WHAT’S in a name, eh? Much mirth was had by supporters of rival clubs yesterday as Hamilton Accies revealed that New Douglas Park was to be renamed ‘The Hope CBD Stadium’ after they struck a sponsorship deal with a cannabis oil firm.

Within seconds, social media was awash with more ganja puns and jokes than Harold and Kumar Get the Munchies.

It could have been worse, I suppose. A slip-up on the Accies website on Thursday revealed that the intended new name for the ground was The Stadium of Hope, a virtue often soon abandoned by all who enter thee during the season. That idea, presumably following a quick glance at supporter reaction, was also quietly abandoned.

That didn’t matter to the guffawing rival fans though as ‘The Stadium of Dope’ was offered up as an alternative, while one wag wondered whether the side would be rechristened the ‘Wacky Accies’. Would this ‘joint’ partnership see a return to grass at Hamilton it was pondered, while another looked forward to seeing wee ‘Doobie’ Imrie in action.

Whether this new sponsorship deal leads Accies to new highs (see what I did there?) remains to be seen, but the five-figure sum they will receive in each season of the two-year deal will certainly be welcomed by a club still reeling for the loss of near-on a million quid from fraud last season.

That is especially true as the company they had their previous stadium naming rights deal with, Superseal – a windows company and not a heroic comic-book seal who fights crime, as you might expect – went bust.

So, while we’re all having our fun, and presumably while Hamilton supporters are so red in the face that they might even welcome a whitey to level themselves out, the club were perhaps left with little choice but to accept that cold, hard cash trumps a little bit of a beamer for their fans.

Now, it should be clarified that Hamilton as a club actually do some very worthwhile work with organisations that help people who suffer from drug addiction, and that they wouldn’t be seen anywhere near this deal if cannabis oil – which is actually claimed to alleviate pain and seizures – was in any way addictive. But since when did the truth get in the way of ripping it out of each other’s football teams?

The big question here is whether clubs risk alienating a section of their support by trampling all over tradition and supplanting names that have been held dear for generations.

With new-build stadiums, such as Hamilton’s, it seems less of an emotive issue. With the old ground having been demolished in any case, there may not have been that same tugging at the heart strings that existed previously.

They are hardly the first to do it. St Mirren’s new stadium changed over from the quite palatable Paisley 2021 Stadium to the rather banal Simple Digital Arena this summer.

Livingston, of course, tickled much of Scottish football when Almondvale was renamed the Toni Macaroni Arena, at the time rivalling the Accies announcement yesterday for the sheer level of puns that emanated on the theme of Italian food. You might see one or two mentions of Kenny Miller being pasta his best if the new player/manager struggles on the park this season from less reputable newspapers.

Dumbarton, of course, were one of the pioneers of this, with their ground being officially known as the Strathclyde Homes Stadium, the Bet Butler Stadium, the Cheaper Insurance Direct Stadium, the Your Radio 103FM Stadium, and now, for this season at least, the C&G Systems Stadium.

Unofficially? The fans just call it The Rock, and therein lies the nub of the argument.

Partick Thistle were one of the only custodians of a traditional old stadium to risk renaming their ground ‘The Energy Check Stadium at Firhill’ last season, but it will forever be known as Firhill, despite the incessant complaints from their communications team towards this writer’s match reports.

Other fans may get a chuckle out of a stadium name change, but as a club’s own supporters will still refer to the ground any way they please, I can see why clubs are tempted to take the cash.

That’s not to say that I want Hope CBD to expand upon their venture with Hamilton and see Hampden nicknamed the ‘Methadome’, mind you.