Goodbye WP: Famous Western Province set for permanent brand rename to Stormers
Western Province Rugby, with its rich history and traditions, will cease to exit in the near future as Cape rugby chiefs aim to make the Stormers the only official brand in the Mother City.
The Cape Town rugby scene is set for a big shake-up after rugby chiefs revealed their plan to combine its franchise (Stormers) and provincial union (WP) entities to create a single team playing under the same brand.
SETTING THE SCENE: BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The rugby landscape has changed immensely in recent years, with the union moving away from Newlands Stadium to Cape Town Stadium, following by the franchise’s switch from Super Rugby to the United Rugby Championship.
Additionally, after a lengthy and well-publicised power struggle and almost complete financial ruin, the union was placed under administration for years before finally concluding a lucrative equity deal with Red Disa Consortium, who is now the controlling shareholder in Western Province Professional Rugby (Pty) Ltd.
The deal, which materialised earlier this year, saw WPPR — the professional arm — renamed to Stormers Rugby (Pty) Ltd.
WP TO CHANGE TO STORMERS ALTOGETHER?
Despite all the aforementioned changes, what has remained steadfast is the brands under which the union’s teams have played.
The Stormers competed in the URC and Champions Cup, while Western Province or WP, as they are more commonly known, played in domestic competitions like the Currie Cup, Vodacom Cup as well as the age-grade tournaments like Craven Week U18 and U13 and Grant Grant Khomo Week U16 events.
But that could well all be about to change after Stormers CEO Johan Le Roux’s stunning admission during a special press conference in Cape Town earlier this week.
Le Roux revealed that discussions are underway to completely do away with the WP name brand and changing all its teams to the Stormers as well.
“There has been a move across franchises to move your teams under one brand,” Le Roux said. “I’ve seen the Sharks do it.”
“It makes a lot of commercial sense to have one brand instead of multiple brands. So it is something we are looking at. [Stormers XV] is something to look at.
“I think we will all be traumatised not to see Western Province or WP on TV anymore. It is not something that is on the table but it is something we have noted.”
“One brand is important and there are a lot of plans for the brand and I do think it’s diluted if you have more than one name.
“So, there is a lot of logic behind [the possible change] and it is something we will look at in a couple of months.”
SHOULD THEY REBRAND ALL CAPE TEAMS AS THE STORMERS?
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