I do not really know why but I asked myself the following question today: what English people (that are Habs fans of course!) think about the French fact?
You know, many fans want to see the organization bring some players from Quebec or that are French. Others want to see French people in the staff.
I do not want to start a debate...it's only a question to know their opinions.
I was born in India, but raised in BC, so I grew up with English. I fell in love with the team because my Dad liked them. At that time, I was too little to know about the politics and culture surrounding the team. But now its too late to change. I don't like it, but I'm hooked for life.
Hence why some of us can't wait for the return of the nordiques
last time Quebec had a NHL team...
- Habs had a french speaking GM (Savard taking over Grundman's)
- Habs had a french speaking coach (exception being Bob Berry, who lost his job after the Habs were eliminated by... the Nordiques!)
- Habs also had a ******** of french speaking players
is that the reasons you'd like the Nords to come back ?
Being an altruistic communitarian humanist, I am not a huge fan of the walls one uses to define such socially constructed and arbitrary terms suchas "us" and "them".
I have a huge passion for the CH, my earliest memory of fire burning for our team was when I was about 5...6...I was fully bilingual then, son of Italian/Portuguese immigrants so for me the habs was never an institution to channel and have personified my nationalistic pride...it was and is for purely a hockey institution for the Canadian people...and the human race...I judge players by their work ethic first and foremost...whoever bleeds red white and blue is good enough for me.
- Habs had a french speaking GM (Savard taking over Grundman's)
- Habs had a french speaking coach (exception being Bob Berry, who lost his job after the Habs were eliminated by... the Nordiques!)
- Habs also had a ******** of french speaking players
is that the reasons you'd like the Nords to come back ?
Well played lol
What i meant was that, when (if) the nordiques do come back, they will definitely need to be full of French Canadian players, coaches, GMs and so on. Maybe then could we (Montreal) get a break this is BS
Anglophone Canadiens fan for the past 30 years, and I couldn't care less what culture/nationality anyone on the team represents - the CH is more important than all of that.
Anglophone Canadiens fan for the past 30 years, and I couldn't care less what culture/nationality anyone on the team represents - the CH is more important than all of that.
We have a winner...I love when common sense prevails...
I also understand the fact, that the city and it's fans who are french, want a coach who can communicate with them and the media on a daily basis...so it's all very complicated. It's all made in to a big deal, when it really shouldn't be....
Winning, is what matters, and a Cup contending team could have a Japenese coach for all I care...
I have no problem with carrying a minimum of one french player on the team. That's really not that hard or really that big of a deal - even if it is just a Mathieu Darche type player who plays 50 games a year. ("throwing a bone" so to speak)
At the same time, I think ("throwing a bone" so to speak) beyond that is ridiculous. If the best players are french? Great. If they aren't? That's okay too. The coach and GM shouldn't have to speak French, I think that's ridiculous. I understand the need for culture, but they is a lot of things outside of hockey that people can turn too.
For example, I could care less if the Blue Jays have a Canadian player. Is it more awesome when they do? Damn right it is. But on the same hand, I could care less if the team was made of every nationality but Canadian if they were a winning team.
I watch my team because I want them to win. I follow them to watch them be the best they can be.
You hear the same quote all the time.
"It's not about the name on the back of the jersey, it's about the crest on the front."
Any English person opinion who resides offside of Quebec is irrelevant... Of course, the french factor as no value (or little) to you, you don't live in FRENCH QUEBEC!!!!
I understand that there is Habs fans all over the world, but accept it or not, the team is base in Montreal, in the province of Quebec which is a french province!
Would it be better if we didn't have the langage debate all the time, maybe, but just hoping so won't change anything.
It is a fact that the Habs should always (at equal talent) favor french or bilingual talent at player and administration level
Could the team be popular and survive with a minimum of french speaking player? Yes, of course, it happen the last couple of years (that being said, we finish last this season with only 2 regular player speaking french, one being a spare part (Darche) one being the best center (Desharnais) so....)
Could the team survive with an english coach or an english GM? Yes of course, for the number of time Gauthier spoke to the media, he could have been chinese it would not have change anything. For the coach it's a little harder as seen with Cunneyworth this season, that said, if the coach was Mike Babcock or Dave Tippett, a winning and very competent coach, it would be less of a problem, but it would still be harder to pass if the team is not utterly competitive...
That being said, everything becomes easier for the organisation and the fans if more french speaking person are involve in the organisation....
As you can imagine, a french coach or Gm is more important in Quebec than in the rest of the world for Habs fans, for players it's a little less important... I think people become fans of a team firstly for the team itself and it's result, than theyre player, who leads the organisation is not on top of the list of reason people cheer for a team....
