Dutch & Belgian league merge

  • The Fighting Cock is a forum for fans of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club. Here you can discuss Spurs latest matches, our squad, tactics and any transfer news surrounding the club. Registration gives you access to all our forums (including 'Off Topic' discussion) and removes most of the adverts (you can remove them all via an account upgrade). You're here now, you might as well...

    Get involved!

Latest Spurs videos from Sky Sports

Sort by date Sort by reaction score
Its the beginning of the European super league. Honestly shocked to see so many content with this occurrence. This is the proverbial leak in the dam...once you allow UEFA the precedent of recognizing non-national leagues there is only one direction they're interested in moving.
 
VirginiaSpur said:
Belgium is fucking weird, man. Look it up; it's not a real country, or rather it wasn't before it was drawn up in the aftermath of the Napoleonic to contain France.

Belgium in that sense has a bit in common with the entirely fictitious nations drawn up in Africa and the Middle East by the Colonial Powers and the victorious Allied powers after WW1 and WW2.

My understanding is that it's a belief that is widespread among the Belgians themselves, and that many feel that it is inevitable that the country splits in two.

In particular, I remember an interview with Vertonghen a number of years back, when they asked him about the great amount of Belgian talent coming through the Premier League, and in particular how his relationship with Eden Hazard was now that they were playing for rival clubs, and his response was basically "I don't know Eden very well at all, we don't even speak the same language. He's basically French while I am Flemish."
Click to expand...
So at which point in time must a nation have had autonomy and defined borders to qualify as "real" then?

I don't think, as Americans, we really ought to be using language as a defining characteristic of nation status.
 
Have the Dutch clubs voted yet? If not I guess that the ball is in their proverbial court.

It will be interesting to see how they resolve the allotment of European places.
 
SpiderSpurs said:
Guess this puts an end to the Atlantic League idea once and for all.
Netherlands, Belgium, Scotland, Sweden, Denmark and Norway

Atlantic League (football) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

Or perhaps not, if they just change the countries.
'Atlantic League' to combine teams from Scotland, the Republic of Ireland, Sweden, Denmark and Norway in an inter-country competition.
www.dailyrecord.co.uk

Celtic and Rangers exit implications as Belgium votes for merger

The BeNe League could serve as the litmus test for if the plans for Scotland's top sides to take part in a cross-border division.
www.dailyrecord.co.uk www.dailyrecord.co.uk
Click to expand...
Irish club teams are basically amateur and nowhere near the required level
 
Eli said:
It will start the ball rolling all over Europe Spain/Portugal, Sweden/Norway/Denmark.
Click to expand...
I'm not sure how I feel about this. On one hand, it would be great for Benfica to leave the corrupt and incompetent system of Portuguese football, and being part of a much larger TV and sponsorship market, with all the extra money that it could bring. We would be a lot more competitive in Europe. Given the number of supporters we have, and the revenue we already generate in a very small market, Benfica would be at a level similar to Atlético Madrid.

On the other hand, a Spain/Portugal merger would be dominated by Spanish clubs and Spanish interests, probably not a good thing... We would also win a lot less domestic trophies, which would suck. At the end of the day, being a fan of one of the top clubs in a 2nd tier league is probably more fun than being a fan of a club that doesn't win much in a top notch league. Look at Newcastle or Everton, even Tottenham...

Although I believe the pressure and depression/hysteria at a club like Benfica is more intense. The only acceptable result is to win all the time, anything else is the end of the world. There's a reason why I don't post in Benfica forums anymore, the extreme bipolarity will drive you insane.

I'd be prefer something that was rumored many years ago. It was the first proposal of the Atlantic League, with clubs from Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium, Scotland, etc. More balanced than Spain/Portugal.
 
VirginiaSpur said:
There is a very real probability that Belgium will be dissolved within the next 8-12 years because of the issues that I've mentioned. With that issue looming on the horizon, I'm really not interested in carrying forward the conversation. I'm pretty comfortable with my position, and I think it's based in fact and their own self-determined national feelings.
Click to expand...
I smell a wager there.
 
MemphisWill said:
Its the beginning of the European super league. Honestly shocked to see so many content with this occurrence. This is the proverbial leak in the dam...once you allow UEFA the precedent of recognizing non-national leagues there is only one direction they're interested in moving.
Click to expand...
Belgium isn't a real country anyways. If they want to merge then by all means, let them.
 
Being married to a Belgian, I can confirm, they are very proud of their nationality. However, it is one confused country with half the people speaking French and the rest Flemish and you rarely find people fluent in both. This has caused huge political problems in passing laws etc.
They do however, produce the best beers in the world.
 
VirginiaSpur said:
Belgium is fucking weird, man. Look it up; it's not a real country, or rather it wasn't before it was drawn up in the aftermath of the Napoleonic to contain France.

Belgium in that sense has a bit in common with the entirely fictitious nations drawn up in Africa and the Middle East by the Colonial Powers and the victorious Allied powers after WW1 and WW2.

My understanding is that it's a belief that is widespread among the Belgians themselves, and that many feel that it is inevitable that the country splits in two.

In particular, I remember an interview with Vertonghen a number of years back, when they asked him about the great amount of Belgian talent coming through the Premier League, and in particular how his relationship with Eden Hazard was now that they were playing for rival clubs, and his response was basically "I don't know Eden very well at all, we don't even speak the same language. He's basically French while I am Flemish."
Click to expand...
I have a few Belgium mates.And we were at a gig years back,and i introduced one of them to another mate as being from Belgium. He took me to one side later ,and asked me never to do that again. Introduce him as Flemish.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom