The sad uprooting of a hockey team

Do you know football club Athletic Bilbao?

It is a first-class Spanish club from the Basque Country, this little corner of the land stretching between France and Spain.

This club has a unique home policy: players born in the Basque Country or of Basque origin, as well as players trained by the team, can walk on the green grass of Bilbao. Radical policy, right?

Why am I telling you about Athletic Bilbao this morning? Because at the last meeting of the Canadians, no player from Quebec was ice skating at the Bell Center. The first in 112 years of history.

Of course, comparing the Canadians to Athletic Bilbao is quite demagogic. It’s okay, I know.

But he nevertheless clarifies this: it is still possible, in a time of open markets and a victorious economy, to establish oneself in one’s society.

The cultural dimension

I know while writing this column that many of you will write to me to give me this pre-prepared answer: The important thing is “Producer on Ice”.

You are right. Al-Kindi offers us a product.

A product that responds to the principle of supply and demand. Who opens its runway doors only to those on average. Who does not hesitate to download the most popular meetings. And who is not offended that no player from Quebec is in uniform.

Al-Kindi is no longer a social institution. It is a private company devoid of its social, group and cultural dimensions. Do you belong to the Old Fireside League in order to remember that stopping one of its players is the first match of what we called the “Quiet Revolution”?

in another place

Meanwhile, CF Montreal, which meets the same requirements at the time, is 11 out of Quebec’s 30. I also look at the Alouettes: 24 Quebec players there.

But don’t worry, dear fans, our great superstar got the qualification started.