Portland LGBTQ Soccer Team Drops "Isis" Name

Several team members had their PayPal accounts canceled or put under review when paying dues.

When Portland's NetRippers Football Club decided a decade ago to name its 12 teams after mythical creatures, gods and goddesses, the idea made sense. So did the decision a few years later to name one of the soccer teams after the Egyptian goddess Isis.

"There was no controversy," says Sammy Rodriguez, president of the soccer club for LGBTQ players. "At first."

Other teams started to remark on the name, though, when the Islamic terrorist group ISIS started grabbing headlines. Opponents told them to change the name.

"I don't know if they were genuinely concerned or just trying to get into our heads before a game," says Rodriguez.

But Isis decided the time for change had come when team members started having trouble paying their dues. The NetRippers pay dues through mobile payment services such as Venmo and PayPal. By including the applicable memo of "Isis dues" with these payments, several members had their accounts canceled or put under review.

This season, the team changed its name to "Nefertitti," after the Egyptian queen.

Rodriguez says the incorrect double-T spelling was initially an accident, but the misspelling stuck.

Better than being confused with a terrorist group (as the poor golden Lab from Downton Abbey also knows).

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