The most storied team in the NHL, the Montreal Canadiens, have named a new coach. So what?
Well, the biggest news about this hiring is that he is the first unilingual anglophone the team has had in a long time. The French speaking media are quite upset because there will be few French language sound-bites from the coach, which could ultimately cut into their viewer-ship. Of course it is being spun as an insult to the Francophone community.
What about soccer (football)? Would the coach’s language ever be an issue?
I don’t agree with you dooo. I cannot imagine Vancouver hiring a unilingual French coach. The various Portuguese and Italian soccer coaches in the UK can all speak English. I think this is a poor move by the Habs.
I cannot imagine any NHL team hiring a unilingual French coach including the Habs. Reason? They don’t exist at that level. NHL is a business. If you have a franchise in Quebec that services international clientele, especially in North America, would you hire a known, good employee who speaks only English? Or a second best choice who is bilingual English/French.
Strongly disagree. We are talking fans, French s[peaking fans in the case of the Montreal Canadiens. Just as I think that foreign pro golfers who make their living from an English speaking fan base in the US should learn to communicate in English, in the same way at the very least the coach of the team should be able to communicate with the fan base in their language.
Good point. There would not be a flap. But then Swedes have no language complex, a different history and speak English better, on average, than French Canadians.
To me, the most important thing should be that the coach not have a problem communicating with his players. There are many instances that I am aware of where the coach of a team or even a national team doesn’t speak the local language. Of course, there are all the historical issues surrounding the Canadiens but if the coach that is selected isn’t necessarily qualified and is only there because he speaks French, he won’t have credibility with the players and won’t be effective. Conversely, now that Cunneyworth is the coach but management has effectively said he is only temporary until they find a French speaker, he is a lame duck himself. In their heart of hearts, I suspect that most Canadiens fans, politicians aside, would rather have the team do well than make sure the coach speaks French. Especially since French can be learned at LingQ quite easily!
Haha, I don’t care much about sport but I’ve give my 2* cents.
Australian cricket coaches go and coach teams from all over the world and they are all monolingual English speakers… They are the most sought after coaches in the world. To me, the only problem is a lack of learning French/English from both sides of this equation.
We don’t even have 2 cent coins here now…so that’s pretty much worthless.
If he takes the Habs deep into the playoffs, I would like to see anyone insist on linguistic excuses to replace him. I am sure the management is counting on that.
