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Owners have been found, a franchise has been awarded,
and ground has been broken on a soccer-specific stadium
in Chester, Pennsylvania. Yes, after a long and anxious
delay, major league soccer is finally returning to Philadelphia
in 2010.
Now comes an important step:
naming the team.
A “name the team” contest has
begun, and it is time for Philadelphia soccer fans to step
up and give this team the only name that says “soccer”
in a city with a rich and deep soccer history: Philadelphia
Atoms.
Why “Atoms”?
Well, if you’ve visited this site
in the past (and, if you haven’t, feel free to look
around), you are aware of the fact that the Atoms were a
phenomenally successful franchise in the old North American
Soccer League (“NASL”). In fact, they were more
than merely successful—they were groundbreaking. The
Atoms won the NASL title in 1973, there first year of existence.
More important, they did it with American-born players,
mostly from the Philadelphia area, at a time when the league
relied almost exclusively on foreign talent. And the Atoms
did it in front of a lot of paying customers, drawing over
20,000 to Veterans Stadium at a time when the league average
per match was about 5,500.
The Atoms were nothing short of the saviors
of the NASL. But for the Atoms remarkable success, the NASL
would not have initiated its successful expansion to the
west coast in 1974; taken one step further, if it was not
for the fact that the Atoms proved that Americans would
come watch soccer games in large numbers, it is quite likely
Pelé would have never lowered himself to come to
the NASL in 1975.
News reports at the time referred to the
Philadelphia Atoms’ players as “folk heroes,”
and they were. They had goalkeeper Bob Rigby, the pride
of Ridley Park, PA and the first soccer player ever to grace
the cover of Sports Illustrated; a trio of homeboys named
Charlie Duccilli, Lew Meehl and Bobby Ludwig, stars in the
local United Soccer League; Bobby Smith, a ferocious defender
from Trenton, NJ; Andy “The Flea” Provan, a
goal-scoring machine from England whose scrappy play made
him the Bobby Clarke; and the late Derek Trevis, a brick
wall on defense, a true ambassador of the game, and the
very personification of class.
With the arrival of Pelé in June
1975, there was a sea change in the NASL, and the Atoms
had difficulty changing with it. They were gone after the
1976 season—but not before playing an exciting indoor
soccer match against the Soviet Red Army in 1974, a game
that basically invented the indoor game as Americans know
it today, or introducing soccer fans to 1975 NASL Rookie
of the Year Chris Bahr, who scored 11 goals in his one season
with the club before going on to kick field goals in the
NFL.
Although the Atoms folded after only four
seasons, the memories they created remain strong in Philadelphia;
articles in local papers about soccer inevitably contain
at least one Atoms reference. More important, while the
team did not have a long shelf life, its vision was years
ahead of its time: its commitment to local players, and
to forging bonds with the community, provided the very template
that has been used successfully by Major League Soccer.
These reasons alone compel the new MLS team
to honor the Atoms, and the City’s glorious soccer
past, by resurrecting the name.
But there are many more reasons compelling
the return of the Atoms name.
A team name is more than just something
to call the team. Ideally (especially if you're a new team),
it is supposed to communicate something--who you are, for
instance--a concept in advertising known as “branding.”
If the new team went with Atoms, what do
you think will be the first thing to happen? The answer:
the press will “brand” the name for you by immediately
writing articles about the original Atoms, interviewing
ex-players, telling stories from that magical 1973 season,
and so on. As a result, not only do people get to see where
the name came from, but they also get to feel like the new
team has been a part of Philadelphia sports for longer than
it has. It gives the team a presence, or gravitas, that
will simply not exist if you go with some other option.
Of course, the club is offering four other
“official” options, none of which mean a thing
in the context of this City’s soccer history and all
of which reek of a team with an instant identity crisis.
Apparently fearful that no one will figure out the new team
is a soccer team, the club offers “Philadelphia City,”
“Philadelphia Union,” “Philadelphia SC,”
and “AC Philadelphia” as the “official”
option, with (thankfully) a write-in option.
Here is not to place to criticize each of
those options as being inartful, not understandable, or
oafishly European in an attempt to lend “credibility”
to the new team. This is the place, however, to criticize
each as an unnecessary exercise in re-inventing the wheel,
particularly in the context of “branding.”
Indeed, if the club selects "Philadelphia
Union," or something similar, it will have a much harder
job--other than the small handful of supporters group members
who are actively campaigning for such European-style names,
no one will have any idea whether this is a soccer, team
tennis, lacrosse, or volleyball team. In other words, the
team (and we, the fans) will have to work twice as hard
to establish a presence for the team in the already-crowded
Philadelphia sports landscape.
