But he also hopes that Wednesday night’s annual general meeting (AGM) of club members persuades Chiefs to abandon its increasingly divisive imagery, partly because Bentley believes a brighter future lies ahead.
“It’s not a hill worth dying on,” he says. “After almost 25 years of that brand, we can say ‘right, now it’s time for a re-brand’ as opposed to seeing this as a really difficult thing.”
Exeter’s communication strategy on this matter has, for the most part, been exceedingly passive. Journalists were told that Rob Baxter, the erudite director of rugby, would not be answering questions on the AGM in his virtual press conference on Tuesday.
Baxter is a member of the club board that will discuss and action members’ views. The rationale was that him voicing an opinion could influence the initial conversations to be held on Wednesday evening.
Last month, after Wasps had become the first Premiership rival to urge the Rugby Football Union to address what they termed as Chiefs’ cultural appropriation, chief executive Tony Rowe gave an interview to The Guardian about Native American imagery.
“There’s nothing racist about it,” Rowe stressed. “We’re not trying to belittle the image or ancestry of anyone. We want to be like those Indian chiefs. On that basis, if I go to church on Sunday and praise God am I doing something wrong?
“Are all those people really getting upset in North America? I don’t quite believe that. At the end of the day, what is the real harm?”
A fortnight ago, Dante Desiderio attempted to provide answers to those last two questions. The chief executive of the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), wrote to Rowe and the club’s members and trustees.
His letter, composed on behalf of the largest organisation serving the rights of tribal nations in the United States of America, contained links to resources documenting how such branding “harms Native people through the offensive stereotypes it promotes, exemplified by Exeter Chiefs fans’ misappropriation of culturally sacred headdresses and face paint, and the degrading tomahawk chop chant”.
It also contained two sentences outlined in bold font. The first read: “The NCAI requests your support to retire all of the Native-themed imagery associated with the mascot branding of the Exeter Chiefs Rugby Club.”
The second reinforced something similar: “The will of Indian Country is clear – Native-themed mascot imagery and the dehumanising stereotypes it perpetuates must go”.
Ben Jenkins, an Exeter season ticket-holder and a Devon-based member of the Exeter Chiefs for Change campaign group, wants these unequivocal messages to be considered by members at the AGM. That said, both he and the NCAI are keen for the start of a steady transition process rather than the immediate abolition of all imagery.
One relatively easy fix, as pointed out by Chiefs for Change, is to keep the ‘Chiefs’ moniker – a nickname of Exeter’s first-team for 100 years – and attach imagery referencing the Dumnonii tribe that occupied the local area from around the Iron Age.
Jenkins cites the growing pressure on the Washington Football Team, who eventually retired their ‘Redskins’ branding in 2020, as a spur for his desire for change.
“We love our club,” he says. “They are brilliant on the field and amazing off it with the Exeter Chiefs Foundation and its business model. There is just one aspect that, we believe, they can do better at.”
As far as hostility goes, Jenkins has encountered “bits and bobs” – on social media and in person – due to his involvement with Chiefs for Change. He is phlegmatic, saying this is a “new subject” and the club has not led fans by proposing an official position. Indeed, Exeter’s official supporters club could not offer comment because of the range of different views among its members. For Bentley, it would be a mark of ambition to move on.
“The opinions of people from Devon don’t really count in this debate,” he adds. “If the people who we’re making effigies of are saying they’re not happy with those effigies, we should take that into account. In a global marketplace, you have to consider global sensitivities. When Exeter Chiefs were a Championship club, jobbing through in our first years in the Premiership not getting much TV time, it didn’t matter.
“When you have been European and Premiership champions and you are broadcast to over 500m houses, [it does matter]. There is a battle that has been fought over 60 years in America. That battle has been won, and my feeling is that we don’t want Devon to be viewed as a Confederate state.”
Bentley says the match-day experience has been “muted” slightly by division among fans. Stands contain fewer headdresses and less war paint on the weekends as well. What better time for a clean slate?
“When you’re at the Chiefs, as Tony says, you are either on the bus or off the bus,” Bentley finishes. “I was very much on the bus, driving as hard as I could. I would love to see them go from strength to strength.
“The problem is that you see more and more moderate voices saying: ‘I’m uncomfortable with this.’ I can’t see why there is any need to dig in. There is no net gain to be had. More and more people are pointing at us.
“I use inclusive language because I still think of myself as an Exeter Chief. But sometimes you have to hear things that, perhaps, you don’t want to hear. Sometimes, the only way to prove you are a really good winner is to lose. For me, this is one we should lose.”
