The rumour mill has eventually caught up with social media and the word has finally hit the street that Gloucester may become the “Gloucester Lions”. A friend of mine who supports a pesky little Coventry team that simply doesn’t have the history of Gloucester suggested it should be “Gloucester Gonads”. I suggested perhaps they call their fans “The Tannoys” given they only react when the tannoy tells them to; such are the dizzy heights of rugby abuse in comparison with events twixt rival football fans in Cheltenham over the weekend.
Let’s face it, there are worse names than “Gloucester Lions”. We have the Lion’s Den and Lions on our badge (although truth be told I thought they were Griffins!) and now we have a head coach who formerly took the Golden Lions to greatness, so the connection between Gloucester and Lions is already well established. So why not? Especially if there is a significant sponsorship deal in it.
We can look at other sponsorship deals that have really come to nought. Green King is embarrassingly still never mentioned when we discuss The Shed. As I predicted when the deal was announced, the first home televised game of the season the commentators will mention it briefly and it was forever thereafter forgotten. Certainly Green King might well think they are getting their monies worth from the roof long banners; and who would deny them that?
To any old Gloucester fan the 21 Bet is now and always will be The Tump End or perhaps West Terrace. I confess, I was trying to recall it’s name to a relative newby at the game on Saturday and had to turn and look for it’s current incarnation. Perhaps the Mira is more established (but for how long) but is still referred to as the South Stand. The Stowford (currently) is inevitably The East Stand.
If Gloucester have been trying to keep it a secret it seems they have failed massively. Especially according to the Twitter feed of …….
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MAJOR RUMOUR: I was sent the first message two days ago in a group chat completely unrelated to rugby from an American and made nothing of it. I have now received the second message tonight. This is either an elaborate hoax or A. J. Gallagher is causing a massive upheaval…
Along with what seem to be some early images of potential changes to the club crest….
Now, I must confess. I heard rumours around two weeks ago that something was in the air. It came from a reliable source and I was asked to keep quiet, which I did. Today there are rumours flying all over the place so it seems the cat is well and truly out of the bag.
Now here’s the thing. There is a long and proven, tried and tested method for trying out ideas before launching them as a fait accompli. You simply tell lots of people and ask them to keep it quiet. As word gets around, and with social media you can guarantee word will get around (Gloucester fans have never really been well known for their reticence in making their feelings known) you will get a feeling for how that idea is being accepted. A muted response effectively gives you the go ahead for what may have been thought of as an idea that you might have thought would possibly be unpalatable.
And then there is the “soft launch”. Releasing a new product or idea to a limited audience in advance of a full launch. This enables your audience or customer base to grow used to an idea, especially if you soft launch it to a group who are positive to the idea and have extensive social media followings; those that may be viewed as “leaders” in the marketing world.
Certainly this has the feeling of these tactics. A deliberate “secret” release of information to see how we take to it.
To be frank I’m not sure which it might be, whether the rumour is true or not. For my money I think it is. And if it is there has to be some money behind the idea so surely it’s generally a positive thing, isn’t it? We are already associated with Lions. Lions are strong & fierce (so surely better than the rumours of the Bristol teddy bears). And it won’t really impinge on our identity as fans.
And let’s be honest, similar to “The Green King Shed” there ain’t no-one going to be shouting “Lions, Lions, Lions” at Kingsholm. So let’s take the penny and keep singing “Glawster, Glawster, Glawster!”
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