NZ Rugby considering legal action over NRL's use of 'Chiefs' brand for new PNG franchise
New Zealand Rugby is considering legal action to protect the "Chiefs" name after the decision to call the new PNG NRL franchise by the same moniker.
Earlier this week, PNG Prime Minister James Marape revealed the name for the nation's team ahead of its entry into the NRL in 2028, sparking the NRZU to file a trademark application for the "Chiefs" name, its Waikato-based Super Rugby franchise.
Not only did the use of the name stir up officials from NZ Rugby, the black, red, and yellow colours associated with PNG are already in use at the Super Rugby club, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.
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"New Zealand Rugby is aware that there are examples of the Chiefs name used by teams in different sporting contexts internationally," NZ Rugby said in a statement.
"Our focus is on protecting the Chiefs trademark in Australasia, where our rights date back to the team's inception, when Super Rugby began in 1996.
Chiefs player Tupou Vaa'i. Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
"We can confirm we have corresponded with the Australia Rugby League Commission about their decision to name a new team the Chiefs and are working in good faith toward an outcome that works for all parties."
According to the report, despite NZ Rugby owning the Chiefs brand, the NRL believes it will bypass a legal stoush because the ARLC had trademarked the name "PNG Chiefs" rather than the more generic name "Chiefs".
It's understood key figures behind the PNG team picked the Chiefs name ahead of the Pythons, and claim the name holds more weight.
"Before there was a prime minister, and a King or Queen in England, the sovereign head within the tribe was the chief," Marape told the PNG board and NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo.
League bosses Andrew Abdo and Peter V'landys. SMH
"In our country, about 30 per cent [of tribes] are matrilineal, so it fits in well when girls run on as Chiefs because there is a traditional context in our history.
"In East New Britain and New Ireland, women were chiefs. They hold land rights, they make the final decisions, so the name is fitting.
"The name just blends in well with the authenticity of where we came from as a nation of so many tribes, united into one nation in 1975, and gifted by Australia. It has a strong meaning to our authentic identity."
Sporting teams have shared names with other Southern Hemisphere sporting franchises.
The Blues brand is also used by NSW (rugby league and cricket) and the Carlton Blues (AFL), while the Hurricanes share a name with the Hobart-based Big Bash (cricket) franchise.
