Published: 09/02/2010 17:02:09 | Modified: 09/02/2010 17:05:16
Author: Paul Bolton | All Contributors
No conflict between Hants and Worcs on nickname
Worcestershire have no objection to Hampshire using their own existing Royals nickname in one-day cricket this season.
Hampshire will change their name from Hawks to Royals as part of their historic tie-up with IPL franchise side the Rajasthan Royals, and they will do so with Worcestershire’s blessing.
“We have no issues or problems with that at all,” said Worcestershire’s chief executive Mark Newton.
“Hampshire contacted us last week out of courtesy to inform us what was happening and we are grateful to them for that.
“When I arrived at the club I checked out the copyright situation and was told that we could not copyright the name Royals. The only thing we could copyright was a badge or logo.”
Newton knows a thing or two about sports clubs’ nicknames from his days as director of marketing of Rugby League’s Super League competition.
Part of the successful re-branding of a traditionally northern sport was to persuade clubs to adopt nicknames, though they most have little local relevance.
You don’t often see a rhino in Leeds or a tiger running wild in the mean streets of Castleford, although wolves may well have once roamed Warrington.
But Rugby League fans and the media appear to have embraced the new monikers more enthusiastically than in county cricket where regular changes of nickname have not helped.