Athletic Bilbao's player recruitment policy

Rozay said:
I'm not sure I have that much of an opinion on it either way, but I must say I have always been surprised that there hasn't been more discussion or controversy around it in the game. Unless of course there has been, and I have totally missed it all.

Football today is particularly sensitive with regards to equality issues, and a club openly declaring that you cannot play for them unless you are from a certain geographical region seems to have gone down surprisingly well.

I know it's not quite the same thing, but when Zenit's fans stated they did not want black players at the club, there was an issue made of it (rightly so, of course).

I don't know if the term is too simplistic, but Bilbao's recruitment policy seems, well... racist.
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What are you even talking about?

They continue to recruit players from Basque areas in Spain and France because its traditional for the club. Its not because they believe that these players are better than the rest or that the other players aren't as good. Its to respect their own traditions and its great because the vast majority of their players are brought through their own youth systems or bought from smaller clubs in the basque area, sharing their wealth and giving players chances

Talk about wanting to make an issue of something for no reason

Before you mention Zenit again, the outrage was due to the fans demanding that black and gay players not be brought into the club. It was about picking certain individual aspects that they dont want, rather than concentrating on recruiting a specific thing like Basque players. It will be the same the day Bilbao fans write in to demand that they dont recruit non-Basque players and homosexuals
 
Fergie not buying Germans is probably more racist.
 
Red Hand Devil said:
I dont think anyone can complain in football about Bilbao's policy of discrimination - sure there's only been Justin Fashanu in England & yer man Robbie Rogers from the States that have felt brave enough to come out & Justin hanged himself & Robbie retired before changin his mind...

Thats a much bigger issue than whats goin on at Bilbao!
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Yes because loads of British clubs have a policy of not signing gays..........
 
Ekeke said:
What are you even talking about?

They continue to recruit players from Basque areas in Spain and France because its traditional for the club. Its not because they believe that these players are better than the rest or that the other players aren't as good. Its to respect their own traditions and its great because the vast majority of their players are brought through their own youth systems or bought from smaller clubs in the basque area, sharing their wealth and giving players chances

Talk about wanting to make an issue of something for no reason

Before you mention Zenit again, the outrage was due to the fans demanding that black and gay players not be brought into the club. It was about picking certain individual aspects that they dont want, rather than concentrating on recruiting a specific thing like Basque players. It will be the same the day Bilbao fans write in to demand that they dont recruit non-Basque players and homosexuals
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You have just repeated half of the posts in this thread. I am aware of why Bilbao employ their policy, I just don't think I agree with it.
 
Rozay said:
You have just repeated half of the posts in this thread. I am aware of why Bilbao employ their policy, I just don't think I agree with it.
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You should go back and edit your original post then because it couldnt be further from the truth. And who cares if you agree with it
 
Ekeke said:
You should go back and edit your original post then because it couldnt be further from the truth. And who cares if you agree with it
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Some other people in the thread, seemingly, hence the discussion. Who cares about what anyone agrees with on here really? I certainly don't give two shits about your view, for example, especially considering your unwarranted attitude of superiority.
 
rcoobc said:
Fergie not buying Germans is probably more racist.
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Or not sellin a virus to Spaniards either... which he did already when he sold this disease to Real after he wanted a transfer to the scousers:

gabriel-heinze-9.jpg


PRICK!
 
Don't quite get why this is an issue. Certainly not racist. Surely, it's just a community approach to football. What would be so wrong if say Wigan decided that they wanted to focus on honing the talents of local Wigan lads and were prepared to take the consequences of this - premiership, championship, division 1 etc.

Who cares, they would be building a community vibe and a pride in their area. It would also be cheaper for the club to build training and scouting around it, with minimal agents costs, transfers etc. so long as they weren't't saying that you're from Wigan, can't be black or gay. It's just a philosophical approach.

Gaelic football in effect has always had this community approach in Ireland. Players play for their home county in which they were born, regardless of how crap that county is and how good you are as a player
 
ronnie dazzler said:
Don't quite get why this is an issue. Certainly not racist. Surely, it's just a community approach to football. What would be so wrong if say Wigan decided that they wanted to focus on honing the talents of local Wigan lads and were prepared to take the consequences of this - premiership, championship, division 1 etc.

Who cares, they would be building a community vibe and a pride in their area. It would also be cheaper for the club to build training and scouting around it, with minimal agents costs, transfers etc. so long as they weren't't saying that you're from Wigan, can't be black or gay. It's just a philosophical approach.

Gaelic football in effect has always had this community approach in Ireland. Players play for their home county in which they were born, regardless of how crap that county is and how good you are as a player
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I agree, I really can't see what the problem is.

Would it be prejudice if we suddenly came out and said we were going to start giving preference to players from Manchester?
 
