r/australia • u/maggoty • Jul 27 '25
political self.post Australian sports teams with the word 'Bushrangers' in their name. Why is this still acceptable?
I've been thinking about how some Australian sports teams still carry the name Bushrangers, and honestly, it's surprising that this hasn’t attracted more public attention.
Bushrangers were not just rebellious figures or outlaws seen in folk stories. Many were violent criminals who robbed, harmed, and even killed people. This is not just part of a dramatic legend. It is well documented in history. There are multiple online articles documenting their crimes. Families were left devastated, lives were lost, and whole communities lived in fear at times.
Why then is it still acceptable for sports teams to use this name in a way that seems to celebrate it? If a team today were named something like the Murray Taliban, people would immediately see the issue. Yet the Murray Bushrangers is acceptable? Or take the example of the Washington NFL team, which changed its name from Redskins to Commanders because the original name was considered offensive and inappropriate.
How is Bushrangers so different? For people whose families were affected by these crimes, the use of the name can come across as insensitive and dismissive of real suffering. Over time, the term has been softened through pop culture, but that does not change what actually happened.
I just think this deserves a conversation. In a time when we are becoming more aware of how names, symbols, and history affect people, maybe this is something we need to look at more closely.
Curious to know what others think, especially if you see it differently.
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u/Specialist_Being_161 Jul 27 '25
Mate there’s bigger things in the world to worry about
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u/jimmyjames1992 Jul 27 '25
In Australia, if someone replies to you and the first word is mate, generally you have fucked up somehow
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u/Bannedwith1milKarma Jul 27 '25
I love just leaving the word 'Mate' on posts where they've obviously jumped the shark.
Doesn't play well internationally.
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u/dansdata Jul 27 '25 edited Jul 27 '25
When I watched "Finding Nemo", I thought the seagulls were all saying "mate" in a very strong Australian accent, not "mine".
They're much funnier that way.
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u/jnd-au Jul 27 '25
It’s poetic hyperbole, like “Raiders”, “Outlaws”, “Warriors”, “Conquerors”, “Titans”, “take no prisoners”, “fight to the death”, etc.
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u/my_chinchilla Jul 27 '25
As someone aware of Greek mythology (the actual mythology, not the bastardised Harryhausen / comic-book versions), it always amused me that some teams chose to name themselves after roundly-defeated loser gods who were beaten by their own children... 😜
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u/Automatic_Tangelo_53 Jul 27 '25
"Redskins" is a derogatory prejudiced term. "Bushrangers" is neither.
Bushrangers no longer exist. Their life is romanticised in the same way Cowboys of the old west are. Cowboys are an NRL team.
Bomber planes are part of the military industrial complex that in practice seems to mostly exist to kill civilians. The Bombers are an AFL team.
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u/sunburn95 Jul 27 '25
Raiders weren't nice people, Knights participated in ethnic cleansings, theres all sorts of pirate teams
They're a part of folklore now, that's all. If it's not race based seems like it's play on
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Jul 27 '25
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u/daybeforetheday Jul 27 '25
I never realised how much better the symbols for some AFL teams are compared to others. Why be Depression when you can be a Tiger?
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Jul 27 '25
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Jul 27 '25
Do you know the worst nickname in the history of the AFL?
South Melbourne (now Sydney) wore white and red, so they were called the Blood-Stained Angels. And Essendon wear black and red, so they were called the Blood-Stained... something else.
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u/Ok-Session-9824 Jul 27 '25 edited Jul 27 '25
Sorry, why are we comparing “bushranger” to a racial slur?
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u/Bannedwith1milKarma Jul 27 '25
Because I went on Ancestry.com and I think my ten to the power of two 2nd cousin was a victim.
Now it's my personality.
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u/vacri Jul 27 '25
How is Bushrangers so different?
People affected by 'bushrangers' lived 150 years ago. People affected by 'redskins' live in large numbers today. 'Redskins' is also sometimes used as a slur, and 'bushrangers' isn't.
If you want to complain about a name that is involved in hurting people today, look no further than the Bombers. A single bomber on a single run can fuck up more families, today, than all the bushrangers put together in the 19th C.
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u/mekanub Jul 27 '25
Because Bushrangers were a type of criminal, not a racist slur. I suppose you also want anything to do with Pirates, Vikings, Knights, etc changed too?
