Exeter RC is an old and successful club. It was founded in 1871. It went down in history for good in 1905, when it hosted the first match of the New Zealand national team on English soil. At the County Ground Stadium, the guests crashed the Devon County team 55: 4. From that match, the nickname stuck to the New Zealanders.
Chiefs in 2020 became the best rugby club in Europe
The club did not take the name Chiefs until 1999, when it began to professionalize. Under this name, he was promoted to the Premiership and in the first season of the English Premier League he won the championship, defeating Bristol Bears in the final.
In 2020, Exeter Chiefs were the most successful ever with the European Champions Cup. In the final, they defeated Paris Racing 92.
The name Chiefs has aroused controversy for years, because the club used the head of an Indian chief in a large plume as its logo.
Logo Exeter Chiefs twitter.com/ExeterChiefs
Fans protest against the exploitation of Native Americans
Protests have increased in recent years. The club’s fans, who in 2020 started collecting signatures for a petition to the club’s authorities, protested against references to Native Americans. In it, they demanded an end to “the racist use of the image of Native Americans.”
The actions of the fans were supported by the local MP Ben Bradshaw from the Labor Party.
After a month, the club finally decided to respond to the fans. It is true that the name and logo remained, but the Chiefs decided to give up their mascot, the so-called Great Leader.
Another blow in the struggle for Native American rights was dealt by another Premiership club – Wasps. At the request of a fan from Coventry, activists demanded that Rugby Football Union – the English rugby federation – deal with the issue of allowing Exeter supporters to wear Indian plumes and make a characteristic gesture of the so-called Tomahawk Chop. Coventry activists said both could be perceived as “offensive”.
The matter was dealt with by the newly created Committee on Diversity and Inclusiveness at the RFU, but it did not issue any prohibitions.
Native Americans from the US are protesting and the club has finally buckled
Finally, in November, the National American Indian Congress issued an open letter to the English rugby club. He called for the abandonment of the logo with the head of the Indian chief, forbidding fans to wear plumes and abandoning such names on club facilities as “Wigwam Bar”. Congress believes that the continued use of such things perpetuates “dehumanizing stereotypes” about Native Americans.
The club replied that it would take care of the case, but they had to wait until January 27 for a decision. It was then that Exeter Chiefs announced that the club logo would change as of July 1, 2022.
Activists cleverly decided to keep the former name Chiefs, but now it is meant to refer to the ancient Celtic tribe that lived, among others, the territory of the present Devon County – Dumnonów. Therefore – after consulting with historians from the local university – the place of the Indian chief was taken by a Celtic warrior from the Bronze Age. The term “Leaders” could therefore remain, because it also refers to the chiefs of the Celtic tribes.
Celtic warrior – the symbol of the Exeter Chiefs club twitter/ExeterChiefs
“We are excited to welcome a new era of rugby to Exeter,” said club president and CEO Tony Rowe. Exeter is and will always be the most important term in our overall identity. But the term Chiefs is just as deeply rooted in our tradition, going back over a century when teams in the region regularly called their first teams Chiefs. We are Exeter, we are Chiefs!
Rowe added that the rebranding would cost the club about half a million pounds.
It’s not the first club in the world that. The most significant changes in this respect took place in the USA. The NFL American football team Washington Redskins is now called the Washington Football Team. MLB baseball team – Cleveland Indians will be playing as Guardians from the new season.
Source: Sport
Tristin is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his in-depth and engaging writing on sports. He currently works as a writer at 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the sports industry.
