June 10, 2004

English football's Division One to be renamed "The Championship",: with Division Two and Division Three becoming League One and League Two. Apparently, they're changing the name to change people's perceptions of the league. If it's "The Championship", it's gotta be good, right? Huh? What's next, "The Lordship"? "The Fellowship"?

posted by blarp to soccer at 11:49 AM - 15 comments

This is fucking nonsense. Having the Premier League and then Division 1 below that was stupid enough. Well, at least I can claim Southend have gone up a league.

posted by dng at 11:53 AM on June 10, 2004

How can one be relegated to a Championship? Boggles the mind.

posted by trox at 12:11 PM on June 10, 2004

"Not only is it a gateway to the Premiership, it is one of Europe's leading league competitions, in terms of the standard of football, the stadia and the numbers of supporters attending," he insisted. Maybe they should call it The Gateway? That way you capture the fact that you can leave or enter through it. Or maybe it should be called The Manhole. The Insecurity Complex? And isn't there some silly Coca-Cola sponsorship tied to this? This may actually be more of the catalyst than anything else. Perhaps, Coke was saying, hey, could you spiff this thing up a bit so we won't be so embarrassed to be associated with it? And trox: Brilliant. LOL.

posted by worldcup2002 at 12:19 PM on June 10, 2004

Did Starfucker set this up?

posted by usfbull at 12:37 PM on June 10, 2004

usfbull: Ha! You kill me. OK, if we're going to do this right ... The Premier League The Deputy Premier League aka Div 1 The Chancellor of the Exchequer League aka Div 2 The Whip League aka Div 3 The Page Boy League aka That league below Div 3 (or however the Brit gov chain of command works out)

posted by worldcup2002 at 12:45 PM on June 10, 2004

Well, hey, Coca-Cola is involved after all. They should have just gone: Div 1 = Coke Super Gulp Div 2 = Coke Regular Div 3 = Coke Small Also: "The renaming of the Football League is part of a wider rebranding process being carried out by club directors who have hired the advertising company TBWA to examine ways of raising the competition's profile and increase sponsorship opportunities. New logos, community programmes and a number of other commercial initiatives are also being introduced from the start of next season as part of the league's new image."

posted by worldcup2002 at 12:50 PM on June 10, 2004

If Coke is involved then how about Classic, Coke II, Diet and Tab?

posted by gspm at 01:40 PM on June 10, 2004

I'd go with the following version Coke Diet Coke Sprite Dasani (The product gets weaker as you move down.)

posted by worldcup2002 at 01:54 PM on June 10, 2004

dng. Southend fan? I used to live there. My dad still follows them. And yes, the Championship is dumb.

posted by sauril at 03:22 PM on June 10, 2004

I don't care how bad this idea is. I just wish we had a sports league in the U.S. that adopted relegation.

posted by rcade at 04:39 PM on June 10, 2004

We're trying to institute relegation/promotion on our SpoFi leagues but the Brits have conspired to stop the revolution. Bleeeeeeeh!

posted by worldcup2002 at 04:45 PM on June 10, 2004

Okay, how did i get insulted regarding this?!

posted by StarFucker at 08:00 PM on June 10, 2004

I didn't insult you. I was supporting you. Calm down. Have a drink.

posted by worldcup2002 at 09:33 PM on June 10, 2004

When people say "The old division 1" they're normally referring to the premiership pre-90's. So what will they call the old new first division? I'm going to get ridiculously confused.

posted by BigCalm at 02:54 AM on June 11, 2004

Here's the Guardian's report, and my favorite quote: "It means that in the space of just a few years, the bottom division of the top footballing echelon has gone from being known as Division Four, to League Two."

posted by worldcup2002 at 10:53 AM on June 11, 2004

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