Red Hand Devil said:
My point being - who cares if Bilbao have a region player policy, i dont see the big deal at all... Sure UEFA had the 5 foreigners rule that probably cost us a European Cup / Champions League final win before we won it in 99..
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Personally I dont give two shits if they do, the only people its going to hold back is Bilbao themselves. I just disagree with it being lauded as some wonderful community initiative when in reality it is just another form of prejudice.
 
Zen86 said:
And why would that be such a bad thing?
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Because all prejudice is bad even the laughably named positive discrimination. People should be selected for jobs based on being the best person for the job, not colour, religion, sexual orientation, where they were born or any other nonsense.
 
Sparky_Hughes said:
Because all prejudice is bad even the laughably named positive discrimination. People should be selected for jobs based on being the best person for the job, not colour, religion, sexual orientation, where they were born or any other nonsense.
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It's more of a philosophy if you ask me. Many fans can be 'prejudice' in favouring home grown and local players over the opposite, so why can't clubs?
 
Its a bigger issue that gay people feel that can't be honest with others about whether they are gay? That is bigger than a club actively denying people the same right as others due to where they live, and btw they don't get the choice to 'not tell people where they live'... I don't see how the homosexual example is a worse case than this in the slightest, they made active choices to be the way they are... I'm pretty sure the foetus in the mum didn't ask which town to be born in..

EDIT: IGNORE me, seem's I had this page open for hours as I was replying to a post from this morning that I thought was still the latest :D
 
Zen86 said:
It's more of a philosophy if you ask me. Many fans can be 'prejudice' in favouring home grown and local players over the opposite, so why can't clubs?
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Because clubs are employers and business' and discrimination regarding to employment in any form is illegal under European law.
 
Rozay said:
Some other people in the thread, seemingly, hence the discussion. Who cares about what anyone agrees with on here really? I certainly don't give two shits about your view, for example, especially considering your unwarranted attitude of superiority.
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Its not superiority, its just knowing what a word means and finding it comical you do not. Especially one as serious as racism. You cant just attach it to any given situation and expect to be taken seriously. Otherwise I might as well complain that your post is racist

Bilbao do not discriminate against anyone. They just choose to continue a long tradition at the club.
 
Zen86 said:
I agree, I really can't see what the problem is.

Would it be prejudice if we suddenly came out and said we were going to start giving preference to players from Manchester?
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I wonder what the reaction is when managers say they want to buy or build a core of British players. Racists.


Sparky_Hughes said:
Because all prejudice is bad even the laughably named positive discrimination. People should be selected for jobs based on being the best person for the job, not colour, religion, sexual orientation, where they were born or any other nonsense.
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And who is to say who is the best person for the job?

Someone local or with a background that understands the area and/or history of the club could easily be the best person for the job, rather than paying £30 million for Wayne Rooney who wouldnt understand, wouldn't settle, wouldnt be loyal, etc

Its not quite the same as an office job, but even then there could be several things to look at, not just a C.V to determine the best candidate
 
Sparky_Hughes said:
Because clubs are employers and business' and discrimination regarding to employment in any form is illegal under European law.
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At a youth level, maybe they could get done for turning down a player who lives in that area, but doesn't originally come from it. But if a young person lived in the area, I dont think they'd care where he came from.

At a first team level, not buying players is their prerogative. And even, only buying players with a link to that location, they'll probably be fine with. As long as they are happy to sign Black, White, Polish, English, Japanese, American, Spanish, German, Gingers, Blondes with a conection to the Basque region, it would be fine.


Loads of people comment and criticise Athletic Bilbao's transfer policy though, so the OP is wrong there.
 
I guess in a few years clubs should be made to explain why they havent met the quota of signing a certain amount of ethnic, women and handicapped players.
 
adexkola said:
The hypocrisy in here is laughable. Wasn't everyone up in arms when the fans in Zenit made their statement about preferring white players?
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This whole thread is practically discussing the difference between the two. So Yes but youve mised all the point that have been made
 
Swaters16 said:
Xenophobic policy. This debate came up when Zenit declared they didn't want black players. The fans said it was cultural as well but because that was racism people jumped on the hate Zenit band-wagon. These are the same. Not employing someone because of something they are incapable of changing. One is xenophobic the others racism. You can't support one and condemn the other.
You either accept that every club has a right to decide who they want to play for their club or no one has that right based on race/nationality etc.
What exactly is wrong with Russian fans wanting only Slavic players because culturally and historically they've only had white players, if it is okay to only want Basque players?
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Of course you can - in fact you are a fool if you dont.

Also you have misunderstood the Zenith policy - if they only had Russian players then fair enough, but is it specifically black players they have an issue with (they have always had several foreign players) so that is why they were comdemned for it. Anyway they do now have the guy from Belgium (cant remember his name) who has Caribbean roots, not sure if he has had any issues with it.
 
It's sad when people can't recognize the difference between "we will sign anyone who isn't black" and "we only sign players from the local area". They really aren't the same thing.
 
