THE GOOGLY: Phoenix, Spirit, Greats and Superchargers... what's in a name?

The story in the The Times revealing the name 'Oval Greats' appears to give us a full set for The Hundred, the ECB's new 100-ball competition which starts next summer. HUW TURBERVILL examines the thought processes that could have gone into the titles

Birmingham Phoenix based at Edgbaston

A phoenix is a fabulous bird reborn from the ashes of its earlier life. You can see what they are trying to do with this one at least then. They have elected to use Birmingham in the name, even though Warwickshire use it – as the Bears, in quite the pioneering move – in the Vitality Blast.

Yorkshire were called Phoenix in one-day cricket from 1999, provoking this reaction from Fred Trueman. “I think it’s ridiculous. As far as I’m concerned it’s Yorkshire, the greatest county cricket club in the world (only ‘county’, Fred? - Ed). We’ve done everything, we’ve won everything and this is bringing us down as a music hall joke. I’m an old traditionalist and to me this is just Americanising it all. Absolutely stupid.”

In 2006 they were just Yorkshire again, then from 2007–12 they were Yorkshire Carnegie. They are now Yorkshire Vikings, the name-change appropriately revealed at the Jorvik Centre in York. Yorkshire Phoenix is still the name of a Subbuteo club who meet every Wednesday at Heckmondwike Bowls Club.

Leeds Superchargers based at Headingley

A supercharger is “an air compressor that increases the pressure or density of air supplied to an internal combustion engine”. The connections to motor sport seem more obvious than to cricket. If you Google ‘Leeds Superchargers’ it appears the city already has some… ready to offer roadside assistance.

Interesting the administrators have gone for ‘Leeds’ in the title – potentially alienating people from Barnsley, Doncaster, Halifax, Huddersfield, Rotherham, Sheffield and so on – especially the football-minded ones.

One suspects they are hoping the name resonates with fans of the Indian Premier League – Chennai ‘Super’ Kings and the Deccan ‘Chargers’ (the latter dissolving in 2012). 

^{Fans have reacted in different ways to the names of the franchises}

London Spirit based at Lord’s

A reference to the famous ‘Blitz Spirit’? To the modern generation, spirit means booze though. Could they have gone for London Spirits, and had a ghost as their logo? Might have been fun. Quite a few names have been used up by other sports in the past, including: London Monarchs (American football); London Knights (ice hockey, Ontario); London Irish, London Scottish and London Welsh (rugby union); London Broncos (rugby league); Greater London Leopards/London United/London Capitals (basketball).

Weirdly there are no football teams that call themselves London something however…

Manchester Originals based at Old Trafford

A lot of wags referenced Werther Originals when news of this one broke in the Evening Standard. An accurate-enough name – after all, this new team is an original. “Belonging or pertaining to the origin or beginning of something, or to a thing at its beginning,” says dictionary.com.

It is difficult to find any other ‘Originals’ in sport – I did find the Originals Threat, a softball team based out of Blue Springs, Kansas City, Missouri. I just cannot imagine many fans singing “Come on you Originals!” It’s all a far cry from that Old Trafford favourite: “Lancashire, tra la la, Lancashire tra la la!”

Oval Greats based at The Oval

Apparently the ECB wanted London in the title, but Surrey said no. It is well-chronicled that the reigning county champions have not wanted much to do with this competition, but have seemingly accepted it with Oval in the title.

The Times’ Elizabeth Ammon wrote: “Surrey had rejected four potential names proposed by the ECB — London Fuse, London X, London Union and London Rebels — with the club eager to keep an element of the county’s identity in their Hundred brand.” X would have been fun maybe, like Professor X, or Malcolm X. London Rebels would have been accurate. Oval Reluctants also fits the bill. The Ovaltines would have opened up commercial opportunities.

The problem I have with ‘Greats’ is that something new cannot be ‘great’ as it has not done anything yet, no? A great is “a person who has achieved importance or distinction in a field”. It can also mean big though, and The Oval is English cricket’s largest stadium so maybe it works on that level.

There have certainly been lots of great players who have played for Surrey and Kent mind you.

Trent Rockets based at Trent Bridge

This one has had Notts fans puzzled. The sense is that they don’t want to call it Nottingham otherwise that would alienate fans from their partners Leicestershire. But where does ‘Rockets’ come from? One theory is that it could be a nod to the National Space Centre at Leicester.

Notts already use the Outlaws name as an allusion to Robin Hood. There could be possible tie-ups with basketball team, the Houston Rockets. Nottingham has famous sporting brands already, including Forest, County and the Panthers.

Welsh Fire based at Sophia Gardens

Presumably the ‘fire’ alludes to what comes out of the mouths of those dragons that used to roam the Welsh countryside. It was difficult to see how any name could placate fans of Somerset and Gloucestershire, who are Glamorgan’s Hundred partners.

Somerset especially feel enormously aggrieved after the success they have had in white-ball cricket, T20 in particular. The Westcountry has been disenfranchised and it is one of the most unsatisfactory things about The Hundred.

I wonder if there was a discussion about having nine teams, bucking the trend of the IPL and the Big Bash. You can see why they didn’t go for Cardiff, and Westcountrymen is not especially catchy. Go Wests? Bestie Westies?

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Southern Brave based at the Ageas Bowl

The concern here was always that calling this team Southampton would alienate fans from Brighton, Portsmouth and so on. Outside of cricket, there are the Atlanta Braves in baseball. The Berlin Braves play football, basketball, baseball, and running.

There is already a band called Southern Brave. “You may have heard about the boys, or even been to a show,” says their Facebook page.

“They are a band with obvious rock influences that seep into their live performances, with high energy and Red Dirt sounds that follow them everywhere they go. Southern Brave claims roots in the small North Texan of Celina.” Surely a cert to provide music on The Hundred’s opening night?

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