Crusaders name debate rages on

Christchurch earthquakes.

‘‘The Crusaders is the one thing that people clung to in 2011. Our team didn’t have one home game and yet made the final. The players played their hearts out that season. That is the definition of Crusaders,’’ one commenter wrote.

‘‘You’re letting a completely unrelated historical event compound everyone’s grief and anger with what took place on Friday in our hometown. Whilst simultaneously aggravating a rather large community of supporters of Crusaders who can clearly differentiate the past from the present,’’ another wrote.

Christchurch resident Martin London, a self-proclaimed ‘‘avid supporter’’ of the Crusaders, wrote to The Press and offered alternative names for the team, including ‘‘The Reformers’’ and ‘‘Infernos’’.

Neil Cervin wrote to the Crusaders and copied in The Press: ‘‘I never considered the name Crusaders to be an issue, but in light of the recent tragedy in Christchurch I have come to realise that it was always an inappropriate name and especially so now. A name that always would have been difficult for our Muslim brothers and sisters to get in behind.

‘‘Cantabrians would not support the ideology of the ancient Crusaders. The ancient Crusaders values are not yours. It was just a catchy name. The team representing the province can be renamed something better.’’