Saracens: Love to hate, rugby values and mulled name change
Saracens considered changing their name as part of a recent brand overhaul that they hope will pin them as the “Original Club of North London”.
The three-time European champions have given themselves a glow-up, aiming to attract younger audiences to their 10,500-capacity StoneX Stadium in north London and increase the number of sold out matches in Barnet.
But they’ve kept their badge, featuring a star and crescent, and their name. When asked whether the club would contemplate shortening their name from Saracens to Sarries, to mimic the Premiership and Championship becoming the Prem and Champ Rugby, chief growth officer Mike Leslie said “possibly” but “it hasn’t come up before”.
“In this whole process we did talk about a name change and that was one of the things on the table,” Leslie, who holds the same job at URC side the Sharks, told CityAM.
“Sarries was not one of the names tabled. We will always be Sarries as much as Saracens but at this stage I wouldn’t think so [to a change].
“We change the kit every year but this brand evolution reflects something that we believe is both relevant and, to a degree, timeless.
“There’s a lot of equity in the Saracens name and in the core elements of the brand so you’ll see that it is an evolution; it is not about throwing away the past but celebrating the past.”
The club launched the next phase of their rebrand last night on X, and other social media channels, with players and fans teaming up in a campaign reminiscent of Arsenal’s third-kit reveal (see bottom of article) from earlier this year.
‘Love to hate Saracens’
Saracens turn 150 next year, and boast of being older than neighbouring Premier League clubs Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur.
Their brand refresh saw the club describe themselves as “one of the most successful and polarising teams in English sport”, which Leslie says is deliberate – the club remain a target for some opposition fans for their historic salary cap breaches.
“What it means is that you evoke a strong response in people and that can be strongly positive or strongly negative,” he added. “We have been very successful on the pitch and it’s certainly one of the reasons why our opposing fans love to hate us.”
Leslie says that rugby’s values are a “North Star” that remain “important”, but insists that they’re not a”business plan”, adding that “in today’s media landscape they don’t translate to relevance, challenging for attention, to appeal and attract next generation fans”.
“The values remain as important as ever,” he said of the blueprint for change. “It’s just changing from how we are to how we present ourselves and historically people in rugby have been afraid to stand out.”