Further, while “AC Philadelphia”
or something similarly “European” may say “soccer”
to some fans, it also conveys a lot of other things: “posing,”
and, honestly, a certain sense of “we're bigger than
American sports” which I think alienates a lot of
American soccer fans.
This “branding” issue is not
something new, or made up out of whole cloth. When box lacrosse
returned to Philadelphia in 1986 after an 11 year absence,
the team did not try to come up with and edgy, “new”
name like “ShamRox” or something like that;
rather, it immediately resurrected Wings, a team that had
only been around two years but had made a great impression
on people. Similarly, World TeamTennis when it returned
to Philadelphia, immediately resurrected "Freedoms,"
a name that was only used one year, because people still
remembered Billie Jean King and her one season in the city.
We see other examples outside of Philadelphia.
When NHL hockey returned to Ottawa after a decades-long
absence, "Senators" was immediately resurrected
as the name, after the Stanley Cup winners of the 1920s.
There are dozens of examples in baseball of teams returning
to cities that had been vacated and resurrecting the old
team's name (including the most recent example, Washington
Nationals, named for the old American League team of 1901-1960
(yes, the team popularly referred to as the “Senators”
during that era was, actually, named “Washington Nationals.”)
Even before there were concepts like "marketing"
and "branding," people instinctively knew that
this was how you introduced a new team into the marketplace.
In soccer, in particular, teams have learned—sometimes
the hard way—that it is foolish to try to reinvent
the wheel when you already have a great history on your
side. In MLS, for instance, one of the charter franchises
was the San Jose Clash. After three seasons, however, it
realized that there was only one name that meant “soccer”
in northern California—San Jose Earthquakes, the name
of the popular NASL side—and the name was changed.
An even more telling example: in 1985 the Vancouver 86ers
were formed, and the club was fabulously successful, winning
several Canadian Soccer League and A-League (today’s
USL Division One) titles. Clearly, this was a new team that
had put its mark on the Vancouver sports scene. Yet, in
2000, after 15 years and many great moments as the 86ers,
the club changed its name to Vancouver Whitecaps, after
the hugely popular NASL club. Why? Because—even after
15 years—it was clear that the only soccer “brand”
in Vancouver was “Whitecaps.”
Oh, by the way…MLS has a team playing
in Seattle in 2009. They also had a “name the team”
contest. Although offering a bunch of “official”
selections like “Seattle Alliance” and “Emerald
City FC,” the fans mounted a write-in campaign and
the team was christened—Seattle Sounders, after the
old NASL team.
Clearly, these old names mean something.
Just as clearly, “Philadelphia Atoms” means
something. A great history. Invaluable branding opportunities.
Philadelphia Atoms is the perfect name
for the City’s new soccer team…indeed, the only
name.
Yet, there is resistance. Tellingly, no
one argues with the great history, or disagrees that, as
a “brand,” Atoms is far superior to “Union”
or any of the other options. Rather, the main complaint
is that the name is dated…it sounds “old.”
Frankly, this is true: the “Atoms”
moniker is clearly a child of its environment, the 1970s.
But the weight it carries in this City—thirty five
years later—easily trumps the dated factor. The American
sports landscape is littered with names that seemed cool
and trendy at the time, but now, upon reflection, are hopelessly
dated. Toronto Raptors, anyone? Or this example: “New
Orleans Jazz” reeked of 70s kitsch even when the team
was formed in 1974; it has aged even worse, especially when
it was transplanted to Utah. “Pittsburgh Penguins”
is an in-joke (the team’s old arena was nicknamed
“The Igloo”) that has not worn well. And, let’s
face it—“Philadelphia Phillies” is probably
the least imaginative name in all of professional sports.
Yet, fans of each of those teams would steadfastly
defend all of those names. Why? Because it is their team’s
name. Ultimately, other than pure personal opinion, how
bad is "Atoms" compared to "AC," "City,"
"SC," or "Union”? The fact is it's
just a nickname, no more, no less. It is not any worse than
the other options.
However, because "Atoms" is the
only nickname that at least means soccer to a large group
of Philadelphians and the media, it is infinitely better
than the “official” options.
History. Memories. Meaning. Why give all
that up, simply to be "new" and/or "European"?
The answer: you don’t.
Write
in “Atoms”!
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largest soccer supporters group
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