Arsenal Ladies have taken the decision to change their name from the widely known ‘Arsenal Ladies’, updating to the more modern sounding ‘Arsenal Women.’ The move comes as the women’s team prepares to embark on their 30th anniversary season.
Other clubs in the Women’s Super League, such as Manchester City, Reading and Bristol City have decided to adopt ‘Women’ as their suffix. Arsenal have held off given how recognisable and revered the ‘Arsenal Ladies’ has become over their years of dominance in the English women’s game.
However, the suffix ‘Women’ will only be used for registration reasons and where there is a specific need to differentiate from the men’s team, otherwise they will simply be referred to as ‘Arsenal.’
With competition in the women’s game fiercer than ever, Arsenal have been keen to modernise, in early 2016 they opened a new dedicated training facility at London Colney for the Women’s team. Recently, Arsenal have also invested in an artificial pitch and new dugout at Boreham Wood’s Meadow Park, having signed a ten year extension with the Conference club for use of their facilities for Arsenal’s women’s and youth teams.
Captain Alex Scott said of the change, “This upcoming season marks the 30th anniversary of women’s football at Arsenal. Alongside many positive developments, it is with excitement that once again at Arsenal we are looking at ways in which we can take the modern game to a new level.
“Going forward, we will drop the term ‘Ladies’ from the Arsenal name, which I feel is a positive and bold statement of intent, support and unity. Although our official new name will be Arsenal Women, you will notice that this will only be used in need of official clarity.
“Sometimes change can be hard to accept, especially when you associate the Arsenal Ladies name with such history. We have always been at the forefront of women’s football in this country and it is a name that is recognised around the world now.
“It is also a name that has a great legacy. However a legacy is not something that you leave behind, your legacy is also what you teach and pass on to the next generation.”
Arsenal have rebranded their social media channels to reflect the update and will use the new branding effective immediately.
Here at Arseblog News, we will be marking the 30th anniversary of the Arsenal Women’s team throughout the season, with a number of interviews with some of the movers and shakers of the incredibly successful women’s side.
Branding them women…!!..is that good or bad?
Emily Howard will not be pleased.
Was the men’s team once known as the Arsenal Lords? Did we just become ‘Arsenal Men’ after Bendtner left?
They were his plebs and after his departure decided to be equals.
Tweet of the day.
Personally, I had nothing against the name Arsenal Ladies – it expressed the historical roots of the club. In the ’80s, the word “women” was a bit loaded and borderline pejorative. Now “Ladies” carries negative connotations to some people.
So modernising is good. This sort of thinking is just as valuable as a new hub. Well done.
Ladies had a nice ring to it but, women is a more respectful term I suppose.
So they are no longer Ladies, just Women? I guess it depends on your age. I remember when cricketers were Gentlemen or Players depending on their amateur status. Personally, I think Ladies is more respectful.
Not sure how a neutral toned comment gets themed down but it must be an age thing because if I hear a guy my age say ladies, it’s usually some cheesy cunt.
I always think of lady as a compliment somehow …
Yeah, I hear what you’re saying.
I would be interested to know exactly why they decided on the change but can understand if they don’t want to be more specific in case it becomes too much of a political issue.
It’s not really a political thing, just a branding decision. The most important target audience is young girls and the term ‘Ladies’ just wouldn’t be in their every day parlance.
Didn’t see any problem with the term ladies until today?
I shall now use the terms:
“Woman make me some dinner’
“Woman do some cleaning’
Etc etc….
No doubt the Mrs will ignore me as usual but at least I’ll be PC
Do people just not like jokes on here or what?
I know…its a tough pc crowd nowdays
According to a recent study 45% of people using the Arseblog comments section do not like jokes.
Which follows last weeks poll where as many as 95% don’t like the truth.
so some 50% of people who don’t like jokes don’t like the truth.
But 5% of people who like the truth like jokes.
Draw what you want from these numbers? but the conclusion I’ve come to is that Spurs are shit.
too funny. I still call my wife “my lady” because I am currently reading Don Quixote and that mad knight is a proper chivalrous gentleman.
I also introduce my wife as “my first wife”. People get confused and ask if we’re divorced but I just explain that she’s my first wife. Love her to bits. With our 2nd of 3 children, she rescheduled her C-section to come before an Arsenal match so the newborn could sit in her kit with me watching the game. Proper class!
Wow… THAT is dedication.
Only an Arsenal fan could have posted “I am currently reading Don Quixote” – top class.
As someone who has read Don Quixote, I can safely say that every person I know who has read Don Quixote is also a fan of Arsenal.
The definition of a lady.
The decision to rebrand is a good one, and is on the right side of history, as a famous politician might say.
Maybe it’s just me, but I can’t help thinking that Alex Scott’s statement sounds like an Ivan Gazidis speech, hehehehehe. I wouldn’t be surprised if he had an input into that.
I heard the ladies won the NLD 10-0 this season. If this is true, would you mind doing a story on that blogs?
The only story is that women’s football lacks so much quality that it’s not even truly competitive. There for it’s not interesting to rest about.
And there I was thinking that dinosaurs had gone extinct. Silly me.
So much quality in women’s football. SJWs are out in force.
I guess thinking women’s football is shite makes me old. I bet you follow every arsenal women’s game with great passion.
