor: SCR Plough, SCR Kingfisher, SCR Litten Tree and ASCR Kingfisher.
When they entered Saturday football, they dropped the names of the various pubs that had sponsored them, but think that the new name would help sponsorship.