Christchurch Crusaders rugby team has been fighting on the pitches of New Zealand for 13 years, but is now considering a rebrand. After March’s mosque shootings, some say the name conjures up images of religious conflict. The Crusaders’ name and iconography – knights on horseback – were adopted as a nod to Christchurch’s English heritage. However, New Zealand Rugby (NZR) chief executive Steve Tew said on Wednesday that the symbolism “is offensive to some in the community due to its association with the religious Crusades between Christians and Muslims.” Also on rt.com Australia threatens tech giants with jail, fines for spread of violent content after Christchurch As such, the team is now hiring a research company to assist with arebrand. “Maintaining the status quo in terms of the Crusaders name… is no longer tenable because of the association with the religious Crusades that has now been drawn,” Tew explained. “That is therefore not one of the options that we will be considering.” Mosque killer Brenton Tarrant daubed his weapons with Crusades-related graffiti before gunning down 50 worshippers at two mosques in Christchurch last month. One of his rifles bore the name Charles Martel, the Frankish Duke who defeated Arab forces at the Battle of Tours in 732, preventing them from marching further north into France. Tarrant’s manifesto also asked “What would Pope Urban II do?,” a reference to the 11th Century pontiff who launched the First Crusade to recapture the Holy Land from the Islamic Caliphate. Urban famously declared “Deus Vult,” or “God wills it,” a catchphrase popular among white supremacists. Despite the symbolism, Crusaders CEO Colin Mansbridge highlighted the team’s positive contribution to Christchurch. “Our challenge is that the name Crusader has come to mean something quite different to many of the team’s supporters,” he said. “This team is proud of the positive contribution it makes to the community.” Public opinion on the name change is split. At time of writing, 63 percent of respondents on a New Zealand Herald poll said the club “shouldn’t change a thing.” 21 percent favored completely dropping the name and imagery. Opinion on Twitter was equally mixed. Oh man I love New Zealand! Those people know how to care about each other and aren't afraid of change like America. Thinking about moving, wanna feel less hate for a changeAfter Mosque Shootings, A Rebranding Debate Over Christchurch's Rugby Crusaders https://t.co/AnI1peB6U8 — Dr. Connie S. (@Psyched55) April 3, 2019 🙄😤😤Just released: The Crusaders brand seems set to change, after last month's Christchurch mosque shootings. If that’s the case I’m out 🖕🏼🖕🏼🖕🏼🖕🏼🖕🏼👎 #PCBULLSHIT — Rod Nui Bannister (@RodNuiB) April 3, 2019 Wow the name crusaders all of a sudden is offensive. What's this world coming to. Maybe Newcastle knights is offensive because knights were part of the crusaders. Next they will say CHRISTCHURCH is offensive because it has links to Christianity. What's next 🙄🙄#JustSaying — George Y (@rvpredv) April 3, 2019 Christchurch Crusaders aren’t the only sports team to come under pressure to rename, in recent years. In 2009, when the relentless march of political correctness was only getting started, the Middlesex Crusaders – a British cricket team – chose to rename themselves ‘The Panthers,’ after complaints from Muslim and Jewish groups. In the United States last year, the Jesuit College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts decided to keep its football team’s Crusaders name but get rid of its mascot, a sword-wielding knight in a purple cape. The name change debate erupted after social-justice minded students complained en masse to the college’s president. Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!<doc-sep>The Crusaders Super Rugby franchise, with input from New Zealand Rugby, is reconsidering its name in the light of the Christchurch terror attack. This news should be welcomed alongside indications that the Crusaders will consult with the Muslim community. The mooted consultation followed fierce debate and criticism of the team’s current branding. It seems scarcely conceivable the name and brand will survive careful scrutiny and reflection. Ideally, the consultation should extend to input from other religious communities, including Christians. Disturbing connotations with branding The Crusades were a series of military expeditions initiated by the Pope and western European Christian powers in 1095 with the aim of retaking control of the Holy Land and various territories held by Muslims that had previously been in Christian hands. These conflicts lasted until at least the end of the 13th century. Whatever nuanced studies of this period might reveal, the contemporary resonances of the Crusades remain steeped in images of violence and domination that are deeply disturbing and problematic. Read more: Did the Crusades lead to Islamic State? Defenders of the name suggest the Crusader branding implies – or should imply – none of this, despite regular displays involving horses, knights and wielding of swords. In the wake of the Christchurch shootings, the club quickly declared its crusade was one of “peace, unity, inclusiveness and community spirit”. Fortitude, determination and a daring spirit of adventure are touted among the aspirational Crusader rugby “virtues”. The club subsequently decided to distinguish its “crusade” from “the religious Crusades” by ceasing theatrical displays of sword-wielding horsemen replete with Christian religious insignia. Use within Christian culture As the public comes to terms with this debate, it is worth remembering that Crusader imagery used to be very widely employed within New Zealand society. It was invoked for similar reasons, with no implication of brutality or particular connection to the Muslim world in mind. A key group that did so were the Christian churches, yet even they had mainly abandoned such usage well before the Crusaders franchise was even created. In the late 19th century, churches joined with others in advocating various crusades for social purity. Social improvement campaigns deployed similar terminology for years. There was also widespread Christian support for the first world war as a kind of crusade against Prussian barbarism. Ormond Burton, who became a Christian pacifist after the war, claimed in 1923 that his peers entered the Great War “in much the same spirit as that in which the finest chivalry of Europe followed Peter the Hermit to the Holy Land”. Numerous war memorials, particularly stained glass windows, picked up on this imagery, depicting returned servicemen as modern crusaders. In a broadly Christian culture, this represented the sanctification of the fallen through heroic service and sacrifice. This iconography was not favoured after the second world war. Crusade metaphor for evangelists Evangelical forms of Christianity advanced crusading as a metaphor for the battle for souls. Among children and youth, the imagery had a distinctly heroic