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Originally posted by greatwhitenorthchick
Wasn't SD's point that "Fighting Irish" stereotypes Irish as drunken brawlers, so the "fighting" part of the name is problematic, not the "Irish" part.
"Courteous Irish" doesn't have much of a ring to it though.
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The wikipedia article on
Notre Dame (obviously not necessarily authority) says this:
Quote:
Notre Dame has its athletic teams known as the Fighting Irish. Exactly where and how Notre Dame's athletic nickname came to be never has been perfectly explained. One story suggests the moniker was born in 1899 with Notre Dame leading Northwestern 5-0 at halftime of a game in Evanston, Illinois. The Loras Football standout, Waldo, at tight-end began to chant, "Kill the Fighting Irish, kill the Fighting Irish," as the second half opened. Another tale has the nickname originating at halftime of the Notre Dame-Michigan game in 1909. With his team trailing, one Notre Dame player yelled to his teammates - who had names like Dolan, Kelly, Glynn, Duffy and Ryan - "What's the matter with you guys? You're all Irish and you're not fighting worth a lick." Notre Dame came back to win the game and the press, after overhearing the remark, reported the game as a victory for the "Fighting Irish."
The most generally accepted explanation is that the press coined the nickname as a characterization of Notre Dame athletic teams, their never-say-die fighting spirit and the Irish qualities of grit, determination and tenacity. The term likely began as an abusive expression tauntingly directed toward the athletes from the small, private, Catholic institution. Notre Dame alumnus Francis Wallace popularized it in his New York Daily News columns in the 1920s. Another such example is that of Father Corby and the Irish Brigade of the American Civil War, dubbed "The Fighting Irish."
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My high school teams were called The Rebels, and we had a paiper mache 10 foot Johnny Reb as our mascot and our black and red colors sort of resembled Confederate flags. Maybe my junior or senior year, the offensiveness of the mascot came up, and Johnny Reb was done away with (I think they turned him into keychains), and we were just the Rebels without a mascot.
Maybe three or four years ago, someone decided that wasn't good enough, so a school wide referendum was held (including imput from the alumni) and I think it was last year that the name changed to The Mustangs.
I kinda liked the Rebels as a name (without Johnny Reb), but given the history of the word with relation to our school, we were never going to drop the association with the Confederacy unless we dropped the name. I was one of four minorities in my graduating class, and I think the school finally clued in that retaining traditions that are offensive doesn't really help with minority recruitment.
Kinda sorta related, my college team changed its name in the 30s. The team name, like the Fighting Irish, was supposed to evoke the fierce tenacity of a particular ethnic group in central Europe. That ethnic group started, er, fiecely and tenaciously trying to eradicate many of the other ethnic groups in central Europe, and my college decided that we didn't want to be associated with them anymore. We are now an extinct flightless water fowl. Much less fiercly tenacious, but more accurately descriptive of a Division III team.
ETA: Er, college website says the name was changed in the teens. I assume the ethnic group was pissing people off then too.
