The Dolphins have made waves already after being announced as the 17th NRL team but Peter FitzSimons has roasted the club’s GM to his face.
Former Wallabies player Peter FitzSimons has warned the NRL’s 17th team about dropping the “Redcliffe” area from its team name, imploring the side to learn from rugby’s “mistake”.
The Dolphins were announced as the NRL’s 17th team on Wednesday, beating bids from the likes of the Ipswich Jets and the Firehawks to become the NRL’s newest franchise.
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And the new franchise has been busy with news Wayne Bennett will be the club’s new coach and a host of players already being linked with the side.
But there was also the fact the team won’t be linking itself to a location, instead just going with the Dolphins name, despite the Redcliffe Dolphins brand being 74 years old in the Queensland rugby league premiership.
The club confirmed earlier in the week that it would consult with supporters before deciding on the final name after failed Queensland franchises over the years including the South Queensland Crushers and 1988 side the Gold Coast-Tweed Giants, which became the Gold Coast Seagulls in 1990 and Gold Coast Chargers in 1996.
As Dolphins general manager Terry Reader fronted Sports Sunday to speak about the expansion club, former Aussie cricket skipper Mark Taylor started the questioning about why the club had dropped the name.
“The Redcliffe Dolphins will always exist,” he said. “They will play in the Queensland Cup. They’re the most successful team in the Queensland Cup era. But the Dolphins national brand differentiate itself from Redcliffe. The game has a massive opportunity to have a broader appeal, especially here in Queensland. They’re the biggest league-loving state or even city, which might be controversial for some of your viewers here in Sydney. We only have one team in Brisbane. Now we have two. We’ll be honouring our past and always taking note of our traditions but this is going into the future. Like the sign says as players run out at Moreton Daily Stadium ‘Always a Dolphin’ and we’ll always be the Dolphins.”
But FitzSimons wasn’t ready to move on.
“OK, but I don’t want to let that go,” FitzSimons said. “You’ve got this proud history, you’ve been there since 1947, the great Artie Beetson played for you — why on earth, when you’ve got this glorious future in front of you, you hope, why would you cut off half your identity?
Reader replied: “We’re certainly not cutting off the identity that will remain in the Q Cup and it’s part of our pathway up to many boys and girls getting the opportunity to play at the highest level. Our club will be more than just Redcliffe. Brisbane is bigger than just the CBD now. We happen to be situated in the fastest growing area in Queensland. Moreton Bay regional council is the third biggest regional council area in Australia linking with the Sunny Coast which is the fourth biggest.”
But FitzSimons still wasn’t done.
In a clearly joking tone, the panellist said: “Just Redcliffe? Could you be more disrespectful of the town, the area that gave you who you are. Just Redcliffe? What about Redcliffe, rah-rah-rah?”
Reader said the new club would honour the past, including the likes of area legend and rugby league Immortal Arthur Beetson.
As the talk shifted to the new coach in Wayne Bennett, FitzSimons couldn’t help but stick the boot in once again.
“Do you have to call him Wayne Bennett?” FitzSimons said. “Just Bennett. Coaching the Dolphins. You don’t need the ‘Wayne’.”
While Reader deflected the final question about possible targets for the new team FitzSimons said he had a reason to call out the idea.
Super Rugby dropped the state names from teams, instead identifying the sides purely by their team names, following the ACT Brumbies, who dropped the ACT from the name in 2005.
After asking the panel “Do you think it’s crazy to drop Redcliffe?”, FitzSimons answered his own question.
“The mistake that rugby made in Super was that you had these floating around, the Chiefs, and you didn’t know, the Kings, whoever, where are they from? It needs a geographical pace,” he said.
“You remember the Northern Eagles? No? Why? Because no-one knew where they were associated with it.”
Taylor was with FitzSimons though and said the name chance could be huge for the city.
“I like the idea of the Redcliffe Dolphins, because to me, a lot of people would not know where Redcliffe is,” Taylor said. “People then go, ‘Oh that’s where so-and-so plays, that’s where Wayne Bennett coaches’. You put them on the map by hanging onto their name.”
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