quality. The Crusader Movement was an interdenominational evangelical youth movement that operated in New Zealand from the 1930s. It took its name from a group that had used it in England since the turn of the century. The instigator of the Crusader Movement here, Howard Guinness – himself a product of the British Crusader Bible Class movement – milked the military metaphor for all it was worth. Bible reading was “sword drill”, the call to evangelise was a “call to arms” and keen members were “good soldiers of Jesus Christ”. Other groups used Crusade metaphors in support of evangelistic activity that aimed to make converts of nominal Christians and unbelievers alike. One early Pentecostal church took the name National Revival Crusade before becoming the Christian Revival Crusade in the 1960s. From 1949 to 1952, Methodists ran an outreach programme dubbed the Crusade for Christ and His Kingdom that aimed to increase the church’s membership by 5,000. Perhaps most famously, the Billy Graham Crusades of 1959 and 1969, led by the famed US evangelist, had a major impact (particularly the 1959 outreach) on New Zealand churches and society. Taking leave of the brand By 1973, the Crusader Movement had become the Inter-School Christian Fellowship, and in the 1990s, the Christian Revival Crusade rebranded to CRC. Even Billy Graham – by then elderly, but the exemplary revival preacher – began referring to his outreaches as “missions” in the wake of 9/11. These changes were not merely a question of changing fashion. They occurred in large part because Christian communities became increasingly uncomfortable with Crusader language and motifs. The reasons were manifold, but three are particularly notable. First, the image’s violent implications were seen as increasingly incommensurable with Christian ethical norms of peace and justice. Second, there was increased understanding of the offence of the language to many Muslims and people of other faiths. Third, a greater sensitivity to the harm and risk posed to Christian minorities in parts of the world where the Crusades were regarded not as past history but a symbol of ongoing Western (and by implication Christian) aggression and hostility to Islam. In this context, Crusader language and imagery became positively embarrassing, if not repugnant. It was recognised as a significant impediment to improving relations between Christians and Muslims in many parts of the world. While many supporters will use the Crusaders name with little thought to its origins and implications, it remains an anachronism and source of discomfort to many New Zealanders – Muslim, Christian, secular and others. If the Crusaders franchise and New Zealand Rugby chose, as they might, to consult with the Christian community, they are unlikely to find great enthusiasm for retaining the current name. Indeed, New Zealand Christians will probably be grateful to see it go.<doc-sep>(CNN) New Zealand's most decorated Super Rugby side the Crusaders are considering a name change following last week's mosque shootings in Christchurch that killed 50 people. The country's Minister for Sport and Recreation Grant Robertson said that he is aware conversations are taking place between the club and the city's Muslim community and that such actions are "appropriate." "Clearly this is a big issue in Canterbury. The Crusaders is a well-established name and brand. I think it's a responsible action to undertake those conversations now," Robertson told reporters on Tuesday. The nine-time Super Rugby champions -- the club competition that features teams from New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, Argentina and Japan -- adopted the name 23 years ago. The attacks that took place last week, however, that saw a 28-year-old Australian gunman open fire at two mosques in Christchurch, have put the team's brand under the spotlight due to the Medieval religious wars between Christians and Muslims. Read More<doc-sep>
The Crusaders Super Rugby team has dispensed with the knights on horseback which have been traditional mascots in pre-match entertainment after attacks on two mosques in Christchurch provoked criticism of the name and symbolism. New Zealand Rugby says the branding the Christchurch-based club has used since Super Rugby began in 1996 is "no longer tenable" after the mosque shootings which left 50 dead. A marketing company has been engaged to examine alternatives, including a name change or a change of branding which might make the name less contentious. "In the wake of the Christchurch attacks, it is apparent that the symbolism the club has used, combined with the Crusaders name, is offensive to some in the community due to its association with the religious Crusades between Christians and Muslims," NZR chief executive Steve Tew said on Wednesday. The Crusaders had delayed making changes after the March 15 shootings, arguing that the decision should be reserved until a less sensitive time. But, urged by national rugby authorities, Crusaders chief executive Colin Mainsbridge accepted the club had an obligation to urgently but thoroughly address a divisive issue and he was "committed to do the right thing." "This is an event that rocked our community and brought some important issues to the fore," Mansbridge said. "One of the contentious issues that has been brought up in the aftermath of the Christchurch attacks is the name of our rugby team — the Crusaders. "Because of our desire to be the best we can be and to support our community, we are treating the question around the appropriateness of our brand extremely seriously." Mainsbridge said the club would have to take into consideration the feelings of fans who have a strong emotional tie to the name. He accepted others in the community saw the name as a reference to the religious crusades of the 11th and 13th centuries when Christian and Muslim armies clashed over the ownership of holy sites in the eastern Mediterranean. "Our challenge is that the name Crusader has come to mean something quite different to many of the team's supporters," Mainsbridge said. "The region has been through a number of tragic and trying events and the team has played an important role in helping galvanize the community and raise spirits following significant events. Through these events, the Crusaders name has become more reflective of a positive crusade." But Tew said the current symbolism, which included the use of the crusading knights on horseback, would have to change. "Maintaining the status quo in terms of the Crusaders name along with the current imagery of knights on horseback is, in our view, no longer tenable," he said. "That is therefore not one of the options that we will be considering." Tew said marketing experts would investigate two options: either retaining the Crusaders name but changing the branding and associated imagery, or undertaking a complete rebranding. ____ More AP sports: https://apnews.com/apf-sports and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports