French football and race quotas

[Fatso]

Has anyone read about this?
Pretty huge stuff.
I don't understand any of their concerns coming from the federation officials.
1 - even if many of these black and arab kids do end up playing for their ancestral homelands, the French still pick up great players through their system, such as Zidane, Thuram, Nasri, Benzama, Cisse...
2 - Blanc talks about big, strong, powerful "black" players. I believe there has always been a system that kills the creativity most of the black kids have, simply because their coaches only seem the as bulldozers or game destroyers. John Obi is a good example of this. A player who all through his youth was viewed as technical and fast, but has been turned into someone who's job is to disrupt game flow. Of course that is a necessary position, but many coaches seem to think its the only position black players can have. Of course there are exceptions.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/04/french-football-official-race-row

The crisis over French football chiefs' alleged plan to keep non-white players out of the national squad has escalated after a senior official admitted blowing the whistle and secretly recording a meeting about race.

French sport has been shaken by claims that football bosses wanted to limit the number of young black players and those of north African origin emerging as candidates for the national team. The secret plan for ethnic quotas allegedly involved limiting non-white youngsters entering the selection process through training centres as early as age 12 or 13. The investigative website Mediapart ran extracts from a transcript of a meeting last year where football bosses wanted to set a cap of 30% on players of certain origins. The site concluded that officials felt there were "too many blacks and Arabs" in French football and not enough whites.

The scandal has revealed a deep malaise over race in football and the notion that "Les Bleus", despite the multiracial 1998 World Cup winning team, are not patriotic enough unless they have white skin.

Two investigations are under way by the French Football Federation and the government, which expects to announce its findings on Monday. Meanwhile, the national technical director of the federation, Francois Blaquart, has been suspended.

Mohammed Belkacemi, a respected official responsible for liaising with young players in suburbs and highrise estates, on Wednesday admitted he was the whistleblower who had recorded the controversial meeting in November 2010 where race quotas were discussed. It is believed he gave the tape to other officials rather than directly to the media.

The French national coach Laurent Blanc first flatly denied any discussion about quotas, then apologised for any offence about "certain terms" he used.

The recordings show officials were debating French players with dual-nationality who could train in France but leave to play for other teams. Several officials suggested limiting these players. Blanc reportedly talks about black players' morphology. He says of the training centres, which produced French champions such as Thierry Henry and Nicolas Anelka: "You have the impression that they really train the same prototype of players, big, strong, powerful … What is there that is currently big, strong, powerful? The blacks." He said other criteria should be used to bring in players "with our culture, our history".

The scandal comes after the French team's mutiny at the World Cup last summer was privately blamed by some on black or Muslim players, suggesting the team had fragmented because there was not enough "national identity".

The French sports minister, Chantal Jouanno, on Wednesday told French radio ethnic quotas would be illegal. She said training centres should teach national players how to "respect their team shirt".

Black French sportsmen expressed their disgust at alleged ethnic quotas. Yannick Noah, the French tennis player-turned pop star, said: "I've always thought these things existed, in clubs, leagues and in the federation. Now we need to tell the truth and have a real debate."

Lilian Thuram, the former World Cup defender, scorned the notion black players might not be patriotic enough. "I'm black, well dark brown to be precise, and I feel perfectly French. But I didn't know that skin pigmentation was what makes one feel French. Does that mean every white person, even Swedish, feels French?"

 

[Mahdi]

yes, obviously I read it..

first, IF Blanc really said this and tried to implement it, I would be really disappointed. But his major point always was that French academies put too much value on athleticism over skills...which he is right.

second, are you surprised? I'm not. You just need to make a trip to France. Unfortunately, whatever was good of that country culturally has changed dramatically under Sarkozy. There are small minded people everywhere. Back in the better days, you had well trained people in office, all smart, all with a certain vision, no matter of which party. Now you have Sarkozy and people more like him who adore him, all non-trained and second class intelligent.

I call it the Jean Jacques State Of Mind. I mean, Thuram said it best...if you put a tall black kid into Barcelona's football school, he will come out with the same set of skills as a white guy.

 

[Fatso]

yes, obviously I read it..

first, IF Blanc really said this and tried to implement it, I would be really disappointed. But his major point always was that French academies put too much value on athleticism over skills...which he is right.

second, are you surprised? I'm not. You just need to make a trip to France. Unfortunately, whatever was good of that country culturally has changed dramatically under Sarkozy. There are small minded people everywhere. Back in the better days, you had well trained people in office, all smart, all with a certain vision, no matter of which party. Now you have Sarkozy and people more like him who adore him, all non-trained and second class intelligent.

I call it the Jean Jacques State Of Mind. I mean, Thuram said it best...if you put a tall black kid into Barcelona's football school, he will come out with the same set of skills as a white guy.

I'm not surprised either, but I don't think its just a Sarkozy thing. Blaquart has been heavily involved in the youth teams since 1999 or so, and I'm sure many people who are like-minded have been working in the federation since then.

 

[Mahdi]

No no, it's not a Sarkozy thing...it's a change in attitude and mentality in France ever since Sarkozy came. It's as if the country went back culturally and mentally 50 years or became Austria...that's what I mean.

 

[Khabalood]

Shame on France.

 

[arsenal 4 ever]

To be perfectly honest their arent really too many "good" African players I can think of. I think theyre massively overrated. Imagine if Iranians were given as much of a chance in Europe as Africans (And Iranians tbh are much better natural footballers)...

 

[Bache Tehroon]

This is mind boggling!

 

[Fatso]

To be perfectly honest their arent really too many "good" African players I can think of. I think theyre massively overrated. Imagine if Iranians were given as much of a chance in Europe as Africans (And Iranians tbh are much better natural footballers)...

The reason alot of Africans get into football is that 13-14 year old kids are basically taken to Europe either by pro scouts or agents. If they're good they make a little money and join a team. Otherwise, often they are left alone to fend for themselves.

As much as many of us like to embelish, most Iranians live better lives than the average kid from Mali or Nigeria. Right now even our pros won't go to Europe for less than a million, simply because they make alot of money in Iran anyways.

Basic point being that, since most of these European clubs pick these kids up when they're young they trust them more and find them more malleable than lets say a 26 year old Iranian who hasn't played outside of Iran.

 

[Mahdi]

great article on the issue

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2011/may/05/laurent-blanc-race-row-french