Thank you for totally missing my point. Assuming that you're going to appeal to all Italians based on the fact that you've appropriated an Italian team name doesn't really work if some of them are fans of a team who are the rivals of the team whose name you've appropriated. If you like AC Milan, and you live in Toronto, are you going to support a team aping Inter Milan?
I'm sure a bunch of DC United Fans are Liverpool fans too and you don't see them going apesh!t about having United in the name ..
It would be different if Man United were the only big "United" team in the world. Being a Newcastle United guy and having friends who are West Ham United, I'd beg to differ. When you say "Inter" I think most people would agree its only Inter Milan who come to mind.
The Star - "Peddie said he didn't know anything about what team names the MLS had sought to register in the U.S." This says one of four things: 1) Major League Soccer is such a dysfunctional entity that the league would apply to the United States Patent and Trademark Office for protection of a new member-franchise's name, yet neglect to inform said expansion franchise of the identity registered. 2) Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment is such a dysfunctional entity that the organization's president and CEO has made no effort to ascertain what name Major League Soccer has registered with the USPTO on behalf of MLSE's new professional soccer team. 3) Richard Peddie is full of shite and lying through his teeth in an attempt to buy his organization enough time to come up with a new team identity that will be received more favorably by potential Toronto MLS fans than the leaked "Inter Toronto FC" that MLS and MLSE marketing hacks apparently thought was so great. 4) Richard Peddie is full of shite and lying through his teeth in the hope that when his organization announces that the name of Toronto's MLS franchise is in fact "Inter Toronto FC", something (the team's logo... the team's uniforms... the fact that the team actually exists...) will overcome the objections of fans to the brand. He didn't know anything about what team names the MLS had sought to register in the U.S. Give me a f***ing break!
I think the same argument applied to Man U. and DC United when that name was announced. When I hear United now, I think DC before I think Manchester. Same thing would happen with Inter Toronto after a short while.
There are a ton of teams named "United" in the soccer world. How many are named "Inter"? Only one that anyone has heard of. And Inter is a nickname anyway. "D.C. United" can also work as an American style name. Lots of teams have "concept" nicknames. "Inter Toronto" doesn't.
I think that this is different. I would consider myself a casual fan of soccer, especially European soccer. But I could name several teams with United names, even though ManU is obviously the largest. Additionally, United makes sense (Uniting the DC region). Inter Toronto does not. It's incorrect grammatically and Inter is only being used to reference Inter Milan. As a name, International would only be necessary if there was a Domestic Toronto that they were competing with, but there isn't. If Inter is your name, then I will just have to take solace in the fact that we don't have the 3rd worst name in MLS anymore (ahead of RSL & Chivas).
I disagree. Inter is not only used by Milan, just as United is not just used by Man U. While you can think of many Uniteds I can think of maybe a couple. As I stated before, in Bratislava Inter does not mean Milan, just as it will not mean Milan when Inter stands in front of Toronto. I think Dynamo is more out of place then Inter, it certainly makes me think of Dynamo Kiev, but I still like it. I fail to see how Inter Toronto is grammatically incorrect considering the official name out of NY is Red Bull New York which we call New York Red Bulls.
Sheesh, if we are going to name the team after an Italian team, make it a big team will ya? Toronto Juventus!!
Good point about Inter Bratislava. I think they are basically the ethnic Hungarian team with Slovan being the traditional club of the Slovak majority now usurped a bit by Artmedia Petrzalka. There are a few more like Inter Zaprešic in Croatia, Inter Escaldes (needed Google for this one ) in Andorra, Inter Cardiff in Wales (now have a sponsors name I think?) and Inter-Gremio is the big derby game in Porto Alegre in Brazil. I could live with Inter particularly if they ditched the FC but would prefer a Canadian themed name.
Dynamo is a perfectly good word in English, and can be applied to athletes. Granted, the process of getting there was a bit of a mess, but I think it's a fine name. According to the club, "New York Red Bulls" is the name of the team, while "Red Bull New York" is the club/corporate name. The former is perfectly fine.
No, when applied to Toronto the psudo-word "Inter" means absolutly nothing but Milan, because there is no other reason to chose that as the name for the team besides the fact that it is a nickname for a famous Italian club. It has no similarity to "United" for DC because DC happens to be the capital of a nation called The United States of America.
