The Austin Gilgronis were a professional rugby union team based in Austin, Texas, that competed in Major League Rugby (MLR). The franchise was founded in 2017 as the Austin Elite, a charter member of the league, and underwent two subsequent name changes before being purchased by Australia-based Loyals LLC in January 2020 and rebranded as the Austin Gilgronis.[1][2]
Design and History
The team’s visual identity evolved through three distinct phases. As the Austin Elite, the club wore sky blue and black. For the 2019 season, the team was renamed the Austin Herd through a fan vote, and the crest was modified to feature the stylized head of a Texas Longhorn bull with a Lone Star on its forehead.[3]
In January 2020, less than two weeks before the start of the MLR season, the franchise was sold to Loyals LLC and renamed the Austin Gilgronis.[1][4] The name referenced a “Texas-sized cocktail, to be released soon,” a play on the name of owner Adam Gilchrist and the negroni.[1][5] The team also changed its colors to orange, with a home kit in orange and an away kit in white.[3]
The Gilgronis logo consisted of the club’s initials followed by an apostrophe “s,” rendered as “AG’s.”[3] Management actively promoted the abbreviated “AGs” name in public and on the jersey, and notably, the logo did not feature the cocktail itself.[5]
In a later season, the logo remained the same although the orange color accent was removed, indicating a shift away from using orange.[3]
Meaning and Symbolism
The Gilgronis name was a portmanteau combining the owner’s surname, Gilchrist, with the negroni cocktail.[5] The rebrand was part of a broader effort by the new ownership to reinvent the franchise, which had finished last in the league the previous season.[1] The team’s abbreviated “AGs” branding became the public-facing identity, appearing on jerseys and in team communications.[5]
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