Irish Examiner view: No mileage in creating unnecessary offence 

A brand can become toxic because of transitions in public opinion

Exeter Chiefs logo was created 22 years ago. Picture: Tom Dulat/Getty Images

In many ways Irish sport is lucky in that it has no colonial or imperialist associations or branding. 

In the north there is a team called The Crusaders, playing in Belfast, but that is, more or less, it. Munster Rugby is just what it says, as are Leinster and the other provinces. GAA has local and county affiliations with nothing more self-aggrandising than the name of a community.

We are spared, therefore, the introspection which arises when, for what were once well-meaning marketing purposes, a brand becomes toxic because of transitions in public opinion.

In English Premier League rugby, Exeter, a powerhouse in recent years, find themselves in a bind because their image, created only 22 years ago, consists of a native American with a very fine war bonnet. 

Supporters enjoy a tomahawk chopping gesture when the Chiefs — the name they have used for more than a century and which preceded their new brand identity in 1999 — score a try, which they do frequently.

Now members of the club have been called to a meeting to discuss whether or not they should continue in this fashion.

Another club, Wasps, have accused Exeter of “cultural appropriation” which is a very 2020s phrase.

Stereotypes

The West Country team were quite relaxed until the National Congress of American Indians  complained about “offensive and dehumanising stereotypes” and “degrading” chants.

The man who invented the Native American branding and drove commercial expansion in Exeter now says that it should be abandoned for a fresh approach. 

“This is not a hill worth dying on,” he says. He is right.

There is no mileage in creating unnecessary offence in an interconnected world. One of the proposals for Exeter is to revert their identity to the Dumnonii tribe that occupied the local area from around the Iron Age.

That sounds like a very Irish solution. And a sensible one. Good luck to them.