And ask the old timer habs fans, they liked the Robinsons, the Gainey, the Shutt, the Dryden, but they also love the Tremblay, the Lafleur, The Savard and the Lemaire....
french player is a big part of the Habs identity and it will always remain, in this day and age, you can't assume you'll have the same amount of french player as in the past, but if you don't understand that special attention must be made toward the hiring of francophone, than you're not in touch with what the Habs organisations is all about....
Grew up in Ontario, but went to french immersion. Not sure if this qualifies me as a non-frenchie but my 2 cents are; if you hire the best available person for the job and he doesn't speak french, hire an assistant that does and teach him to speak french in the meantime.
Doesn't really seem all that hard. Still respectful to the organization, it's fans and the province.
I'm billingual but I guess I can be called an Anglo since my mother tongue is English.
I don't quite care about the language factor but I do understand it and in a perfect world would want the GM and coach to communicate in French. However, winning is far more important to me. Franco fans will be able to get by with an English speaking GM and coach (as long as they win).
The bigger issue to me is the lack of French players on the team. I'd like to see more francos on the team.
It's funny, as a kid growing up in Montreal in the 80's...I never once heard anything about language. Now it's all you hear about.
Grew up in Ontario, but went to french immersion. Not sure if this qualifies me as a non-frenchie but my 2 cents are; if you hire the best available person for the job and he doesn't speak french, hire an assistant that does and teach him to speak french in the meantime.
Doesn't really seem all that hard. Still respectful to the organization, it's fans and the province.
makes perfect sense
Quote:
Originally Posted by hockeyfan2k11
I'm billingual but I guess I can be called an Anglo since my mother tongue is English.
I don't quite care about the language factor but I do understand it and in a perfect world would want the GM and coach to communicate in French. However, winning is far more important to me. Franco fans will be able to get by with an English speaking GM and coach (as long as they win).
The bigger issue to me is the lack of French players on the team. I'd like to see more francos on the team.
It's funny, as a kid growing up in Montreal in the 80's...I never once heard anything about language. Now it's all you hear about.
a non bilingual coach or gm would be easier to swallow if the team was in fact winning but since it's never a garantee.....
Any English person opinion who resides offside of Quebec is irrelevant... Of course, the french factor as no value (or little) to you, you don't live in FRENCH QUEBEC!!!!
I understand that there is Habs fans all over the world, but accept it or not, the team is base in Montreal, in the province of Quebec which is a french province!
Would it be better if we didn't have the langage debate all the time, maybe, but just hoping so won't change anything.
It is a fact that the Habs should always (at equal talent) favor french or bilingual talent at player and administration level
Could the team be popular and survive with a minimum of french speaking player? Yes, of course, it happen the last couple of years (that being said, we finish last this season with only 2 regular player speaking french, one being a spare part (Darche) one being the best center (Desharnais) so....)
Could the team survive with an english coach or an english GM? Yes of course, for the number of time Gauthier spoke to the media, he could have been chinese it would not have change anything. For the coach it's a little harder as seen with Cunneyworth this season, that said, if the coach was Mike Babcock or Dave Tippett, a winning and very competent coach, it would be less of a problem, but it would still be harder to pass if the team is not utterly competitive...
That being said, everything becomes easier for the organisation and the fans if more french speaking person are involve in the organisation....
As you can imagine, a french coach or Gm is more important in Quebec than in the rest of the world for Habs fans, for players it's a little less important... I think people become fans of a team firstly for the team itself and it's result, than theyre player, who leads the organisation is not on top of the list of reason people cheer for a team....
And ask the old timer habs fans, they liked the Robinsons, the Gainey, the Shutt, the Dryden, but they also love the Tremblay, the Lafleur, The Savard and the Lemaire....
french player is a big part of the Habs identity and it will always remain, in this day and age, you can't assume you'll have the same amount of french player as in the past, but if you don't understand that special attention must be made toward the hiring of francophone, than you're not in touch with what the Habs organisations is all about....
My friend, that was at a time when the Canadiens had exclusive rights to the best French players in the province. And I understand that that creates a sense of entitlement because the Canadiens have always been successful with a number of French people in the organization. But we've also been successful with Englishmen.
This subject exists because of a cultural need to feel accepted and represented (I'm not calling you a separatist) and I appreciate that.
But times have changed in relation to hockey. There are now 30 teams in the NHL and we don't have the rights we used to have. I agree that players like Giroux shouldn't sneak through from within our backyard. The entire Gainey/Gauthier regime was a failure and the new GM should make that one of the top priorities.
However, a sport should never be made about country of origin, language, race, colour or gender. It's not right in 2012 to divide people anymore. We have so many other things in the world to worry about: peace, security, honour and integrity. Things like local people playing for our hockey team are nice but the people need to come together.