I would choose Toronto Terriers. The town was founded by English and Scots, its first mayor was a Scotsman, the town was originally called York and there are well known Scottish and Yorkshire breeds of terriers, the name York and other English names are everywhere in Toronto. For Toronto to take an Italian-related name is as silly as Salt Lake adopting a Spanish-related one. And could anything be more boring than FC Dallas? The breed can be translated into many languages. I don't believe it needs any translation into French or Spanish. See etymology. Alas, Toronto itself isn't responsible for any of these breeds, but you can't have everything.
Bravo. Even as one who prefers American sports names here in the US (and I'm talking about Wiz, Clash, Burn....all you idiots that always bring up those examples, which almost all people who prefer American style names also believe are just as much crap as RSL, CUSA, etc), I completely agree that this fits considerably more than the completely poser Real SL. I also agree this is similar to DC United. Though to be fair/honest, I prefer International Toronto or Toronto Internationals formally, which can still be shortened to Inter Toronto (and thereby eliminating much of the name opposition ). And whoever said "City" isn't "posing," while "Inter" is: you, sir, are on crack.
Bravo again.... Completely agree... and to top it off...Dynamo is an energy industry term....which has just a littlen bit to do with Houston.
Club is a fully fledged french word - in the dictionary and everything. Its the same way we use it. 'Club de nuit' is night club for instance. Just lent from the English language. Racing is probably another but less used outside the context of sport. A lot of the teams came from cycling clubs which is where the name comes from. I think on the whole most team names are Frenchified. Olympique Gymnaste Club de Nice Olympique de Marseille Olympique Lyonnais Association Sportive de Monaco Association Sportive de Saint-Etienne Espérance Sportive Troyes Girondins de Bordeaux Association de la Jeunesse Auxerroise Stade Rennais En Avant Guingamp Nantes Atlantique The only team I can think of with a pure English name in their title would be Lille with Sporting and not sportive. And Ajaccio with Athletic Club. Again a lot to do with their roots.
Racing Club is English not French. It would be Club de Racing if it were French or Club de Course, using the common French word for competitive racing. For Toulouse, it would be Club de Foot de Toulouse. Toulouse Football Club is English.
Toronto Internationals is a good name, IMHO. It is original and sounds clean and traditional. Kind of like the Oakland Athletics in baseball. Inter Toronto sounds like a copycat name to me. As for Houston Dynamo it is fine, thank god they did not call it Dynamo Houston. I prefer calling them the Houston Dynamos but Dymano will do just fine. As for the other non-US style MLS monikers, Chivas USA, FC Dallas and Real Salt Lake. I would of preferred that it be LA Chivas and anything other than Real Salt Lake. Salt Lake Royals and Dallas Hoops would be nice. Although Hoops sounds too much like an NBA team. Funny no NBA team ever had that name. One note....I have friends who love foreign soccer and hate MLS. They scoff at the league more when I tell them about FC Dallas and Real Salt Lake. They think the names are ridiculous. I say, If the league really wants to be traditional, why not bring back some of the NASL monikers.
Seeing as the "target demographic" in this instance would appear to be Toronto's Italian community, I doubt they'll be thinking of Bratislava at all.
Wow, a 20-page thread on this topic... I decided to register so I can have my say too... I suppose I understand why Leaf fans might have a problem with a football team stealing their identity... but it wouldn't be the first non-hockey Maple Leafs team... there exists a Toronto Maple Leafs Baseball Club. However, I can't see MLSE using the Leaf name on a new franchise that they own. Agree with everyone that it definitely has to be International(s) if that's the route they are going, and FC has to stand for Football Club, not just FC. I made up something... using a more Maple Leaf blue... next thing I should do is make a mock kit. In europe, a lot of the football clubs is a sporting organization and have teams that participate in many leagues... so athletic club or sporting makes sense... definitely the case here, but if they are not named the same thing (Leafs, Raps, etc). then we shouldn't use those names. Toronto City FC or Toronto International FC... doesn't matter, just can't wait to see the team + the stadium
Classy. Also, the blue and black color scheme would be great, but only if Colorado is going back to green.
The latest rumour is red and white for the colour scheme. I'd stay away from blue and black and talk up the fact that Inter is used by several teams and not just Internazionale in Milan.
What a strange argument. Is there a Domestic Milan? Inter means "International". Toronto is proud of being an international city. Doesn't that make sense to you? Personally, the current worst names are, in order, RSL, the Wizards, the Crew and the Rapids. But frankly, I think those names have grown on people to the point that even they aren't a big factor in those teams' relative lack of success. The Chivas name is clearly important to that team's success. You don't have to like it, but that's how it is.