Major League Rugby is creating a crisis for fans across America. And they are not only doing nothing to fix it, but they are intentionally allowing the problem to build up. This problem, naming teams after drinks that are copywriter by a single company. It all started in September 2018, when the revered Austin Herd rugby team announced that they would be changing their name to the Gilgronis.
The Gilgroni is a drink owned by Adam Gilchrist, the owner of F-45 gyms and creator of multiple knockoff drinks that are named after himself including Gilgroni, Gil Tai, Gilacolada, Gilgarita and Giltini. The last of which has also become a new rugby team hailing from LA.
Just about every rugby fan and their 21 dog-year-old dog has no problem with teams being named after a drink. Most think it’s even a good thing, seeing as every sport is filled to the brim with lions, tigers, bears, and the rest. Major League Rugby has done a great job of getting unique with team names including the Free Jacks, Seawolves and Legion. However, now that they’re naming multiple teams after drinks, it’s all downhill from here.
My problem with this is that Rugby is a growing sport in America. The future generation needs to be able to wear these jerseys, watch these games, and not feel left out when their parents are downing two or three corporate Gil-coholic drinks each game. The games I’ve gone to are filled with kids who are excitedly holding their team rugby ball in one hand and a bag of popcorn in the other, each one of them sporting a jersey of their home team. Imagine when this season starts, going to an LA Giltini game and seeing throngs of kids wearing the martini glass on their jersey. It just doesn’t seem to fit.
The other big problem, is it seems the underlying theme of Major League Rugby is becoming Adam Gilchrist drinks. It’s creating a big branding scheme that spans from Texas to California and who knows which Gil-coholic drink is going to be the Philadelphia mascot in 2022.
Overall, I have no problem with the MLR getting creative with their team names, but let’s keep it in a threshold where we can build up the following of young fans, the fans who will be playing professionally in 10-15 years. And please for the love of the rugby gods, let’s avoid turning entire team franchises into a marketing scheme for your knock off cocktails.
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