You seem to care enough to stink up the comments section when you could find something else to do.
And you can stick the SJW stuff where the sun doesn’t shine as well. I’m not having that shite here.
Male or Female if they wear the shirt and represent the club they are Arsenal, sad to see such a lack of respect for some very talented players of the womens game.
Do not make it your job to educate an opinionated xyz.
Following every game or not is absolutely irrelevant in this discussion, however, just like the comments section in general, folks require validation or support of their analysis and opinions (accurate or not).
Read a pleading redaction cum apology from a poor, polite soul on here, just because his opinion was not mainstream.
Also, he/she who asked the question could easily type his/her question on google…not saying he/she asked for it, but could have avoided this.
Fcuk knows why I’m commenting.
And thus the whole of female sport is written off in one sentence!
By that token women must set world records before being considered in any sport.
Taking that further, you presumably have no interest in our Youth teams even if they win trophies because they cannot compare with the First Team?
The first team though are not competitive in Europe, so this whole website is pointless?
If you have kids, presumably you ignore their School sports days as lacking quality?
I’ve watched some international women football and sometimes it looks just like Arsenal: patient slow build up around the box, waiting for that one moment where we can penetrate the defense with a killer pass. Sure the men’s game has become much more high octane in general, with pressing and counters, but there are moments where we are looking at the same sport, and these moments are much more than you think. Or maybe you don’t watch Arsenal enough?
about time
This is their fabled legacy and history. That epic fa cup win.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cV0wyckGXe4
Ooooh, you must be one of those angry men from Reddit who don’t like when women do things. Or, pardon, when “f*ckin broads” do things, as per that video.
I’m curious – How much silverware have you won from playing competitive sport lately?
Good luck Ladies, Girls, Women. Call yourselves whatever you like because to me you are The Arsenal just like the men’s team.
The Arsenal, one big, diverse family.
You forgot to say hugs are free.
Great comment.
I can only imagine the downvotes are because you used the term diverse.
How about something more prol…Arsenal Wimmin’s
‘Women’ is much more respectful – unless you live in the 19th century still : )
I used to work with an Ecuadorian guy waiting tables. Whenever a group of women came in he’d say “what do you want lady” as opposed to “ladies”. It was very amusing.
Favorite recent example of a similar way of speaking was when Cazorla said his doctors had found “a bacteria” in his body.
Why did they change it? Is it because women is more respectful than Lady? Or is there another reason to it?
I always thought Lady was a more respectful word than woman.
This is off of Wikipedia. Yes, I am quoting Wikipedia:
“The word lady is a civil term of respect for a woman, specifically the female equivalent to gentleman, and also an English-language formal title. “Lady” is used before the surname of a woman with a title of nobility”
We don’t have an Arsenal Gentleman’s Team, ‘cos it sounds ridiculous, like it’s a club for aristocratic Edwardian amateurs.
Same now goes for the women. Ladies may seem respectful, but it makes it sound like they are running round in bloomers and its all a fabulous lark for the ‘gals’ – Not like a professional sport in the 21st century.
Arsenal Men, Arsenal Women – simple.
But we do have an Arsenal Gent. And I’m not going to be the one to call him ridiculous, because I am sorely lacking in dueling skills and have a phobia of sabers being stuck in me.
To us yes, but they need to think about the next generation of fans and I’d imagine that ‘lady’ is not in their vocabulary. You have a lot of “womens'” movements in society now so I guess it makes sense to use that term. You never hear terms like “Ladies’ rights” or “ladies’ lives matter”, although Wimbledon still uses ladies to refer to the women.
It’s just more modern. They consulted with the team on it too. A few clubs have gone down this route, but it’s not an issue of ‘respect’ or ‘political correctness.’ It just sounds a bit more 21st Century.
The Number One ladies Football Club!
Its about damn time.
Personally sad to hear about this, as I’ve always felt “Ladies” sounded dignified and respectful, while “Women” sounds rather generic. Everyone’s got their own opinions though, so if I’m on the outside looking in, here, I can accept that. Team’s still called Arsenal, is the important part.
What’s the difference between Ladies and Women?
If they wanted to be politically correct they should have changed it to Arsenal Females which refers to sex and not gender. Someone please explain why this bears any significance
Maybe they didn’t do it to be politically correct.
The term ‘females’ has it’s own issues.
Whenever a dude online uses the term to refer to women, you can be 99% sure you’re about to experience some fairly thinly veiled sexist/misogynistic sh!t.
Indeed. It’s telling that so many people have assumed this is some kind of PC move, when it is purely and simply a branding decision because ‘women’ is more modern and the term far more likely to be used by people in this day and age. There’s nothing more ‘sinister’ about it than that.
I’m 23, I don’t consider the term women to be more ‘modern’ or any more appropriate in this context. I also use the term ‘lady’ and its always complimentary.
I also use male/female to distinguish between sexes as its more modern, accurate and inclusive. I think you should check your own judgement as I and many people my age are neither sexist nor misogynistic rather we are more open minded than your generation.
I wonder how many people complaining about dropping the term ‘ladies’ have actually watched an Arsenal Ladies game?
Also, a point to note is the team will be referred to as simply ‘Arsenal’, the women suffix is purely to distinguish the team in an official capacity. That’s the key thing to take way from this.