All Golds v NW Crusaders KPL1S 2017 Final

DANCING ON THE
TOUCHLINE
WRITTEN BY GEORGE COWBURN
6
Since the dawn of civilisation (ie the start of
rugby league) teams have had nicknames.
Batley were the Gallant Youths, York the
Wasps, Wakefield the Dreadnoughts,
Warrington the Wire (a reference to one of
the local industries) etc.
More than one side rejoiced in the moniker
of “the old steam pigs” and if you are old
enough to have seen Winter rugby league
and proper scrums you’ll remember the
clouds of steam rising from the two sets of
forwards doing battle in the scrums on a
freezing cold day.
In the 1990s, however, there was an
explosion of new names as the marketing
men saw the possibilities a new image and
an iconic mascot could bring – particularly
in attracting the younger spectators.
Keighley lead the way and we have covered
the success of “Cougarmania” in our
programme for the Keighley match.
With the advent of Super League and
summer rugby league in 1996 everybody
just had to have a name and the animal
kingdom in particular was scoured for
ferocious beasts to adopt. Swinton kept their
original name the Lions (named after the
White Lion pub associated with their early
days) and were joined by Tigers, Wildcats,
Cougars and Lynx from the big cat world.
Warrington chose alliteration becoming the
Wolves and were joined by Rhinos, Bears,
Bulldogs, Eagles and many others. Some
clubs chose fighting men - there were two
Warriors – Wigan and Whitehaven – and
Vikings, Giants, Centurions, Knights etc, etc,
etc.
With the new names came the mascots,
some more famous and successful than
others. Bradford being Bradford had two
- Bullman and his smaller sidekick Bullboy;
and who could forget the man dressed as
a pie at Wigan home matches. He didn’t
last long in that dangerous occupation.
Wigan were not known as the pie eaters
for nothing. (People from St Helens and
elsewhere claim the pie eaters label is due
to the Wigan miners being the first to break
the 1926 General Strike and go back to
work, eating “humble pie” although Wigan
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