This article was translated by John R. Bopp
Our regular readers will know that we don’t usually talk about soccer. There are four reasons why:
- We don’t believe that soccer reflects a country’s spirit at all
- We don’t understand anything about the sport, nor are we interested in the spectacle
- Most of what is discussed about Basque soccer is repeated from local media and is rather boring
- There are many different blogs and media sources that already talk about the sport, and know more about it.
But that doesn’t mean we don’t find certain things about soccer interesting, such as, for example, how Eibar managed to get into First Division, or the Athletic philosophy.
Today, we’ll be discussing the latter. Gilles Festor has written an article for the French daily Le Figaro, in Le Scan Sport, discussing how the Granada team has beaten a record in the Spanish League by signing up players from 11 different countries in one match.
As a counterweight to that, he brought up Athletic and its philosophy of only using “local players”. It seems this soccer expert doesn’t really understand the concept and is confusing the terminology and the principles which guide the Basque club’s policy for signing up players. They are very different to what he describes, or insinuates.
Given how easy it is to do things write and to know what one is talking about, it’s surprising how many “experts” base their writing on what they’ve heard.
And all that without getting into the use of the word “region” to describe the Land of the Basques.
Le Figaro – 18/2/2017 – Francia
Grenade aligne une équipe avec onze nationalités différentes, une première
Pour la première fois de l’histoire du championnat espagnol, l’équipe de Grenade a aligné un équipe composée de onze nationalités différentes. Vendredi soir, Grenade affrontait le Bétis Séville en ouverture de la 23e journée de Liga. Un match qui n’avait rien d’une affiche au sommet entre deux équipes embourbées dans la deuxième partie du classement mais qui est pourtant rentré dans l’histoire du championnat.
(Continue) (Automatic Translation)
Last Updated on Dec 20, 2020 by About Basque Country
