23-11-2016, 20:49
Could you elaborate on why you think it's daft?
If it's just the city/allegiance thing then I'm with you on that. I probably would lend my support to a Brum team, but I'd rather they were called something else. The historian Tom Holland, who's a huge cricket fan, wants the new teams to be named after the old Saxon kingdoms of England (e.g. Wessex, Mercia, etc), but I think that's just bizarre in a different way! This is part of the thing with this country that India and Australia perhaps don't have: we have some pretty fierce and complex regional identities, and a lot of the time we're more likely to define ourselves in opposition to nearby cities than to attach ourselves to them.
If it's just the city/allegiance thing then I'm with you on that. I probably would lend my support to a Brum team, but I'd rather they were called something else. The historian Tom Holland, who's a huge cricket fan, wants the new teams to be named after the old Saxon kingdoms of England (e.g. Wessex, Mercia, etc), but I think that's just bizarre in a different way! This is part of the thing with this country that India and Australia perhaps don't have: we have some pretty fierce and complex regional identities, and a lot of the time we're more likely to define ourselves in opposition to nearby cities than to attach ourselves to them.
"I would rather spend a holiday in Tuscany than in the Black Country, but if I were compelled to choose between living in West Bromwich or Florence, I should make straight for West Bromwich." - J.B. Priestley