User:Neljack/sandbox

Taking the five characteristics of a good article title in turn:


 * Consistency: This one is in favour of the current title. However, this should not prevent exceptions being made when there are good reasons, in the form of the other factors being in favour.
 * Conciseness: "All Blacks" is much more concise.
 * Precision: The current title does not disambiguate between the All Blacks and the national women's team or the national Sevens team. There are no other teams or things that simply have the name "All BLacks". There are some that have "All Blacks" in their name, but they would generally not be referred to as simply "All Blacks".
 * Naturalness: The team is usually called "the All Blacks", not only in New Zealand but around the world. The "All Blacks" brand is extremely strong - easily the strongest in rugby and one of the strongest in sport. The All Blacks are one of the most famous things from New Zealand. Even lots of people from countries where rugby isn't popular know of them. And they mention "the All Blacks", not "the New Zealand rugby team" or anything like that. People are much more likely to type "All Blacks" than this long name, which virtually nobody calls it. "All Blacks" is clearly the COMMONNAME.
 * Recognisability: Virtually everyone with any familiarity with rugby has heard of the All Blacks.

For what it's worth, WP:Naming conventions (sports) does not say anything either way, though in the context of club teams it does suggest that the official name should be used (unless it's rarely used, unclear, etc). "All Blacks" is the official name used by the NZRU. Neljack (talk) 09:57, 14 December 2013 (UTC)