Euro 2008 - Who will you support??

[RM-Taylor]

Holland have always been my team, just hope they can perform in this tournament and make it their own.

 

[Man of Harveys]

Holland have always been my team, just hope they can perform in this tournament and make it their own.

They won't, the arrogant tosspots.

 

[elwheelio]

I like the czechs though I think post Nedved, Berger et al they may have missed their chance. That is all

 

[house your seagull]

See your point, my rellies out there are Catalonian to the core (apart from my cousin who is English), they speak the language at home and only use Spanish at work.

isn't catalan a bit mickey mouse?

half of my family live in the Valencia region, my little sister has spanish (castillana sp.) lessons at school, all lessons in valenciana - they learn spanish like the welsh have to learn, ermm, welsh. so she cannot speak spanish very well - but her valenciano is pukka.

valenciana is very much like catalan - to the point that they use catalan dictionaries and textbooks. the balearic islanders also use a similar dialect.

i have a spanish friend (from zaragoza) who says that the catalans only 'invented' their language in the 1920's! ... not sure if that's true or not.

 

[captainmorganrum]

What's wrong with Romania and Russia then?

 

[captainmorganrum]

i have a spanish friend (from zaragoza) who says that the catalans only 'invented' their language in the 1920's! ... not sure if that's true or not.

Not quite, Wikipedia says:
"Catalan language developed by the 9th century from Vulgar Latin on both sides of the eastern part of Pyrenees mountains (counties of Roussillon, Empúries, Besalú, Cerdanya, Urgell, Pallars and Ribagorça). It shares features with Gallo-romance and Ibero-romance, and it could be said to be in its beginnings no more than an eccentric dialect of Occitan (or of Western Romance)."

 

[Man of Harveys]

isn't catalan a bit mickey mouse?

half of my family live in the Valencia region, my little sister has spanish (castillana sp.) lessons at school, all lessons in valenciana - they learn spanish like the welsh have to learn, ermm, welsh. so she cannot speak spanish very well - but her valenciano is pukka.

valenciana is very much like catalan - to the point that they use catalan dictionaries and textbooks. the balearic islanders also use a similar dialect.

i have a spanish friend (from zaragoza) who says that the catalans only 'invented' their language in the 1920's! ... not sure if that's true or not.

Are you Andy Townsend in disguise?

And no, Catalan is about as ancient a language as about any of the other main European ones and thankfully stronger than even despite Castro's insane attempts at banning it - you could buy a newspaper in any language on the Rambla in Barcelona before 1975, apart from the mother language being spoken by everyone else around you, apparently.

 

[house your seagull]

Are you Andy Townsend in disguise?

i don't get that !!! whad-i-do ... whad i do!!!

 

[Icy Gull]

France, because I spend quite a bit of time there. I'd also like Spain to do well.

I'll watch Russia with interest too, as I've seen some great games involving them
Particularly enjoyed this 1986 game against Belgium

[yt]TK-IdDQMs4E[/yt]

 

[1066familyman]

The team that plays the most attractive football, 'cos I have no allegiance to any now that England are out.

 

[Man of Harveys]

i don't get that !!! whad-i-do ... whad i do!!!

No offence at all, just that he was the pundit who blithely (and very funnily) asserted, I think during the 2006 World Cup, that centuries of hugely-deep rooted cultural differences within the Iberian peninsular between the Basques/Catalans/Castillians/Galicians etc - which are often held up as the main reason why the Spanish national side underachieve at big tournaments - should just all be "sorted out" by the national coach; y basta. And he refused to take on board any assertion that it might all not be quite as simple as that.

 

[Frutos]

See your point, my rellies out there are Catalonian to the core (apart from my cousin who is English), they speak the language at home and only use Spanish at work.

Fair enough, and good for them (sorry if that sounds patronising, not at all meant as such).

I have Catalan ancestors, so I'm trying to learn the language myself (as a hobby as much as anything), but my efforts have been somewhat stunted by my complete laziness in the matter.

 

[Frutos]

isn't catalan a bit mickey mouse?

Erm, no.

According to recent stats, it's spoken to some fluency or another by just under 10,000,000 people worldwide, and understood by just over 12,000,000 (which includes the 10 million who can speak it to some degree or other).

 

[chesneyhawkes]

I will be supporting Switzeland purely because i drew them in my sunday sides sweepstake. I was going to buy the shirt of my adopted team too but i have been outbid on e bay and it is now £26. Surely someone has bid on it by mistake at that price.

 

[coventrygull]

Its Russia for me mainly because they have some of the most beautiful women in the world

 

[Yoda]

Let me think.

 

[ATFC Seagull]

even despite Castro's insane attempts at banning it

Am I the only person who noticed this? Not that I am one to talk!

 

[Frutos]

Am I the only person who noticed this? Not that I am one to talk!

I hadn't actually noticed that.

Methinks MoH meant Franco, not Castro.

 

[withdeanwombat]

Spain.They are the Iberian England.

 

[Man of Harveys]

I hadn't actually noticed that.

Methinks MoH meant Franco, not Castro.

Franco, Castro, Bisto - let's call the whole thing off...tsk, there we are, any flimsy intellectual pretensions holed below the waterline just like that...

Moving swiftly on - this man speaks sense:
Who should we back in Euro 2008? | Sport | guardian.co.uk