Exeter Chiefs rugby club has been urged to change its name and stop "playing Indian" by an expert in Native American history.
Dr Rachel Herrmann from the University of Southampton has denounced the team, which rebranded as Chiefs in 1999, for its use of Native American imagery.
She said it evoked "Britain's forgotten imperial American past".
A spokesman for the club said they had no comment to make on the claims, nor the call to change its name.
In the US, Native American campaigners have been calling on teams like the Washington Redskins to change its name, describing it as racist and offensive.
Dr Herrmann said: "I think changing [Exeter's] name would be the ultimate step but I don't know whether that is likely to happen.
"I would at least like to see an engaged discussion between the team and Native American groups that could better explain why the name might be offensive."
There have been protests in the US over the name of NFL team Washington Redskins
Dr Hermann criticised rugby fans who waved tomahawks, wore Native American headdress and war paint, and said it evoked a history of settler colonialism.
The expert said it also ignores modern Native Americans who no longer dress in that way and the protests of those who have spoken out "against such cultural appropriation".
Dear Dr Herman
Dear Dr Herman
please feel free to go fuck yourself....
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”
Re: Dear Dr Herman
Ditto ,Gob! 
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Bicycle Bill
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Re: Dear Dr Herman
The good doctor is still cheesed off over that bit of unpleasantness in Boston almost 250 years ago.
Although he is correct in one regard, as I'd also criticize the rugby fans waving tomahawks merely on the basis of what I've seen rugby and soccer hooligans do in the past *WITHOUT* allowing them weapons on top of it.
-"BB"-
Although he is correct in one regard, as I'd also criticize the rugby fans waving tomahawks merely on the basis of what I've seen rugby and soccer hooligans do in the past *WITHOUT* allowing them weapons on top of it.
-"BB"-
Yes, I suppose I could agree with you ... but then we'd both be wrong, wouldn't we?
Re: Dear Dr Herman
Be nice to them.
They weren't masculine enough to be Vikings.
yrs,
rubato
They weren't masculine enough to be Vikings.
yrs,
rubato
Re: Dear Dr Herman
I can assure the good doctor that it is not forgotten..."Britain's forgotten imperial American past"
In fact we remember it every July 4th...
Re: Dear Dr Herman
Hmmmmm, Vikingsrubato wrote:Be nice to them.
They weren't masculine enough to be Vikings.
yrs,
rubato
“I ask no favor for my sex. All I ask of our brethren is that they take their feet off our necks.” ~ Ruth Bader Ginsburg, paraphrasing Sarah Moore Grimké
Re: Dear Dr Herman
I guess 13% Viking blood is not enough to turn the tide. http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2012 ... hnicities/
And Gob, if you take an R and an N out of the doctor's name, does she lose her bedside manner?
And Gob, if you take an R and an N out of the doctor's name, does she lose her bedside manner?
Re: Dear Dr Herman
Maybe the Indian chief was just the first step to building a whole mascot TEAM!
yrs,
rubato
yrs,
rubato