I hope we make sure that we get the best French players from within our backyard. It should be easier for us than any other team. Let's pull together and not divide. We have a Cup to go after and winning that is the most important thing.
My friend, that was at a time when the Canadiens had exclusive rights to the best French players in the province. And I understand that that creates a sense of entitlement because the Canadiens have always been successful with a number of French people in the organization. But we've also been successful with Englishmen.
This subject exists because of a cultural need to feel accepted and represented (I'm not calling you a separatist) and I appreciate that.
But times have changed in relation to hockey. There are now 30 teams in the NHL and we don't have the rights we used to have. I agree that players like Giroux shouldn't sneak through from within our backyard. The entire Gainey/Gauthier regime was a failure and the new GM should make that one of the top priorities.
However, a sport should never be made about country of origin, language, race, colour or gender. It's not right in 2012 to divide people anymore. We have so many other things in the world to worry about: peace, security, honour and integrity. Things like local people playing for our hockey team are nice but the people need to come together.
I hope we make sure that we get the best French players from within our backyard. It should be easier for us than any other team. Let's pull together and not divide. We have a Cup to go after and winning that is the most important thing.
[QUOTE=HABsurde;48963591]Any English person opinion who resides offside of Quebec is irrelevant... Of course, the french factor as no value (or little) to you, you don't live in FRENCH QUEBEC!!!!
So I am irrelevant. Well , I find that statement rude and poorly thought out.Let me explain. I like thousands of others in Canada and around the world live and die for this team.When I went to university in Montreal I followed the team closer and attended more games than ANY of my french classmates.People came to me for answers about the Habs -schedule,injuries ,draft picks.
Even today , my closet has a whole row of Hab sweaters ,shirts and T-shirts.Tons of memoribilia around my house.I saw the Habs play live twice this year and Hamilton once.My cable includes the french station package just so I have RDS for the games not shown on CBC,TSN or TSN-Montreal.
So you may say I am irrelevant but the team doesn't .Because I am not an average fan and I spend more money and time on this team than the average fan , even Quebec fans.And there thousands of us outside of Quebec.And we just want the team to win. The team could be all french or all english , doesn't matter - just win .
I don't care one bit what language anyone in the organization speaks. I wanted Randy to succeed, but it was obvious he wasn't ready to be a head coach in the NHL.
Any English person opinion who resides offside of Quebec is irrelevant... Of course, the french factor as no value (or little) to you, you don't live in FRENCH QUEBEC!!!!
I understand that there is Habs fans all over the world, but accept it or not, the team is base in Montreal, in the province of Quebec which is a french province!
Would it be better if we didn't have the langage debate all the time, maybe, but just hoping so won't change anything.
It is a fact that the Habs should always (at equal talent) favor french or bilingual talent at player and administration level
Could the team be popular and survive with a minimum of french speaking player? Yes, of course, it happen the last couple of years (that being said, we finish last this season with only 2 regular player speaking french, one being a spare part (Darche) one being the best center (Desharnais) so....)
Could the team survive with an english coach or an english GM? Yes of course, for the number of time Gauthier spoke to the media, he could have been chinese it would not have change anything. For the coach it's a little harder as seen with Cunneyworth this season, that said, if the coach was Mike Babcock or Dave Tippett, a winning and very competent coach, it would be less of a problem, but it would still be harder to pass if the team is not utterly competitive...
That being said, everything becomes easier for the organisation and the fans if more french speaking person are involve in the organisation....
As you can imagine, a french coach or Gm is more important in Quebec than in the rest of the world for Habs fans, for players it's a little less important... I think people become fans of a team firstly for the team itself and it's result, than theyre player, who leads the organisation is not on top of the list of reason people cheer for a team....
And ask the old timer habs fans, they liked the Robinsons, the Gainey, the Shutt, the Dryden, but they also love the Tremblay, the Lafleur, The Savard and the Lemaire....
french player is a big part of the Habs identity and it will always remain, in this day and age, you can't assume you'll have the same amount of french player as in the past, but if you don't understand that special attention must be made toward the hiring of francophone, than you're not in touch with what the Habs organisations is all about....
The Montreal canadiens are a global organization. All things being equal, I'm sure it would be nice for Quebec fans to cheer on local heroes. It would be the same in every other city. It's not necessarily a realistic thing anymore.
You mention that Babcock or Tippett would probably do fine as long as they are winning. You hit the nail on the head there. Winning is the key. You may think Quebec wants/needs a francophone coach but in reality all we need is a winner. The string of coaches hired and fired in Montreal in the last 17 years were not the best candidate to coach any other team except Montreal. They may have gone on to be successful elsewhere but why do we have to be the proving ground?
