A Man From The UK Gives His Thoughts On The New Team From The UK

[Tagger 2,722]

So expansion has been announced for Season 73 and with that comes an opportunity to write a somewhat unique article about an element of said extension and that’s the personal thoughts of a user who is based in the country which a VHL team has located to for the first time. So for anyone who knows me, has seen the sidebar under my username or has even listened to one of my podcasts for longer than five seconds, you’ll be aware that I am English. I am not from London though, I reside in Manchester which is the opposite side of the country (London is located in the south-east, Manchester in the north-west), but I do have relatives that live over there and likely would have been down there a couple of weeks ago had it not been for the current pandemic that affects us all. So what do I think of the VHL’s inclusion of the United Kingdom? Well, I’ll break it down into three parts:

 

• What I think of the VHL creating a franchise in the United Kingdom
• What I think of the choice of team name
• What I think of the logo

 

But before I go into those, I want to kick off with a couple of points regarding what I’ll be saying in this article.

 

• Regardless of any positives or negative opinions regarding the following matters, a VHL franchise being based in the United Kingdom and choices made with its team name or logo will not affect any decision making when it would come to whether I want to play for them or not. When it comes to selecting a team, I’ve always favoured analysing team’s personnel (both players and staff) and how the current roster would help me achieve my goals over everything else. In the past, I had favoured a move to teams I hadn’t played for before just to “round out the set” (since at one point, I only had to play for Helsinki to have played for every VHL team), but consistent expansions have rendered this goal something that would take at least two, if not three, players to achieve and I don’t like the idea of switching teams frequently just to fulfil that goal.
• Whatever role that they may fill, I am appreciative to anyone who takes time out of their lives to assist the VHL. However, there will be times where I may disagree with an approach that has been taken or a decision that has been made. I don’t do this to belittle anyone or make them feel bad, I do this because I feel like the input that I can provide can potentially improve upon a current setup or potentially highlight an issue that may have been overlooked. I feel like the work that Da_Berr has put in to the logos for both the United and the Stars (a logo which I am a fan of) demonstrate that he is a very capable artist and while I disagree with some of the design choices (some of which relate to issues that would not be under his control anyway), I hope that I can convey my thoughts on those choices in this article in the way which I intend which is constructively.

 

What I think of the VHL creating a franchise in the United Kingdom

 

If you were to come to me and ask “which European country would you like to see an expansion franchise located in?”, my answer would not actually have been one of the two that wound up being selected as I would have gone with Germany. Oddly enough, a team name that was used in this expansion would have been absolutely perfect for a German franchise in the Phoenix, as the new German team could rise from the ashes of the now defunct Cologne Express. That naming convention would also have matched what happened with what was then my local hockey team, the Manchester Phoenix, who were named as such after they joined the league following the folding of the Manchester Storm (although oddly enough, the Phoenix are now defunct and the Storm have returned to the league). However, it appears the league preferred locating franchises in countries that had yet to be represented, and if that was the case then the two countries that were selected are two of the better ones they could have picked (since I presume they didn’t want two in Western Europe).

 

 

What I think of the choice of team name

 

For those who are not familiar with the English soccer scene, the teams do not follow the same naming system as American/Canadian sports teams. Instead of a town or city name being followed with a unique team name (often represented with a mascot), the soccer teams in England follow more traditional roots and put a fairly standard name after their town/city name (common ones include Town, City and Rovers) or base their name on the areas they were formed from (E.g. Aston Villa was named as such because they played in Aston and their founders played for Villa Cross Wesleyan Chapel cricket team, Crystal Palace was named after the building the founders owned, etc.). One of the more common names used is United, which is currently being used by 13 of the 72 teams in the English Football League system.

 

It is from this that I’m pretty sure the London United name came from. Funnily enough though, as you may have picked up from the previous section, our hockey teams follow the same naming system as NHL teams would, so it is a little weird to see our UK team go away from that given that we already follow that system in the real world. The good thing about the United name is that it does have some versatility to it in that the meaning of the word can allow it to be used as a Team Name, but at the same time it is difficult to represent the term United graphically. I don’t know which idea came first (out of the name United or the football badge design), but once one was decided, the other had to be done with it. Typically, I prefer it when teams have a matter of consistency to them, so I wouldn’t say I’m the biggest fan of going with a naming style which is predominantly used in the UK (even with the attachment I have to the United name considering my favourite soccer team is Manchester United) while other countries forgo their usual naming system to match with the VHL norm (E.g. Prague Phantoms and Riga Reign).

 

What I think of the logo

 

So I made an article about this a while ago, but I’m not the biggest fan of the VHL adopting soccer-style logos. As much as I like them ordinarily in their own environment, I prefer logos to be somewhat consistent in style, so I did not like seeing New York go in that direction with their logo. However, the fact that there are logos of that same ilk currently in the league means I am not as against the addition of the London United’s soccer-style logo in comparison to had it been the first of it’s kind in the VHL.

 

As for the logo itself, I’ll go over the features I’m a fan of first. I like the choice of the city-appropriate text, as it is the same style as the London Underground. I am also a big fan of the colour choice, blue has been quite a common choice for VHL teams (Helsinki and Toronto feature it mainly, but there also elements in Prague, Riga and New York) but I’m a big fan of Royal Blue and obviously fits with the choice of team location. Finally, with their decision to go with the soccer crest aesthetic, I like the decision to go with the blades and the castled outline around the badge.

