This is a pretty big bummer. You go 130 years known as the Isis Red Devils because your club is headquartered in the Isis district near Brisbane, Australia and all of a sudden there's a push to change your name because of, as Devils president Kevin Grant put it, "a few derelicts overseas?" Those derelicts, of course, are members of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, and they are pretty, pretty derelict, indeed.The whole issue appears to have started when the Red Devils made it into the grand final of last year's Bundaberg Rugby League competition. The broadcaster felt a little squeamish about saying "Isis" repeatedly over the radio—perhaps for good reason—so they asked the club if it would mind if they didn't. The team, rightfully, did not want that, noting that the club and district had been around long before the terrorist group.
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Too right.Both the Bundaberg competition committee and Queensland Rugby League supported the club at the time, but now even the town itself is feeling the heat to change the name, which would be a big mistake. I'll quote Hermione Granger here and say this: "fear of the name only increases fear of the thing itself." Stay strong Isis, don't let the terrorists win.[FOX]It's merely an unfortunate coincidence the shire's name doubles as an acronym for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.
The locals barely give it a thought, but it's a hard fact to ignore for those not so accustomed to having a beer at the Isis RSL, taking a dip in the Isis Memorial Pool, or having a hit on the Isis Golf Club fairways.