Bestie07 said:
I don't agree with their policy, but I respect their achievements. To not have ever been relegated while recruiting players from such a small catchment area is absolutely amazing. But the only reason this policy is not detested is because they are the only ones that are doing it. Imagine if all the clubs start following this principle, many talented players would not get a chance to compete for the biggest prizes or the kind of money they can. What happens to the players from Asia, Africa or smaller European nations? Should they, in such a case, never get a chance to showcase their talents on a bigger stage?

I appreciate that they have strong ties with the local community, but shouldn't it be such that they should try to sign Basque players, but not make it a policy only to do so. If there is a choice between two players of similar qualities, one of whom has Basque ties, and the other doesn't, than by all means go and sign the Basque player. But if a better player is available for cheap shouldn't they go for him? It's alright now because only they are doing it, if everyone starts to do that, well, that would hardly be ideal.
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I can see how it would transform club football if every club did it as a policy, but that's so vastly removed from actual trends in club football that its barely worth considering at the moment imo.
 
Zen86 said:
It's sad when people can't recognize the difference between "we will sign anyone who isn't black" and "we only sign players from the local area". They really aren't the same thing.
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So if Zenit restricted it's player pool to people who have Cossack ancestors, eliminating the possibility of a black player playing for them, you think it would go down well with football? Would it feck.

There's no reasonable excuse for Atletico's policy. None. Sure, have a special fast track to the first team for those players that originated in the local area, nothing wrong with that. Welbeck is loved in Manchester because he's a local lad, with the talent to boot. But restricting entry based on origin is discriminatory.
 
Of course there's a difference between refusing to sign black players and consistently abusing them and having a policy that required you to develop footballers from within the area for traditional reasons. Athletic's board has thought for over a century that sticking to the traditions and understanding the culture is one of the most important factors for their football club, they are entitled to this opinion.
 
I think it's a brilliant strategy by Bilbao to solely recruit Basque players. We've gone on about the problems with La Liga and money distribution, by creating this sense of community a la Dortmund they are able to remain profitable even with the shitty distribution of funds.

For the Basque people, they really do have a sense that this is their club and will passionately support them. You only have to look at our Europa League tie against them and see how fanatical they are about this club. And despite not being a very good team this year, they had the 4th best attendance in La Liga this season. By solely recruiting Basque players, they make no mistake about the fact that this is a Basque club and the Basque people have an attachment to it that very few clubs have.

It would be prejudice if they rejected a black Basque kid because he was black, which isn't the case. And it's not like players who aren't Basque are begging to play for Bilbao and are being turned away for this reason.
 
You do realize that by default black players are excluded from Atletico's squad? How many Black Basques exist? Talk less of those who are good enough to play.

There's no difference, except that discrimination against blacks is taboo in todays' world, but discriminating based on region of origin is ok.
 
adexkola said:
You do realize that by default black players are excluded from Atletico's squad? How many Black Basques exist? Talk less of those who are good enough to play.

There's no difference, except that discrimination against blacks is taboo in todays' world, but discriminating based on region of origin is ok.
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And what about my primary school analogy on page 1? Should I campaign against my local primary school for not taking enough inner-city-London kids in?
 
Why stop at schools? Why not extend it to local businesses? Imagine having to provide proof of residence in order to purchase some chips. I don't see how opening the door to outside talent dilutes the tradition and purpose of Bilbao. Look at Barcelona/Espanyol, they have the Catalan ethos while having a diverse squad.

The crux of my argument is, I don't see how it's cnutish to deny a specific group of people employment based on racism, and it's ok to deny a specific group of people employment based on regionalism.
 
I actually agree a large part with that to be honest. I don't see a problem with recruiting locally, or even setting a "loose" aim of having, say, 90% of the first team from the local area. But after that it becomes grey.

And for those who say it works, look at Sporting Lisbon. They have done similarly, with an emphasis on a youth ethos, and havent done well from it, at all.
 
adexkola said:
So if Zenit restricted it's player pool to people who have Cossack ancestors, eliminating the possibility of a black player playing for them, you think it would go down well with football? Would it feck.
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That isn't analogous to Athletic's policy though. If a black player grew up and trained in the Basque region then he would fit their criteria.
 
adexkola said:
So if Zenit restricted it's player pool to people who have Cossack ancestors, eliminating the possibility of a black player playing for them, you think it would go down well with football? Would it feck.

There's no reasonable excuse for Atletico's policy. None. Sure, have a special fast track to the first team for those players that originated in the local area, nothing wrong with that. Welbeck is loved in Manchester because he's a local lad, with the talent to boot. But restricting entry based on origin is discriminatory.
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Well that's not the case is it? They have a policy which singles out and discriminates against one race, which is pretty much based on racism.

To compare that to Bilbao's tradition of only signing local players is quite stupid, whatever your view on it is.
 
adexkola said:
You do realize that by default black players are excluded from Atletico's squad? How many Black Basques exist? Talk less of those who are good enough to play.

There's no difference, except that discrimination against blacks is taboo in todays' world, but discriminating based on region of origin is ok.
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