Stratford Pop Warner Changing 'Redskins' Team Name

STRATFORD, CT — Stratford’s Pop Warner youth football and cheerleading program is changing its name and has begun collecting donations to cover the associated costs.

“In light of recent U.S. events, we are doing our part to stand up to systematic racism, discrimination and police brutality,” the Stratford athletic program said last month in a tweet. “Please help if you can! We need to raise money to officially change our mascot name. The Native American community, our community, deserves better!”

As of last season, the program’s teams competed under the name, the “Stratford Redskins.”

A GoFundMe donation web page titled, “Stratford Pop Warner Mascot Name Change,” was started last month in the hope of raising the $25,000 needed to buy new uniforms and equipment to replace those emblazoned with the outgoing name. Anyone who donates $50 or more is invited to enter a new mascot suggestion in the comments section of the GoFundMe page. As of early Thursday morning, the online fundraiser had generated $685 in donations.

If the program does not reach its monetary goal this season, it will continue to raise money to support the name change in the coming years.

The Pop Warner program is not the only Connecticut organization moving away from a Native American mascot. Guilford’s school board chose last month to drop the local high school’s “Indian” mascot. School leadership in Newington and Farmington have taken similar steps, according to the Hartford Courant.

At the national level, Washington’s NFL team announced last month plans to drop the “Redskins” name, while earlier this week Cleveland baseball players spoke with ownership of the “Indians” MLB team about a possible name change, according to the Associated Press.