 

Now to move on to the elements I am not so much a fan of. Firstly, I do not think that the Tower Bridge is the best choice of features to put in the middle of the flag. I can understand it’s inclusion given it’s importance and relevance to the city that the badge represents, but I feel like, given the outline of the badge, there were other options that would have been more fitting, like a mythical being or a lion (England’s national soccer team logo is a Lion). I think having two different types of architecture from two different eras (castles from the medieval times and Tower Bridge from the very late 1800’s) within the same graphic confuses things a little. I think my biggest criticism would be the decision to redesign the Union Jack. I don’t know if there’s a hidden design feature that I’m missing, but the Union Jack, one of, if not the most recognisable flags in the world, is missing two of it’s stripes (diagonally heading from the centre to each top corner). This is odd considering that there seems to be enough room to move the horizontal line down and include the missing stripes accordingly. In addition, the fact that it is included in itself acknowledges how well-known the UK flag is by itself, so to include it for those reasons and then change it upon including it is a design decision I don’t really understand.    

 

In conclusion, it isn’t my favourite logo, but definitely not my least favourite. There are elements and design choices that I like but also some core elements I would have definitely changed.

 

1,500+ words, 3 Weeks of use.

Edited June 13, 2020 by Tagger

[Fire Tortorella 2,653]

Nice article - just want to point out we do have HC Davos Dynamo too, as far as European named teams go.

[Tagger 2,722]

23 minutes ago, flyersfan1453 said:

Nice article - just want to point out we do have HC Davos Dynamo too, as far as European named teams go.

Ah true, I thought about them yesterday when I was deciding whether to do a media or a podcast but forgot to mention them here. 

[Victor 10,536]

1 hour ago, Tagger said:

However, it appears the league preferred locating franchises in countries that had yet to be represented, and if that was the case then the two countries that were selected are two of the better ones they could have picked (since I presume they didn’t want two in Western Europe).

I wish there was an explanation like this and not simply Damien wanting a Polish team but alas. Prior to some last minute GM changes, Warsaw was meant to be based in Germany.

 

1 hour ago, flyersfan1453 said:

Nice article - just want to point out we do have HC Davos Dynamo too, as far as European named teams go.

Although I always feel like they couldn't commit to European (HC Davos, albeit a real team) or North American (throwing Dynamo on the end). An improvement on the city-less Avangard Havoc however.

 

1 hour ago, Tagger said:

a mythical being or a lion

I was a proponent of a unicorn given it's on the UK coat of arms (albeit due to Scotland) but... I also don't hate the logo but I have described it in the BOG as "on the nose" which I think it is.

[Rayzor_7 741]

1 hour ago, Tagger said:

Oddly enough, a team name that was used in this expansion would have been absolutely perfect for a German franchise

Can confirm, Warsaw was originally going to be a team based in Germany

[der meister 2,909]

49 minutes ago, Rayzor_7 said:

Can confirm, Warsaw was originally going to be a team based in Germany

 

Well now I'm sad. Was there a German city picked out?

[CowboyinAmerica 2,708]

3 hours ago, Tagger said:

favoured analysing

 

From UK checks out

[Tagger 2,722]

Week 3 Claim

[Andre LeBastard 112]

Sorry for the late response...

 

As a person who lived in London for 5 years and played hockey there, I have to agree with the assessment of the logo. My first thoughts were negative, mainly due to the use of a football (soccer to you non Europeans), type crest and naming convention(ie 'United'), as well as the tower bridge graphic and mangled flag. Each part of the flag represents a different part of the UK, so omitting something from it is a bit of a no-no (think using USA flag and leaving off the stars), if you want accuracy.

 

There have been several London based hockey teams over the years, although many of them used iconic names or 'suburbs' of (greater) London for their naming conventions, ie: Wembley Lions, Richmond Flyers, Haringay Racers, Romford Raiders, etc.  The London Monarchs and London Kings, are all examples of London based sports clubs (ok, so the Kings are from Star Trek), which use London and a nickname suitable for the city. London Royals is another example used for a Basket Ball team. 

 

If you wanted to use a bridge as part of the London logo, ok...It seems to work for Golden state in the NBA, but why not use London Bridge vice Tower Bridge? Ok, well maybe not, London bridge is a bit boring looking  

 

But how about Big Ben? The actual Tower of London? London Beefeaters might not be a popular name, but the image of one is iconic. The river Thames is also iconic, Peoria have their Rivermen. 

 

I think using London United is somewhat of a cop out, as it is more a football name than a hockey name. As mentioned above there are a plethora of football clubs with the suffix United. Ask 99% of UK residents what sport a team called United was playing in and 100% would say football. So that speaks to the confusing naming of the VHL version. Imagine if you were a US based soccer fan, playing a UK based soccer sim, wouldn't you think it a bit odd to see a team named New Jersey Liberty with the statue as part of the logo, knowing the statue is actually in New York? 

 

I realise that this was all kept hush-hush, but surely the VHL grand poobahs, could have sought some input from someone who actually lives in the UK such as @Tagger, read him in and sworn him to secrecy. Perhaps it would have been more inclusive and fun to have selected the team locations for the new clubs, had a VHL wide competition for the nickname and logo graphic. Imagine knowing & seeing that your design would be used by a VHL club every time you logged on or imagine if you actually played for the club your design featured? How much fun could people have had with this? To me it feels like a lost opportunity to involve the community.

 

Ok, so we live in a time of manufactured outrage, however,  I'm not that guy. As above, I don't mention this for spite or to be mean, but in support of the original posters article/thoughts.

 

Sorry for rocking the boat and getting stuck in, but I feel somewhat qualified, having both lived and played the game in the UK.

[BOOM 8,408]

If a mythical symbol was required, perhaps a bathtub could have been used. 

 

[NotAVHLM-GM 1,858]

Reading Germany was close to a team again makes me sad again that we had to lose the Express.