Race, Immigration, and Black,Blanc,Beur

I am Black and I completely agree with you. It is amazing how sometimes we just not give respect when respect is due, instead of saying ohh they are black and they are big and they are fast, because of their race.

Why dont we say, wow, that man has trained so well, and his physical appearance is good, he is a skilled player and has great strength because he worked at it and built himself to that level. why dont we acknowledge that it is our work ethic that has given us this stature and not our race.

It amazes me how people would look at a black person and assume that all his gifts and talents came because it is in his blood, no it aint because of that. It is because he worked at it and he became great.

I know we have our differences on who I think is better between argentina and france, but in regards to race. I am with you guys. Mainly Theiry. you said it well, my friend.

Posted from  United States

Laurie, hahaha

I tell you I was laughing hard when I read that article, but for a second I thought it was a great Idea. On the serious note, do you think that Domenech would call him again? mainly for the Argentina game? I honestly dont see Basile calling him, but then again it is Basile

by the way I will read this post that you just put up. I am interested in it, just a bit busy right now.

Posted from  United States

Laurie, how are you doing.
Yes i was surprised to hear of what Domenech said. I think he was just kidding. I read that he was a bit irritated of how Higuain is being hesitant on his decission. To be honest with you. I would to. Higuain passed passed on the call to play for the under 20 team in the past.

The head coach of river plate is a close friend of basile, and i think they have some sort of agreement, but it is not known.

As for the topic on racism, well i dont know of anything that is more degrading to all humanity than racism.

Posted from  United States

Are there only Argentina fans on these blogs? Haha.

Posted from  France

There is only one reason that explain the fact that there lot of black people in the French team: French coaches want physical, strong and fast guys. That’s all. Then racism is too much stupid to be listened.

Posted from  France

A soccer player is a soccer player. Nothing more, nothing less.

Terrible concept to wrap peoples heads around, I know

Posted from  United States

Maxi, your loyalty may be with Argentina, but your heart is French. I know. You’ll be back.

Especially after I post the Footballers’ Wives photo eye candy I discovered over the weekend. Stay tuned for later in the week.

Posted from  United States

Wow. There is a disturbing amount of prejudice and hatred in the world–I just had my world shattered by seeing Michael Richards’ flagrantly racist tirade and now this.

But everybody already knows this kind of bigotry exists. Sure, it’s even creepier when it comes from the lips of a respected politician, but it has no effect on who gets called up to the national team. I don’t think race is ever a factor in choosing players for the national squad simply because to win you need the best players. Football is a business. By and large players get promoted based on how they perform. Frankly, I think Freche’s remarks are more reflective of France’s postcolonial identity crisis than anything else.

Posted from  United States

And Laurie, I don’t have any statistics either but I think France has more “non-white” players than other European countries because of its colonial past.

France and the other colonizers of Africa have attracted African immigrants for decades. France capped its first black player in 1931. Some of Portugal’s all-time greats are Mozambican. A lot of current English players have African heritage via the caribbean. Look at the players on the French squad and most of them are the sons of immigrants from former French colonies. There is a history here that most European countries don’t have.

It seems like you’re assuming that all European countries have great black players that just aren’t getting called up but that is not the case. Just look at their leagues. It’s not like the Bundesliga and Serie A are full of Thierry Henrys who aren’t being called up because of their race. You can’t blame countries like Germany, Czech Rep., and Italy for not having enough black players–they just don’t have much black talent. If they did they would use it.

Posted from  United States

This is madness it does not matter what race you are you could be pink as far as i am concerned a good football player is a good football player maybe in some countries where they are not white they have more determination and ambition but the colour is not what it is all about.

Posted from  United Kingdom

Chris, I agree with you completely that France’s colonial history and relatively open (for Europe) immigration policy have greatly expanded the talent pool and helped the team, and that this probably gives them a leg up over other (especially) European teams in finding the best players.

But I also think that other European countries have a much larger immigrant talent pool than they’re tapping into. (Although perhaps not as large as France.) I think perhaps France is better at recognizing immigrant players as beneficial and developing this talent pool from a younger age.

Also, when people say France is better because they have a larger “black” population… Well, I don’t necessarily agree with that. (Zidane is of African descent, but I wouldn’t call him “black.” Ditto Benzema.) In my opinion, it’s about being open to seeing talent wherever you might find it, whether it’s Africa, or Asia, or…Argentina.:-)

If all it took to be a soccer powerhouse was a large (in numbers) black population… Well, the US would have total world dominance, wouldn’t we?

Posted from  United States

You want to call it racism, go ahead. What it really is is reality. There’s nothing French about a black man. Sorry. The France of Vercingetorix, Charlemagne, or Louis the 14th was a black one. Blacks are not native to europe. This is a fact. Deal with it. Blacks in Europe are colonized africans, not europeans, not Frenchmen. The fact of the matter is, a country like France will resort to any mercenary tactic available to win, at any cost. This is true throughout there history at war, and in sports- apparently no different. It is no shock that the French will stock their team with the best african players they can get from around the world, and then call it Team France. Pretending they are actually french. If that team was composed on nothing BUT true ethnic countrymen- like say team Italy does- they would never qualify for jack. Ever. Colonized africans are not ethically French, and never will be. Deal with the reality.

