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Greenland to join Concacaf ?


Trillium

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With the move to full self government ...for Greenland, the CSA should be sending Dale Mitchell north to arrange a friendly we can win.

Greenland votes massively in favour of self-rule

NUUK, Greenland (AFP) — Greenland voted massively in favour of self-rule in a referendum that paves the way for independence from Denmark and gives it rights to lucrative Arctic resources, final results showed.

A total of 75.54 percent voted "yes" to greater autonomy, while 23.57 percent said "no."

A self-rule proposal hammered out with Denmark earlier this year gives Greenland, which was granted semi-autonomy from Copenhagen in 1979, rights to potentially lucrative Arctic resources, as well as control over justice and police affairs and, to a certain extent, foreign affairs.

The new status will take effect on June 21, 2009.

The head of the local government Hans Enoksen hailed the outcome in an emotional televised address.

"I say thank you to the people of Greenland for this overwhelming result. Greenland has been given a mandate to take another step" toward independence, he said.

In Nuuk, the capital that is home to a quarter of the island's 57,000-strong population, fireworks lit up the night sky even before the final results were announced.

Opinion polls prior to the referendum had suggested the result would be a clear "yes."

Anne Sofie Fisker, a voter in her 60s, was prophetic as she left a Nuuk polling station earlier in the day. "It's a day to celebrate, a historic day, one that I have waited for for years and years," she told AFP.

"It was time for us for to regain our rights and freedoms that were stolen from our ancestors, a people of free and proud hunters whose lands were colonised" by Denmark 300 years ago, said David Brandt, a former fisherman.

Others however, including Johannes Mathiassen, feared the self-rule "is too early, and the country is not ready to assume these new responsibilities."

There are potentially lucrative revenues from natural resources under Greenland's seabed, which according to international experts is home to large oil and gas deposits.

Melting ice in the Arctic owing to climate change could make the region more accessible to exploration in the future.

The countries ringing the Arctic Ocean -- Canada, Denmark, Norway, Russia and the United States -- are currently competing over territorial claims in the region and Greenland is keen to garner its share.

A Danish-Greenlandic commission that studied which policy fields would be transferred to the local government in Nuuk in the event of self-rule proposed among other things that "the revenues from activities related to raw materials be distributed to Greenland" in return for reducing annual subsidies from Copenhagen.

"Self-rule will bring with it only good things for Greenland," said Lars-Emil Johansen, who was prime minister of the island from 1991 to 1997 and who helped bring about its semi-autonomous status in 1979.

Home to the US Thule radar base, Greenland will also with its new status be consulted on foreign and defence policy, which are now decided by Copenhagen, but Nuuk would not have the final say and little is expected to change in that area.

Greenlanders, who voted to withdraw from the European Union in a 1982 referendum, will be also be recognised as a distinct people in line with international law, and Greenlandic will be recognised as the official language.

Most of the parties in the local parliament were in favour of self-rule, but a fringe movement, backed by a single political party, the Democrats, had opposed it.

"With such a tiny population it is impossible to provide the human contributions needed to turn Greenland into a modern and independent state," politician Finn Lyng said.

With its 2.1-million square kilometre (840,000 square mile) surface, 80 percent of which is covered by ice, Greenland is the world's largest island and contains 10 percent of the world's fresh water reserves.

It counts 57,000 inhabitants, 50,000 of whom are native Inuits.

In 2007, the territory received subsidies of 3.2 billion kroner (432 million euros, 540 million dollars) from Denmark, or about 30 percent of its gross domestic product.

The local government said 71.96 percent of the island's 39,000 eligible voters had cast ballots.

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quote:Originally posted by SCF08

Look at Iceland..

Iceland has a pretty decent WCQ campaign so far....that's also a team who tied Spain in the year preceeding the Euro. Since January 2007, Spain has a 25wins 0 loss and 3 ties record, one of those tie is against Iceland, they are no fluke.

BTW, we tied Iceland last year.

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Guest Jeffery S.
quote:Originally posted by loyola

Are you a moron?

Iceland has a pretty decent WCQ campaign so far....that's also a team who tied Spain in the year preceeding the Euro. Since January 2007, Spain has a 25wins 0 loss and 3 ties record, one of those tie is against Iceland, they are no fluke.

BTW, we tied Iceland last year.

Sorry, regardless of the draw vs. Spain Iceland is a pretty horrible team. I think we are better, on paper and on the pitch. We have a lot better chance of getting to a World Cup than they do.

Back to Greenland: welcome to Concacaf boys, it is going to be hilarious to play you up there. I think it is an absolutely amazing addition.

Greenland already plays competitions in the Americas. For example, I think they played Olympic handball qualifiers in our region two years ago.

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Horrible? I don't think so. They are OK and are able to give a game to the best teams in their region in Euro or WC qualifying....just like us when we are already out.

The point is that a tie in Iceland was an OK result for us, it's comparable to an away draw in Jamaica (yes, I think Jamaica and Iceland are at similar level). For the record, Canada might be better on paper but we were apparently better on paper than a lot of teams including Jamaica and Honduras (for some)....

