Athletic Bilbao's policy on players

Well there goes the huns conspiracies about Bilbao getting a ride to the final out the window...

They can finally just accept they weren't good enough.

 

I guess it’s as discriminatory as international teams

 

But if he had trained for another club or academy in the Basque country, they would play him. Doesn't have to be Athletic's academy.

 

And there is 4 Basque teams in the top flight, so it's not as if they are the only team in the area that can train players

 

That sounds like something the Daily Record would print about rangers.

Of course success is measured in trophies. How else would you measure it exactly?

Athletic Bilbao actually won Copa Del Rey last season. That was the first trophy they won for 40 years.

Other teams occasionally run Barca and Real Madrid very close. Occasionally even win the league. Athletico Madrid, Deportivo La Coruna and Valencia in the last quarter of a century.
This shows how difficult it is to trump the big 2 over a whole season.
I do not think limiting the pool of players you have to choose from would make it any easier.

This Cristian Ganea is not the rule, he's the exception. If Bilbao did not stick to this signing policy the vast majority of the time then you wouldn't be able to pick out a player that was the exception and broke the rule. Cause there would be many. There's not. There's one. That tells me that the signing policy does exist and is in use. Or there would be a lot more to mention than one player

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iñaki_Williams

 

Why are people not getting this??

Ok......flip the statement....

If he was not from the Basque region and trained with an academy outside the Basque region then the likelihood is that he would not be considered to play for Bilbao.


I can't see how this is not discrimination. That's all I am saying

I'm feeling that if Bilbao were not left leaning, republican and separatist....
Say they were ultra - unionists with facist right wing undertones (like lazio)...then we'd be ripping them apart for having such a signing policy. Just my opinion....

 

Mate, I don't know how this is disproving their policy.

It * says in it "Product of the Athletic Bilbao training academy"

Yes they would sign him. He came from their youth academy.

If he came from say Valencia or Sevilla's academy the overwhelming liklihood is that he would not be signed

 

It's actually more discriminatory than international teams.

If you live in Spain and your grandparents are from France and your other grandparents are from Portugal. You'd be eligible to represent Spain, France or Portugal.

If the part of Spain you were from was say Andalusia and you trained at a training academy there. Yes you could be selected for any one of 3 countries......but you wouldn't be selected for Athletico Bilbao, in your own country

 

He's not an exception.

 

It can be classed as a form of discrimination in purely technical terms of what the word means, because it excludes people based on birthplace or training location. It doesn't break Spanish or EU law, players are signed regardless of nationality, ethnicity or race. It's a selective policy, which may be more accurate than calling it discrimination due to the negative connotations that word brings.

Another example of a selective policy is the military. You have to pass medical and fitness tests to get in. Colour blindness is a barrier to some jobs in the military. So you could make the argument that these policies are discriminatory too, but it's selective.

There are people who think it's a good thing, and it has its critics too.

But in terms of your question about it being a form of discrimination, it is, but not all discrimination is bad.

 

Have a lie down mate..

 

No one's saying they don't sign foreign players.
They don't sign foreign players that have not been trained in a training academy within the Basque region. That is their signing policy

 

They are many. Just mentioned Ganea cause I believe he's the most recent one.

 

Having to pass a medical to prove your fitness isn't discriminatory....if it is nessescary to do a job...then that is the requirements to be given that job.
If you fail the medical because of lack of fitness you can go away for 6 months, train like *, come back hopefully fitter and pass the medical.

If Bilbao reject a player cause he is not Basque and wasn't trained there the player can't come back in 6 months having changed this. It's something you can't change. Where you originate from and where you were trained will determine whether you get a contract at Bilbao.
You cannot change either of these things.
Neither of these things should be considered as a failing.
But they are when Bilbao look at a player's credentials

 

Actually, it is. It discriminates against people who can't do it by excluding them.

That's why it's important to remember that not all discrimination is bad.

Neutral/Positive Discrimination

To discriminate can simply mean to distinguish or make careful distinctions between things.

For example:

A scout discriminates between a good and bad pass.

A wine connoisseur discriminates between vintage qualities.

This kind of discrimination is often necessary and even admirable — it's about discernment or selectivity.

Negative/Social Discrimination

This refers to unfair or prejudicial treatment based on race, gender, nationality, religion, etc.

In this sense, it’s widely condemned because it excludes people unjustly from opportunities.

Yeah but there are people that are just incapable of reaching the required level of fitness.

They're not considered as 'failings'. It's just that Athletic want to promote Basque trained or Basque born players. Whether you like that or not is up to you. If you're a critic of the policy, you won't be alone.

Another example you can look at is the GAA. Dublin will pick players from County Dublin. Mayo will pick players from Mayo and so on.

 

Jobs have requirements. If you are illiterate you wouldn't apply to be a book critic. If you didn't pass Higher Physics you wouldn't apply to work for N.A.S.A. If you were scared of flying you wouldn't apply for a cabin crew job.

You would not expect where you were born and where you trained to have any bearing on being accepted for a position or not. Any other club in Spain does not give a * which part of Spain you are from or where you did your training.
Bilbao do. You could have won the Balon D'or the previous year and that still wouldn't be enough to get you signed with Bilbao

 

If Lazio had a policy stating they only sign players from the Lazio region (i.e Rome and the surrounding area)...either that or you had to have been trained within that area....I have a feeling we'd be heavily criticising them and not trying to defend their signing policy.

A lot of Celtic fans will be warming to Athletico Bilbao due to their fans' waving tri-colours to annoy the huns...maybe also due to the Basque region's struggle for independence. This however doesn't change the facts about what their immediate considerations are when signing a player.

The average Celtic fan's political leanings would likely be the polar opposite to the average Lazio fan's....and I'm using them as an example in that I think we'd be heavily scrutinising them if they had a similar signing policy to Athletic Bilbao's

 

Yep. That's more examples why not all discrimination is negative.

 

Surely though discrimination in this case for something totally innocent and out of your control could be considered as negative.

Neither of Bilbao's two part requirements to be suitable to play for them have any bearing on whether a player is a good footballer or not.

40 goals a season for the past 5 years for a striker from Catalonia or a goalkeeper from Galacia saving 8 out of the last 10 penalties might sound like brilliant credentials. But Bilbao's policy still would mean they'd sign a striker and goalkeeper from the Basque region before they'd sign the other two. Surely that's negative discrimination.

It even weakens their own position as a team by keeping the policy in existence.

There isn't anything positive about it.

I can't understand how UEFA or even FIFA haven't stepped in already to sanction Bilbao if the Spanish football authorities just ignore this behaviour. Which is what's happening