Rebranding the region!

[Milo]

Copied from the Argus Website!!!!



Time to be just 'The Dragons'
By Robin Davey


ALL IN THE NAME: Time to rebrand regional side
THE time has come to drop the words Newport and Gwent from the title of the professional rugby team representing this part of Wales.

It was fair enough during the initial difficult settling in period of regional rugby and I was all for retaining that particular title.

But now that the regions have become well established and, indeed, provided the foundation for Wales' Grand Slam it's time to move on.

I gather the Scarlets are considering dropping the name Llanelli from their title to coincide with the opening of their new ground.

The Ospreys are already well established and are making rapid strides on and off the pitch towards achieving their ultimate aim of being a major power in European rugby.

They are full of world stars on the pitch, their players dominate the Welsh team and they have appointed a major figure in Andrew Hore to run their overall operation.

Cardiff Blues are also moving into a new stadium sharing with their football cousins, so they ought to consider using the name Blues as their title.

As I say, I was initially all in favour of retaining the words Newport and Gwent to reflect some form of identity in the wider rugby world.

But by now everyone in the game knows the Welsh regions.

And in the interests of unity in south-east Wales adopting the name of Dragons is the best course of action now. Those in charge ought to make far more of an effort to embrace the region, though progress was made with a Dragons training session in Newbridge's open day yesterday.

Aother important step the current intransigent board ought to make is to invite established and well respected Gwent figures on to it to more fully reflect the region the Dragons represent.

There will always be the fanatics like those who want to retain the name of Newport in the title at all costs and also those who won't go to Rodney Parade because it's against their beliefs.

But we have to cut a swathe through all that outdated thinking and move with the times.

Former Newport centre/wing Gareth Evans said only last week in another context that it was time to move on from the seventies and that you can't keep on about that golden decade.

Well, it's a similar case with regional rugby and the names they go by. Let's be away with all the pettiness and let's begin to live in this century rugby-wise.

Judging by the comments we have received on the Argus website a number of people are coming around to the idea.

Maybe they are also mindful of all the teams Down Under in the Super 14 competition where they go by the names of Reds, Blue Bulls, Cheetahs, Highlanders, Western Force etc.

Good traditional old names like Transvaal, Taranaki and New South Wales are no more. So if it's good enough for them...

One thing which clearly isn't negotiable is the ground where the Dragons will play which has to be Rodney Parade especially with the £40m redevelopment into a 15,000 all-seater stadium going ahead and close to being granted planning permission.

The other grounds in Gwent aren't, with all due respect, capable of hosting top class professional rugby and if a lesser game like, say Connacht in the Magners League was granted to one of them they would probably take it as an insult anyway.

So even if Newport benefit as well from the redeveloped ground, which obviously they will do - they are hardly going to drift off and play at somewhere like Tredegar Park - then Rodney Parade will clearly be the headquarters of the Dragons for the future.

If some people in the Valley areas are not keen on that it's the price they will have to pay if they are to support professional rugby in Gwent.

So by the same token the Newport element, whether that be the supporters or the board, who are all Newport RFC men, should also compromise and drop the names from the title and just use the name Dragons.

Teams like Newport, Ebbw Vale and Cross Keys still exist anyway at a Premier Division level.

No-one is going to wipe Newport off the map.

It's a thorny subject I know, but even as a Newport person I firmly believe that we have go to move on now, live in the real rugby world and, in some cases, just bite the bullet.

I know I'm pretty pessimistic and critical about the Dragons, the way they are run, the lack of more top players in the side and many other things, but the people running it now won't be there forever.

Maybe one day things will change, new people will come in and not be turned away from the gates because of a fear of giving up influence and privileges, and things can finally change.

A first step towards future intent would be to change that name and adopting the simple name of Dragons going into a new era in a new stadium.

[Graham]

It isn't going to happen.

It would take an almighty effort to get anyone from the Valleys to follow the Dragons after everything that has happened. Rugby followers, like elephants, never forget. What on Gods green earth made these fools think that rugby followers from the Valleys would support a team called Newport? Was it lack of foresight? Was it just plain stupidity? No. It was probably just the arrogance that was prevalent at the time after couple of seasons of relative of success bought and paid for by Tony Brown.

As a result of many bad decisions, the Dragons are now struggling badly in terms of finance and (as a result) players and supporters. The support is poor and based on things that have happened this season will be even lower next season. Last season they conned a lot of people into buying season tickets on the promise of buying in some class players. That promise was broken despite the good faith shown by the gullible supporters, and as a result there are quite a few who have said that this is the last time they will buy a Dragons season ticket. Who can blame them?

Let's not beat around the bush here, they are the worst run region by a long way. I've thought about this lately and I'm going to stand by what I said some time back. If I'm going to go and watch a regional match, it will be the Ospreys. Granted, any money I pay there wouldn't go to what is supposed to be my own region, but if my alleged region wanted my money, they would have accommodated me in the first place and not as an after thought when they are in a mess and need all the help they can get.

Perhaps they should ask the 12,000 people who signed the petition to put Newport in the name to start turning up now. That should help.

It's too little, too late.

I feel a poll coming on.

[String]

Suspect the article is born more out of desperation than anything else.
No fans with a potentially very large fan base alienated. As a result no money and a poor squad with no real chance of changing that.

The problem is they burnt their bridges far too early. It would now take an awful lot of change to get people from outside newport supporting them. Even a full change of brand AND board i think would struggle as they've made too many enemies with their past actions.

[Milo]

I still cant see it attracting many valley supporters. Or at least they wont be getting a big influx of thousands there the day after they change it to just Dragons! In years to come maybe as the new generations come through but it will take more than a name change to persuade many of the current breed to pay through the turnstiles.

[Dil]

I hope they go bust and the franchise is given to someone else OUTSIDE of Newport.

Til then I'll keep cheering the Blues.

[Beaufort Boy]

They also want to change the colours too...
Blue would be great as with the Monmouth Colours...
OK we already have The Blues from The City BUT there are variations of the colour..
n'port & gwent gotta go too & also why say that no other ground can host top flight games?! bullshit!!
Pontypool & Ebbw Vale can...

[Jonny Bonkers]

On a recent visit (in disguise of course) to watching the Dragqueens and Ospreys I was very supprised to see many Ebbw supporters watching the game. And since my contact can offer me complimentary tickets I may be watching some more.

[Eye Jay]

In this month's Rugby World, Stephen Jones is suggesting just the opposite - that the teams should be just Newport, Cardiff and Llanelli, with no regional 'branding'.

[Dil]

And what the uck does Stephen Jones know about rugby ?

[html junkie]

On a recent visit (in disguise of course) to watching the Dragqueens and Ospreys I was very supprised to see many Ebbw supporters watching the game. And since my contact can offer me complimentary tickets I may be watching some more.

I'm guessing those Ebbw fans were supporting the Ospreys. Didn't you know that Blaenau Gwent is part of Greater Ospreylia?