Rugby: All Blacks logo to drop 'New Zealand'

The All Blacks rugby logo will no longer feature "New Zealand" on it from next year.

New Zealand Rugby Football Union (NZRFU) acting chief executive Steve Tew confirmed today the new logo will be in place for all All Blacks branding from pens to coffee mugs , t-shirts and the All Blacks jersey.

Until now the logo featuring the silver fern had been underscored with "New Zealand All Blacks".

The words New Zealand will not appear in the new logo.

"It's about income protection," Tew said explaining the change.

"The problem we have with the current logo is that the words New Zealand are obviously generic, as is the fern."

It was easier protecting the logo without the words New Zealand on it, Tew said.

"We have a large challenge in front of us protecting ourselves from people who don't have the rights to use our logo, trading off it, and you'll appreciate that one of our largest sources of income which is then used to look after rugby comes from our ability to sell in association with our team and our logo.

"And if anybody can trade off the logo then why would large companies pay for the rights?.

"So by dropping the words New Zealand we are able to strengthen our claim to protection.

"I point out that in the last 100 years the logo has changed significantly a half a dozen times and in minor ways several times.

"So it's not as though it's unusual to be making an adjustment.

"We also believe the words All Blacks can get more for us. We actually believe the logo will be stronger and represent what we are about more definitively than it currently does."

Tew said the decision to drop New Zealand from the logo was made by the NZRFU board.

- NZPA