Grinding the Rumour Mill

29th Nov 2011 | Posted by Simon Rafferty

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose

By any other name would smell as sweet."

Yeah it’s a quote, I guess most of you will know it or might have at least heard it? If not I’m prepared to admit it’s from a love story and a fairly tragic one at that. At first this might seem a bit odd but when you think about it as lame as it sounds we all have one thing we love in common and that’s Hockey or and more correctly I’d suspect for the majority of us more specifically the Cardiff Devils.

The thing about the quote from the love story up there is this in that love story both the lovers end up dead and to be honest I’m starting to worry that’s what’s going to happen to us here as well.

The Cardiff Devils… what does the name make you think of? I guess what’s I’m asking is what’s your favourite memory of the Cardiff Devils?

For me like lots of us it’s the Challenge cup win over Coventry in 2006 for me that was a magic game of Hockey. The Devils were down what was it like three goals after the away leg, the old rink sold out, loud and proud Cardiff Devils fans making noise all the way to end of the third period and all through overtime. It was brilliant and the team pulled off the win. Sure there are more nights and memories than that but that’s the one that keeps me coming back even to the dull games that almost foregone conclusion in a cold grotty tent.

Now and it sounds harsh take that memory away, take away your fondest memory of the Cardiff Devils.

Take away the Cardiff Devils name and all the memories and associations you have with the name? Would the rose still smell as sweet? Would we all still come back to the temporary rink week in and week out?

Because what I guess what keeps us coming back besides the game week in week out is the history of the club, it means something different to all of us but we all have that one special memory of the Cardiff Devils.

So let’s change the name? What does that do?

First off take down all the banners in the rink. Whatever the new teams called they aren’t that teams... those banners become the history of another team the Cardiff Devils.

League Championships
• 1989–90, 1992–93, 1993–94, 1996–97
Well they are gone.. That was the Cardiff Devils that won those.

Play Off Championships
• 1989–90, 1992–93, 1993–94, 1998–99
Sorry gone as well, it was the Devils again ( what happened to them they must have been good)

Challenge Cups
• 2005–06
Gone not our team.

British Knockout Cups
• 2006–07
Also gone, sorry..

While you’re doing that take down the retired numbers of past Cardiff Devils players. Those guys played for the Cardiff Devils not whatever our new team is called.

Take away the fact that the team was founded in 1986 and has won a total of 7 league titles. That’s gone because that’s not this team anymore that was the Cardiff Devils.

We now follow a new team with a new name and the history of that team starts today, I don’t know about you but it feels hollow to me. If that happened today I guess my new favourite memory of my new team would have to change?

Sure I have memories of the Cardiff Devils but that’s not the team that now plays in my home town, that’s a team that is no more. Does the rose still smell as sweet or sweet at all for that matter?

I’ve looked around for precedents for changing a team’s name to try and work out why you’d do it and to be honest I’m struggling to find an example where one day a team owner just said to himself right time for a change and just changed a name, name changes are usually associated with a move in the NHL it’s all about franchises, a dying franchise move somewhere else and the names changes, bags of examples of this.

• 1920: The Quebec Bulldogs moved to Hamilton, Ontario and became the Hamilton Tigers.
• 1925: The Hamilton Tigers franchise was dissolved and the player’s rights were acquired by the expansion New York Americans.
• 1930: The Pittsburgh Pirates moved to Philadelphia from economic pressures of the Great Depression and became the Philadelphia Quakers, lasting only until the end of the season before folding.
• 1934: The Ottawa Senators moved to St. Louis and became the St. Louis Eagles.
• 1976: The California Golden Seals, which played their home games in Oakland, moved to Cleveland and became the Cleveland Barons.
• 1976: The Kansas City Scouts moved to Denver and became the Colorado Rockies.
• 1978: The Barons franchise was absorbed into the Minnesota North Stars organization.
• 1980: The Atlanta Flames moved to Calgary; Atlanta was awarded an expansion team in 1999.
• 1982: The Colorado Rockies moved to East Rutherford, New Jersey and became the New Jersey Devils.
• 1991: The former Barons ownership splits off from the North Stars to return to the Bay Area with the expansion San Jose Sharks, comprising half the former North Stars' roster.
• 1993: The Minnesota North Stars moved to Dallas and became the Stars; Minnesota was awarded an expansion team in 2000.
• 1995: The Quebec Nordiques moved to Denver and became the Colorado Avalanche.
• 1996: The Winnipeg Jets moved to Phoenix and became the Coyotes.
• 1997: The Hartford Whalers moved corporate offices to Raleigh, North Carolina and became the Carolina Hurricanes. For two years they played home games in Greensboro while an arena was under construction in Raleigh.
• 2011: The Atlanta Thrashers moved to Winnipeg, becoming the latest incarnation of the Winnipeg Jets

