The Chiefs, a professional rugby union team from New Zealand, has a rather simple yet recognizable logo.
Meaning and history
The Chiefs is a pretty young rugby club, which today competes in the Super Rugby Pacific League, a professional competition for the clubs from Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, and the Pacific Islands. The league consists of 12 teams, five of which are from New Zealand.
The home arena of The Chiefs is Waikato Stadium, the main sporting venue of Hamilton, with a capacity of 25 thousand seats. Apart from The Chefs’ hames in the Super Rugby Pacific League, the stadium also hosts Mitre 10 Cup games of the Waikato club.
What are The Chiefs?
The Chiefs is the name of a professional rugby club from New Zealand, which was established in 1996. The Chiefs is a rugby union team, which means it represents several provinces of the country. Based in Hamilton, The Chiefs have Waikato Stadium with a capacity of 25 thousand as their home arena, and Clayton McMillan as a head coach.
1996 — 1999
The history of the team started in 1995, while its first official season was the Super 12 season in 1996. Originally, the club was called “the Waikato Chiefs.” As of summer 2019, the club is called Gallagher Chiefs for sponsorship reasons.
1999 — Today
The Chiefs logo features a naked male torso. The man is holding his head high and looking somewhere in the sky. His hand is positioned in a gesture showing his sincere devotion and determination. The team’s name is given below in bold capitals. The background is black.
While the human figure on the emblem doesn’t look like that of a Native American chief, it conveys rough power and determination, which are both good for a sports logo.
Colors
Both the Chiefs logo and uniform feature black, red, and yellow elements. And yet, the palette isn’t exactly the same as much of the logo is occupied by white. Apparently, this can be explained by merely artistic needs rather than the symbolic meaning of white: the designer just had to choose some color for the human torso, and neither red nor black or gold were good for the purpose.