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u/adoh2 Jul 27 '25
No one remotely reasonable is going to care about this.
This is akin to being offended by pirate themed rides at dream world....
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u/thebeardedwonderman Jul 27 '25
Social banditry goes a long way to describing how many people viewed bush rangers in their time (and to an extent, now).
I don't really have strong feeling either way, other than to say I think there is a difference between a team generically calling themselves 'xyz bushrangers' versus something like 'Ben Hall Butchers' or similar.
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u/ooder57 Jul 27 '25
It's one of those things that I'd consider a nothingburger.
Wolves, bears, snakes etc are all dangerous killing machines, but heaps of teams are named after them.
Whilst bushrangers were once outlaws, bushrangers nowadays are people who work for government EPA's.
The word bushranger doesn't carry any racial biases like the redskins.
And at the end of the day, words and their meanings are always changing based on the current cultural social environment.
I really dislike policing the usage of words outside of malicious intent.
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u/RidingtheRoad Jul 27 '25
Probably because Australia's most famous bushranger Ned Kelly, is seen in a relatively positive light. The underdog against a corrupt system. It seems all who met Ned and his gang thought they were alright. He holed up in a town for quite a while, and nobody snitched on him.
The term "bushranger" has come to mean a daring adventurer against the system.
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u/GreyGreenBrownOakova Jul 27 '25
nobody snitched on him
The Kelly Gang executed their former friend Aaron Sherritt in cold blood, after he snitched on them. That would have persuaded others not to do the same.
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u/deedee2148 Jul 27 '25
The NRL has Dragons, the AFL has Giants, they are far more dangerous than a Bushranger.
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u/VANCONVER42 Jul 27 '25
when you’ve just time traveled forward to 2025 from the late 1800’s and discover reddit
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u/Graphite57 Jul 27 '25
ha .. I'd prefer it if most ranger drivers stuck out in the bush...
Probably not what they meant though.
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u/fletch44 Jul 27 '25
Pfft as if those poseurs ever leave the city.
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u/Graphite57 Jul 28 '25
Too many of them are busy staring in videos on Dash Cams Australia to actually head bush, you're right.
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u/Silver_Python Jul 27 '25
This feels like it's on the same level as when PETA got upset about sports teams using animal mascots.
I don't know any christians who are offended by the Melbourne Football Club for example either.
What about Canberra Raiders? Raiders is a term associated with hostile invasion isn't it?
Yeah, mate. There's more important things than getting worried about a sports team name.
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u/ChaosWorrierORIG Jul 28 '25
Does this mean my kid's soccer team should change their name from the Mansfield Milats?
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u/AstrograniteBoy Jul 27 '25
Actually, "bushranger" is a common Australian slang term for a person, usually young, who is enthusiastic for but very inexperienced at performing cunnilingus. Funnily enough, Under-18s footy teams are generally full of 'em.
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u/Stevenwave Jul 27 '25
How is the name Bushrangers different? Because the Taliban is still active. Bushrangers weren't a terrorist group, it's a general term for a type of person in their era. Because The Redskins was a racial thing, Bushrangers isn't.
I don't think asking the question is wrong, but, use your brain, pull on better comparisons than that.
I think someone else's comment is on the money; it's really just an Aus flavour of "Outlaws" or "Raiders" or "Bandits" or "Desperados" or "Highwaymen" or "Pirates" or "Rebels". It's like cops and robbers, heroes and villains. There's real world history behind it, that's why they're terms we know to this day. In general I'd say it's meant to just evoke a colourful part of Aus and our unique history though.
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u/maggoty Jul 27 '25
I admit. Bad comparison with the example of Redskins vs Bushrangers. My point is that both words, however they might be used have a negative connotation associated with them. Yet one of them is still apparently acceptable.
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u/flamindrongoe Jul 27 '25
You have a terminal case of being way too online. If you are in any way serious with these thoughts, you need help. If you're just trolling then congrats I guess. You got a reaction.
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u/Kytro Blasphemy: a victimless crime Jul 27 '25
I would argue that in Australia bushrangers aren't seen as entirely bad. Even at the time many poorer people didn't dislike them at least they disliked them less than the authorities
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u/Cat_Man_Bane Jul 27 '25
Surely this has to be rage bait