You want to call it racism, go ahead. What it really is is reality. There’s nothing French about a black man. Sorry. The France of Vercingetorix, Charlemagne, or Louis the 14th was not a black one. Blacks are not native to europe. This is a fact. Deal with it. Blacks in Europe are colonized africans, not europeans, not Frenchmen. The fact of the matter is, a country like France will resort to any mercenary tactic available to win, at any cost. This is true throughout there history at war, and in sports- apparently no different. It is no shock that the French will stock their team with the best african players they can get from around the world, and then call it Team France. Pretending they are actually french. If that team was composed on nothing BUT true ethnic countrymen- like say team Italy does- they would never qualify for jack. Ever. Colonized africans are not ethically French, and never will be. Deal with the reality.

Ralph, My roots are French, English, Irish, Scottish and Welsh. Under your logic, which team would I play for? Obviously not American, despite the fact that some of my ancestors came here in the 1500s, because, of course, none of them were actually NATIVE to the area.

A person should play for the county he or she has personal ties to. It has nothing to do with ancestry or color or blood. And this — playing for the country they were either born in or grew up in — is what the the French players do. I don’t understand why you find this so offensive.

Except that of course it’s because the French players are black. With people like you, it always is.

Posted from  United States

With your ancestry you’d play for the new world melting pot you grew up in. The native peoples of the Americas are diplaced, bred out, or gone. The nations of North and South America are immigrant nations. Especially America. Americans do not have a common ethnic background. The french, dispite heavy leftist thought control that tries to cloud the reality, in fact do. Native inhabitants of European Nations have been and evolved there since pre historic times. That is the reality of the old world. Old world european countries have disctinct ethnicities which define them. Immigrant nations do not. Contrast the starting 11 of Team Italy with the 11 of so called “Team France”. There can be no dispute the players for Italy are in fact Italian. Italian by ethnicity, birth, and guess what… actually play their professional soccer in Italian leagues. Half of the 11 for france don’t even play their professional soccer in France- they play in the Premier league in England. So why not opt to represent England? Players like Makelele were born in Africa anyway, so it’s not even a matter of birth with them. France’s starting 11 is as rediculous as if the British fielded 9 Indians from the Punjab and called it “Team England”. You just want to be a “good person” and don’t want to be a racist, so you end up backing this crap logic. I only care about the facts, so I’ll say it the way it is. France is a shameless nation who will resort to any mercenary tactic neccissary to attemp victory, all in the name of their delusions of grandeur. Even there one greatest leader, Napolean, wasn’t even a Frenchman. He was Italian. Italian by birth, Italian by ethnicity, and spoke his French with an Italian accent all his life. Read about it.

Posted from  United Kingdom

A pure shine of hatred and ignorance.
“The french, dispite heavy leftist thought control that tries to cloud the reality, in fact do.”
Oh i see the conspiration against the poor nostalgics of the III Reich.
“Native inhabitants of European Nations have been and evolved there since pre historic times.”
France->Francii-> country of the freemen-> francs-> Barbarians invasions.(and it just an example to show how your affirmation is an historic absurdity.
“Old world european countries have disctinct ethnicities which define them.”
Since Adolf Hitler no one take this biological lie, seriously.
How to recognize a liar with poor argumentation: “I only care about the facts, so I’ll say it the way it is.” there is too :”Everybody says it, everybody knows that…” The personn try to intimidate his interlecutor by an autority argument which will cover the fact he lies or he have no argumentation.
“France is a shameless nation”
Yes, we are breed for this, or may be it ’s biological. When i was young my mother always asked me had you been shameless today? And if i answer no she beat me, like all the french.
Now do you know what is the root of racism in humanity beyond Freud? In fact, beeing afraid of the opposite sex(the female) the little racist child repulsed his fear of his own castration by a female, and his fear of women, when he grows up and report it on the “stranger”, “the other”. The fact is it is more easy to live without a stranger than without a women. The more the stranger was close of him, and look like him, the more the hatred was big. Because it could reveals him the initial report of his fear and of his hatred. In many case, With strong or pathological racism we can observe with the syndrom of castration repulsed some strong homosexual appetites repulsed too. Deal with it. Have a nice week !!

Posted from  France

“France is a shameless nation”
“, we are breed for this, or may be it ’s biological. When i was young my mother always asked me had you been shameless today? And if i answer no she beat me, like all the french.”

Thierry, this was really funny. And the rest of your argument is spot-on as well.

Posted from  United States

Ya, Thierry is clearly a genius, citing Freud who’s as outdated as the steam powered locomotive- and making Hitler comparisons to try to discredit an arguement. By the way Laurie, what happened to your ground rule #3. Do you forget or remember those based on whether you like or dislike a point of view? Hypocrits forming opinions are as predictable as they are laughable.

Rather than give you more to feed on and use to draw focus away form the main point, I’ll give you two more examples to paint the picture more clearly- one I knew ahead of time most people will be unwilling to accept.

1. What team do you think it would be easier to argue for, that they don’t select players that represent their own nationality? Italy, or France? and who do you think it would be easier to defend from such an arguement? -Even the most unreasonable of you will be uncomfortable with that one.

2. If my parents (caucasian) moved to the congo, and I had been born and raised there, would I be an African? same as my native black African neighbors? or in fact, would I be white man who’s African by virtue of citizenship alone. -Flip that around and apply it to all those “French” blacks on team France.