Steaua Bucharest's Identity

There is a thread for Steaua in the Rest of the World section however as this hasn't yet been discussed there I thought I'd begin the topic here then shift the posts later once the thread dies.

Steaua Bucharest last week lost a legal battle with the Romanian Defence Ministry and were barred from wearing their club's colours, using their club emblem or even playing under their club name - though they have been given a temporary reprieve ahead of their next Europa League match. It is possible that a resolution will be found however for the moment they are a team that has been robbed of their symbols of identity. It's a very odd situation, what are people's thoughts? Are these symbols so integral that the club should find any way possible to sustain them? Would it really matter to you if your club had to revolutionise their image?

Source: http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/dec/08/steaua-bucharest-romania-lose-name-colours-emblem-court-ruling-defence-ministry?CMP=fb_gu

Everything included , like Steaua? Symbol , name , colours ?? That would be pretty tough to get behind to. I'd imagine there's some huge outrage from their fanbase right now , this is not just an unfortunate situation . If this is permanent , this a historical event in football. A symbol is a very powerfull thing , and the colours and of course the name of the club , once all that change into something new , it ceases to be what it was. The old club usually dies.

Well , for Milan , probably no. I wouldn't accept that , but on the other hand , what would i do to prevent it anyway. It would suck , that i know. Not sure how to properly answer this . It's a very tough question and i certainly wouldn't want to be a Steaua fan and have to see my team suffer such a fate.

The only way i would get behind into something like this willingly , maybe , it would be if the Milanese clubs one day merged . I'd do with the shared colours , combined name and united symbol .

Such a grandiose Milan United club would be more than Milan or Inter will ever be on their own . Milan and Inter secretly love each other so this might as well happen one day

Lol idk . Practicaly maybe it would have been a great idea. That club would be very , very powerfull. In any case , this is probably the only scenario i would accept such a change of things . Otherwise , i don't know if i would see 'my team' anymore once the club got a different name , colours and symbol. It's practically a whole new different team at that point , it will never be the same.

Why did it happen?

They were originally founded as part of the sports society CSA Steaua Bucharest which was actually run by the Defence Ministry. The football club split from the greater sports society back in 1998 however so the only remaining link to the Army is that their home ground is owned by the military. The dispute can be traced back to the 2004 change in ownership when the army objected to the continued use of the Steaua name and brand.

Makes sense if the military don't want that association, would be hard to start over again, it all depends on the culture of the club, could be a blessing if they have no military connections and they wanted to dissociate from them as well.

They are destroying their best club.. It's stupid if you ask me

If the Army isn't planning to launch (or relaunch) it's own football club; I really don't see the meaning behind stripping Steaua of its identity. If the army launches a new club the funds have to come from the government. Does the Romanian government have enough resources to bankroll a club even from the elementary stages???

I guess the army should have certain share of profits from Steaua operations as it was using resources that historically belonged to the army. I guess the present (private) owners were too greedy and wanted to skim all the creams and now stands to loose everything and causing demise of a sporting icon of the country.

What is the point, how does the Army even remotely benefit from this and how does a football club loosely associated with them damage them in any way?

Sounds like they're just creating an issue to pass time

According to the kicker it's because since 2004 the club is owned (mostly) by George "Gigi" Becali and the army doesn't want to be asociated with this man. This guy is a homophobic, xenophobic, antisemitic, violent and criminal (ex I think?)politician so I can somehow understand why you don't want to be asociated with him

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gigi_Becali

You forgot to mention that he is also extremely hostile towards women and he's serving a prison sentence at the moment.

Well a name change isn't so bad. As long as they get to keep what's in their trophy cabinet than a name change and color change shouldn't blemish Steaua too much.

FC Bucuresti anyone?

Well it looks like Steaua have until December 15 until they are stripped of the name, color, & badge. Appearantly Gigi Becali, the current owner of FC Steaua Bucuresti, is in prison atm. Here's the link to the rest.

Steaua Identity Case:

zigra wrote:According to the kicker it's because since 2004 the club is owned (mostly) by George "Gigi" Becali and the army doesn't want to be asociated with this man. This guy is a homophobic, xenophobic, antisemitic, violent and criminal (ex I think?)politician so I can somehow understand why you don't want to be asociated with him

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gigi_Becali

This is exactly the reason. If I were Steaua Bucharest however I wouldn't see this as a negative. It's an opportunity to rebrand the club with free publicity. And its not like it's going to change the club- I am sure the fans will continue to wear their past colors and sing their chants.