A Question of Identity

By Leipziger
March 18 2005

Over the past year or two something has been weighing on my mind. It was mainly triggered by events at two matches in January this season, but it is a question of philosophy and linguists that was planted in my brain after watching football in East Germany last season.

"Not Germany again", I hear you cry.

But remember, if it weren’t for this, you’d still be reading the Quins preview!

That also helped bring the question into mind was a vague recollection of an article written in a programme way back in 1996, for a Pilkington Cup game against West Hartlepool. The article entitled "The Name Game" tells us of how some supporters of the new Newcastle Falcons still insisted on shouting what the author (I can only assume it was Dick Godfrey, though I may stand corrected) called "the now forbidden ‘G’ word (as rhymes with ‘boss’). When was the last time you heard someone shout, "Come on Gos!" in true West Country style at Kingston Park? I’ve never heard it in my life!

It is the question of our identity as a club, and more specifically, our name. Are we Newcastle, are we the Falcons, indeed are we still (shock!) Gosforth!?

Of course only a small few might today still call our club Gosforth, for three reasons:

1) the green and white Gosforth has been reformed as an amateur club

2) many old Gosforth fans refuse to watch the new ‘prima-donna’ Newcastle

3) most founder members I have spoken to enthusiastically support the Newcastle Falcons project.

What people might not know, however, is that if we were all German then we would probably still call the club Gosforth, despite the fact that we are now Newcastle Falcons. Most East German football clubs changed their names after 1990, either back to their old pre-World War II titles or to new insignias. For example, Wismut Aue call themselves FC Erzgebirge Aue, in honour of the region of Saxony where the town is. However, the club’s fans still claim to support and chant for ‘Wismut’. The best example is 1. FC Lokomotiv Leipzig, who in the wake of reunification were renamed VfB Leipzig. Yet that club went bankrupt last season, and were reformed in the 11th division. Their title this season? 1. FC Lokomotiv Leipzig.

My own personal opinion is that we are Newcastle.

Other fans differ. One (mother) once suggested as I tried to begin a chant of "Newcastle, Newcastle, Newcastle" at the Newport home game that this is just a football song and has no place at KP, whilst shouting, "Come on Newcastle" at Saracens at the back end of January earned me a rebuttal from our own Monkey1 that it that was "old-fashioned". Here we have support for what the RFU called us in the 1999 Tetley’s Bitter Cup Final programme: Falcons RUFC.

This is not a new idea. We of course have Rangers and Celtic dropping Glasgow from their names in Scottish football, whilst Manchester United fans have recently lobbied the club to drop Manchester from their name.

But we represent the city of Newcastle, that was the whole idea of moving to Kingston Park in the first place (along with getting a nice new ground) - to concentrate on one Newcastle club fighting to get into the elite of English rugby.

Perhaps the problem is that when we say we support Newcastle, most people would immediately assume Newcastle United. So we say either Newcastle rugby team, or for simplicity, the Falcons. But next time you arrive at Kingston Park, just look at the side of the clubhouse to see whose ground you are entering - NEWCASTLE RFC.

P.S. This is the kind of rubbish you think up whilst contemplating the dual problem of a history dissertation and a weekend free from the stress and alcoholism of watching club rugby.

INTERNATIONALS ON NON-CLUB WEEKENDS - NOW!!! AND FREE ME OF THIS BOREDOM!!!