A group supporting a proposed CFL team in Halifax touched off a fiery debate online when it proposed naming the team after one of the country鈥檚 greatest maritime disasters.
On Twitter, CFL in Halifax pitched the idea of calling the football team the Halifax Explosions 鈥� a reference to the devastating explosion in the Halifax harbour in 1917 that killed about 2,000 people.
We take the past and make it our future. The Halifax Explosions team concept is the manifestation of our history and our powerful culture. A sign to our opponents that danger is on its way. And history will be made.
鈥� CFL in Halifax (@CFLinHalifax)
A similar name, the Halifax Xplosion, is used by the city鈥檚 team in the Maritime Women鈥檚 Football League.
CFL in Halifax is a creative group that makes fan art to generate discussion, and clarified Monday afternoon that 鈥淲e are NOT the same people who are bidding for an official Halifax CFL team. That is a different group of business people.鈥�
CFL in Halifax enthusiastically promoted the Explosion moniker, saying that 100 years ago 鈥渁 force was unleashed that made this city stronger, bigger, and more united than ever before. Now we channel that force onto the football field as we flatten all that stands in our way.鈥�
It didn鈥檛 take long for people to register their rebukes.
鈥淵ou want to profit off the deaths of 2,000 people? It鈥檚 in really poor taste,鈥� said one person, while another tweeted, 鈥淚 grew up in Dartmouth and this is an absolutely asinine idea.鈥�
Others were more creative with their disapproval.
鈥淭he Hiroshima Atoms, the Nagasaki Fallout, The California Embers, the Port-au-Prince Quakes,鈥� wrote thenormalperson. 鈥淚 hear the CFL is expanding to the U.S. with the New York 9-11s.鈥�
For its part, CFL in Halifax 鈥� which is also unaffiliated with the league itself 鈥� said it was merely trying to promote a forceful name. It included pictures of a helmet with orange and yellow flames and a logo that looked like an explosive cloud with a skull in the centre.
鈥淭he Halifax Explosions team concept is the manifestation of our history and our powerful culture,鈥� it tweeted. 鈥淎 sign to ur opponents that danger is on its way. And history will be made.鈥�
Halifax was devastated on Dec. 6, 1917, when two ships collided in the city鈥檚 harbour and set off an explosion that levelled the city鈥檚 north end. It鈥檚 estimated that 2,000 people were killed, while another 9,000 were maimed or blinded.
The group has suggested several other names for the proposed team, including the Atlantic Fog, East Coast Kraken, the Halifax Privateers, and the Atlantic Schooners.
The league confirmed in November it has been in talks with a 鈥減rofessional, enthusiastic and impressive鈥� group of prospective owners rallying for a Halifax franchise.
There are still questions over whether the East Coast has the fan base to support a Canadian Football League franchise, if the business community would be interested in sponsoring a team and who would foot the bill for a new Halifax stadium.
Halifax Mayor Mike Savage has said a potential CFL team would be 鈥渁n exciting opportunity,鈥� but that the municipality would not lead the charge, so as to not put taxpayers at risk over the cost of building a stadium.
The league has said there have been discussions with a group interested in securing a franchise for Halifax, but the talks are preliminary.
The CFL awarded a conditional franchise to Halifax in 1982 鈥� it was named the Atlantic Schooners 鈥� but financing for a stadium never came about. The league played regular-season games in Moncton, N.B., in 2010, 2011 and 鈥�13.
The Canadian Press