Look at their result at home since 2007, not an easy team to beat at home by any means:

2007 (EQ) Islande 1:1 (1:0) Liechtenstein

2007 (F) Islande 1:1 (0:0) Canada

2007 (EQ) Islande 1:1 (1:0) Espagne

2007 (EQ) Islande 2:1 (1:0) Irlande du Nord

2007 (EQ) Islande 2:4 (1:3) Lettonie

2008 (F) Islande 0:1 (0:1) Pays de Galles

2008 (F) Islande 1:1 (0:0) Azerbaïdjan

2008 (WCQ) Islande 1:2 (0:1) Ecosse

2008 (WCQ) Islande 1:0 (1:0) ARY Macédoine

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I wish we could start our own WCQ zone, with Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. Maybe we could throw Ireland in their too as they play on a summer schedule. Call it the Nordic Football Association. NFA. How many spots would we get? Even with just two, we might have a better shot than now at qualification. I'd say we'd deserve 2.5 to 3, as there are probably a few counries like Kazakstah and Belarus that I'm forgetting. And we could set up a somewhat normal club competition in the summer. Russia might be hard to pursuade as their clubs are having great Euro Cup success, but the UEFA cup isn't really worth that much in comparison to Champions League anyway. On the other hand, it would be great for the Russian ego to have a zone that they could dominate for club and country. Being that our economies are also similar, it would make sense too. So there you have it:

-Similar climate

-Similar economies

-Similar prefer styles of play

And we could give Greenland a **** kicking every now and then =)

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The Greenland footy website looks great. They have a stadium that holds 2,000 people and they have natural grass.

You can even get in contact with their manager by either email or phone :D

They are sponsored by Coca Cola.

The CSA could learn from them..[8D]

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quote:Originally posted by argh1

I dunno as smug as we may wanna be Greenland will most likely join UEFA.

Yes Greenland is part of North America.

But then Guyana and Surinam are in CONCACAF not CONMEBOL

I think Greenland should come to Concacaf, certainly the CSA should at least organize a friendly with help from the Nunavut Association to play Greenland for a Northern Cup .... I suspect the diamond mines up north would pony up for the cost of the airline tickets.

CSA could even apply to the Goal Programme to get money for a field turf installation in Iqualit ..its a 600 km distance from Greenland a direct line .. the airport takes Airbus flights.

Of course for the return game to Nuuk stadium the CSA can charter some boats to carry the team over.. i think we did that in the carribean for .. a game did we not ?

Oh i just realized would Even Pelerud be likely candidate for the womens team coach there ?

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Guest Jeffery S.
quote:Originally posted by canso

Quebec:

------Latendresse----

--Hainault----Pizzolito---

Lacoste---Bourgault---Gervais

--------Bernier-------

--Abde Sylla-----Biello--

----Ali Gerba---Occean--

On the bench: Wyn Belotte.

Seriously guys, why even discuss this subject of Québec? There are nations without a state not in FIFA that do a hell of a lot more than Québec to get recognized by international sporting bodies, and none of them is even close to FIFA recognition. It is a pipe dream. If the existing state falls apart or there is a war or some other tragic circumstance, well maybe it could happen, new nations, new FIFA players. But if not, not. And in the case of Québec, and where I am Catalonia, definitely not.

At least Catalonia plays an international match every year at Camp Nou (this year Dec 28th vs. Colombia). What does Québec do?

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Guest Jeffery S.
quote:Originally posted by canso

Quebec:

------Latendresse----

--Hainault----Pizzolito---

Lacoste---Bourgault---Gervais

--------Bernier-------

--Abde Sylla-----Biello--

----Ali Gerba---Occean--

On the bench: Wyn Belotte.

Seriously guys, why even discuss this subject of Québec? There are nations without a state not in FIFA that do a hell of a lot more than Québec to get recognized by international sporting bodies, and none of them is even close to FIFA recognition. It is a pipe dream. If the existing state falls apart or there is a war or some other tragic circumstance, well maybe it could happen, new nations, new FIFA players. But if not, not. And in the case of Québec, and where I am Catalonia, definitely not.

At least Catalonia plays an international match every year at Camp Nou (this year Dec 28th vs. Colombia). What does Québec do?

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I think it'd be great to see Greenland in the CONCACAF region - what great qualifiers seeing Greenland v. Guyana!!!

Seriously though, I think it'd be a nice addition to the region.

I do like the idea of a "northern" world cup qualifying region. With Russia's Billions, there is no chance of them leaving UEFA.

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Greenland isn't even a member of Fifa so even if they have their country they still have to get up to Fifa standards to play in uefa or concacaf. Right now they play in the Viva world cup along with Iraqi Kurdistan, Sapmi and Aramean Syriac.

Greenland couldn’t join because they did not have enough fields to play on or some reason like that. Because permafrost is a feature of Greenland it is hard to have a natural grass pitch, but fifa approved field turf so Greenland could apply to join.

But right now they will not be in uefa or concacaf anytime soon

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