But that’s North America; I know I know it’s not the same, the NHL has lots or money and we well we don’t. But they don’t change a team’s name.

So closer to home teams changing names..

What about AFC Wimbledon? They changed names when they moved from Wimbledon to Milton Keynes but to be honest that didn’t go all that well did it? All sorts of a mess about the clubs past honours and the legacy and that was in relation to a club that moved not a club staying in the same place.

The Newcastle Vipers are the closet example I can think of and that’s a nasty parallel to make really. Firstly they were the Newcastle Jesters then the Durham Wasps and then the Newcastle Cobras then Newcastle Riverkings then the Vipers but again there was lots of moving and they to be frank and as sad as it is just aren’t there anymore. I know there were lots of other problems but how much of this can be attributed to lack of team history or for want of a better term lack of loyalty to a brand. And that’s what it boils down to the marketing people will tell you that the biggest asset to any product is its Brand value.

To make an example let’s look at a massive global brand take Budweiser for example, it’s hardly a beer.. But yet it sells in massive amounts worldwide because there were some cool Lizards and some guys said Wassssaup (and probably the lizards as well) and before that a cool old guy played blues while a train rattled past. The beer itself is rubbish but the brand carries it our memory of the cool images and memories we have of the brand that’s been built reassures us that this is the beer for us even though its grim.

That’s the effect the Devils have now we remember what has gone before and that memory helps us base our perceptions of future performance and lets us put a value in what we get for out ticket money before we go all based on the brand, in “marketing” that translates into this

“A brand's equity therefore becomes part of the trade off a consumer considers as they first select their consideration set, then decide which product or service to purchase. That is, purchasers actively trade off both the perceived tangible benefits and the perceived intrinsic benefits delivered by products in their consideration set, against price, to arrive at their value hierarchy, and ultimately their purchase decision.”

Take away the Brands Equity, or to follow on from my example above put Budweiser in a plain white can with the word beer written on it and no one will buy it plain and simple. Worryingly that’s what changing the name of the Devils would more than likely do for many of us; it will remove 25 years of Brand Equity, 25 years of memories, and 25 years of loyalty.

I’m the first to admit I really don’t know if there is or isn’t a “plot” afoot to change the name of the team, but the rumour mill seems to think there is and although it was denied on a popular social network it’s still out there and it got me and in fact us thinking. A few of us have said that if the name changed and the history of the club went so to speak that they wouldn’t be so keen on coming anymore.

I will also admit I don’t know the thinking behind the idea of a name change. But and is petty as it sounds I don’t really care what that reason is it could be the soundest business decision ever; I really don’t know. I still really feel it’s a huge mistake.

If we are changing then I’d like to suggest “The Cardiff Raygun’s” or “The Tiger Bay Tigers” they are both equally ludicrous but they’d still fit in with the chant that we know already “Let’s go Raygun’s let’s go” or lets  “Let’s go Tigers let’s go “

I hope that this is all just an exercise in what if like what if we all woke up in backwards world, I really do. If it is nothing more than a rumour well done to whoever started it! Really I’m not being sarcastic (for a change) great rumour as it’s made a few of us and hopefully a few of you realize just how important the Cardiff Devils and what that represents to us is really is.