Bye-Bye Basques - a sad day for pro-cycling

[Flying_Monkey]

because it's discriminatory plain and simple...

the other parts of your question, you really need me to answer these...

There's a certain irony in an Irishman telling the Basques to shut up and stop being so nationalistic...

 

[Boris Bajic]

More a sad day for the whole burlesque entertainment industry I should say... but what do I know?

Gora gora euskadi!

 

[oldroadman]

Well it's good to see that there will be an Euskadi team at some level, they were always great entertainment if you could avoid the riders who fell off! I can't see any reason why they should not be 100% Basque, if the sponsor wants a team on that basis, people seem to forget who is paying, and the old adage about pipers and tunes. If I was able to fund a team as, for example, a Lincolnshire man, and had help from the local county council, why should I and they, as funders, be told what riders we can contract?
Maybe those who sek to impose their views on others should think about putting their money where the mouth is, otherwise be quiet and accept that whoever pays has the say in what happens.

 

[Flying_Monkey]

This is starting to be a bit silly. The Basques are as much a 'nation' as the Irish. The fact that their nationality is not territorially contiguous with a state right now is besides the point, as anyone with any knowledge of Irish history should appreciate.

The nearest contemporary comparison is with a Catalan, Breton or Welsh team and guess what? Those exist in quite a few different sports.

 

[beastie]

I have plenty of knowledge of Irish and Basque history, and I have had and still have lots of empathy for their cause, but that's beside the point... at lower levels in most sports "localism" is common practice but at the top end of any sport surely in this day and age it can't be acceptable.....

At the top end of any sport it is unlikely to be successful....
ie Yorkshire cricket.

 

[oldroadman]

The "new" Euskadi won't be top end (World Tour), they will be second division (pro-conti). Doubtless they will be in plenty of Spanish races. Anything else is at the discretion of organisers, and depends on how they perform. Therefore there is no reason why the funders should do anything other than find their riders from wherever they like. Just as an employer can select their workforce, so can a team owner select their riders and staff. As I said before, pipers and tunes, etc..

 

[Flying_Monkey]

but at the top end of any sport surely in this day and age it can't be acceptable.....

I'd like to see you tell the Welsh rugby team this to their faces... I'm sure they'd quickly be able to disabuse you of your strange notions.

 

[Flying_Monkey]

no need to, they are recognised as a national team who represent the welsh in international rugby, and yet I have strange notions..

Do you understand what '(inter)national' means when you use the word here? The Welsh are a 'nation' in the same way as the Basques and no more. They are not an independent territorial nation-state, but are a partly self-governing part of of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. In other words, very similar to the Basques in their relationship to Spain. Sporting nationality does not necessarily map onto statehood. My case rests (etc)...

 

[Lockring]

For Basque Land, the better compare is Kosova. Wales, Irland, Scotland all are establish and recognise from many years. Not question of passport only - also of Madrid. Madrid hate Basque land people who want independent.
Kosova is more the independent that the Basque Land with pasport but not with UN seat and not with money. We use Euro! We are not EU and we have a Euro!!!!!!!

You are EU and you have no Euro! We play footbol, but friendly only becuase UN and UEFA and FIFA say not a country. Sorry my english is not better. Compare Basque and Wales is not the good compare. Also not Irland also not scotland. Who will say in street 'aah yes the Basque Land is acountry'? Nobody will say this, but many will say of Wales and of Scotland. Funny for me how many British think that all world know what is Wales and Scotland and england and UK. Relly, nobody knows this and nobody care. It is a funny small story, like for us Kosove and Makedonia and Sandzak. Just a funy story, not a real land - (like liliput!). But you do with vote and we with a gun. But apart that the same. A funy story and nobody know difference only you.

 

[DooDah]

as opposed to the oppression of Basques by the spanish government, including banning of the language and deliberate migration of people into the region to dilute the culture?

you could argue that British Cycling does the same, if you're not british you don't get to be a part of their programme.

I would imagine that is why it is called "British Cycling"

 

[oldroadman]

I would imagine that is why it is called "British Cycling"

That would be the logical conclusion...Though you can hold a BC licence but not be British if you are resident, just the same as plenty of British riders who have a season away turn up at the odd British race with an French/Spanish/Italian/Belgian/Dutch licence. It's the UCI code that matters. Prefix GBR is the key. A clever pro gets a licence from the country which is cheaper, whether it's home country or the one you live in!