So is there actually any connection with Widnes and Vikings?

The history of Vikings in Britain is not my best subject... I do know York, the Isle of Man, Northumbria and the North East coast of Scotland were Viking strongholds.

But Widnes?

Germaic people, such as the Vikings and the Saxons, would use names which describe the topography of the region explored as a tool of navigation. Widnes was a Viking town and the name Widnes literally means “Wide Nose.” This describes the promontory which juts out of the Mersey. Some Viking encampments can still be found on the salt marshes nearby.

The promontory can be seen here to the left:


Does this answer your question?

Here’s the Danelaw boundary, which clearly shows the areas of Viking settlement:

Thanks mate I didnt know that.


I'll be honest.. I thought Widnes was a lot further inland than that



Interesting how some British towns got their names.

Sorry mate but you talk a load of tosh. I see you're from St. Helens. How exactly does a man dressed as a dog with a huge cartoony head fit in with this "adult environment"? And have you ever heard of the Bulls, whose appeal to thousands of kids is what started the original and much copied Bullmania, with its face painters, bouncy castles, Bullman and Bullboy etc etc. and packed the ground with legions of kids?

RL is not an adult environment but absolutely a family sport, as a cursory look around any ground will tell anyone without a blindfold.

Oh, and it may be "common sense to aim for a demographic who have full incomes"



but at Bradford we prefer to appeal to even those mucky unwaged you would eschew, by offering discounts of varying sorts. Shockingly, other clubs seem to want them in too! not only that, but pensioners! You never know, even these poor undesirables might share a hot dog between them

That was my situation when i was a kid, leading to my brother to follow suit. I was first member to get into RL from a football supporting family. Mum eventual got into it, but my Dad never did and never will.

I don't see how folk can say Rhinos and Bulls work better than Wildcats. The fans might have chants associated with the nicknames, but they're God-awful chants and don't really indicate success as such. Wasn't the Bulls chant manufactured by the club, rather than created organically by the crowd? They're just horrible.

The main issue I have with these names is their lack of reference to the club, to history, to culture and to local wildlife. How many Rhinos have ever wandered through Beeston?? Wakefield has a rich history with its castle and reputed to be the birth place of Robin Hood, why do we have to name ourselves after a feline from Canada? These names might work in Oz and the US, but folk don't really take to them here. Here we don't suppport sporting brands in the same way, we support our local sporting community.

Having said that they can occassionally work well. Dewsbury Rams is my favourite modern name; you've got a modernised name, you've got something to market and it has an historic connection to the local area.

Don't apologise. If you disagree, fair enough.

I'm not discounting or suggesting RL is not inclusive to all ages, genders, races, etc... It is. But the point ed upon nickname gimmicks, and other assorted "-mania" which is overwhelming ed upon children is the connection i'm disputing. All this has to do with personal experience, of course, which I secede affords me limited insight, but as far as I'm aware children turned-up to RL matches prior to 1996, WHEN rugby league was an "adult" environment, and less visually, aesthetically rooted towards pre-teenage sensibilities.

Bullmania, of course, was an interesting phenomena certainly within British sport, but its unsustainability is perhaps more telling than its hayday.

In fact, if I remember rightly Trin' were nicknamed Dreadnaughts, not because of their fearlessness on the field, but because the team were mostly pit workers during WWII. They were christened that because if you're prepared to climb into a big black hole in the ground to dig while you leave your family at home where they might be bombed and you could potentially be trapped underground after a bomb strikes there must be very, very little that spooks you.

That to me is far more inspiring than a walking, furry pillow that wonders about by itself not really liking anything or anyone around it and has a face that looks like someones just farted!

Nice one! I did search on google/google scholar but couldn't find it. Is it on Jstor? Could you provide a link? Cheers.

Completely agree.

The Rhinos and Bulls crests are really cheesey. I also thought the Celtic Crusaders crest was the worst offender of all. They have now changed this to one of the best imo. I would hope that the Rhinos and Bulls will do the same.

No, I just prefer it. Our current one is too similar to Hulls for my liking. Hull also have an alternate crest that was used during the 90's iirc

It's called "The Psychological Continuum Model: A Conceptual Framework for Understanding an Individual's Psychological Connection to Sport"

The journal I think you have to pay for upon looking for it (I didn't have to when I was at uni so didn't think about that, sorry!).
However, if you type Psychological Continuum Model into Wikipedia, it gives you the main points.

Is this the same "Original" Bullmania which was a blatent copy of Cougarmania? Which began in 1992 when Br*dford were still known as Northern?

Bouncy Castles, Face Painters, the mascot Freddie Cougar, we were doing it years before anyone else in Rugby League.

Agreed, the only thing in favour of Rhinos and Bulls is the fact that they are bigger clubs. I think the majority of people in the country have probably heard of 'Leeds Rhinos' in some way even if they're not entirely sure who they are, so it has a little more identity than something like Wakefield Wildcats which nobody outside of RL has really heard of. I agree completely with your point about the lack of reference to the community or seemingly anything at all. Does anyone know how these names were originally chosen, and why there wasn't massive ridicule when they were adopted?

Can't speak for a lot of the names but 'Leeds Rhinos' got their name after Rupert Murdoch visited the UK, went clubbing in Leeds and saw the state of the local chicks

While it was terrible didn't a team adopt a Cowboys moniker?

And Wakefield Dreadnaughts is a seriously cool name/brand.

you could of chosen a picture without the name of the club in the top corner which proves you were wrong. It wouldnt have been difficult and abit funnier

Trolls, they just dont put the effort in these days

You'd prefer this one?

No, one that better signifies your club, its ethos and especially its chairman:

A big black cloud, with a load of fannies descending from it.

"A shower of c**ts"

which was stolen from keighley and "cougarmania" long before bullmania or bullboy and bouncy castles etc.

i tend to look at these new nicknames and how they are accepted in terms of fans and what they refer to their club as,for instance,although huddersfield fans most popular chant is the fartown one,in reference not to just the ground but the name by which everyone knew us by,a lot more people now refer to us as giants rather than fartown and this is recognised in the fans chants and songs. same with leeds and bradford who use bulls and rhinos a lot more in their chants compared to the likes of warrington,wigan,wakefield etc who i very rarely hear referred to by their own supporters as wolves/warriors/wildcats etc,indeed i dont think i've ever heard warrington or wakefield fans sing or chant about wolves or wildcats.

Daft nicknames are for speedway. Cas were always known as the Tigers beforehand and had the badge to boot, so why did it have to become their official name? Likewise, why can't Salford be nicknamed the Reds rather than having it as their official name? You don't hear of the Arsenal Gunners or Blackpool Seasiders etc, do you?

And, for what it's worth, Trinity p1sses all over Wildcats, with Dreadknoughts is an awesome alternative nickname (a nickname is exactly that, so why should clubs be restricted to just one?!)

I await accusations of being a flat capper.

What about my gateshull badge.

Class eh ?

as for emblems, im happy with ours as i dont think it's too tacky and has the words birthplace of rugby league on it which is of important historical reference,although i would like to see our old crest/coat of arms next to it.

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Why would anyone accuse you of being a flat capper on the basis of that post?