Earlier today I did an article (click here to read) that featured what could be our new shirt for the up and coming season. In that article I purposely missed out something rather important, to see if anybody picked up on it.As suspected people focused more on what the shirt looked like, rather than something that is on the shirt.
The shirt has Etihad Airways on it as the sponsor, this is not surprising as they have been touted as being our new sponsor for some time now and it looks likely that they could indeed take over from Thomas Cook.
Etihad Airways is a big airline that is based in Abu Dhabi, obviously another opportunity for our owners to advertise where they come from. It is being said however that the deal could be lucrative and maybe even shatter previous sponsorship deals, so whats the problem?
Well the quite big problem is that Etihad when translated into English, amongst other things means United. Now I don't have a problem if our shirts are ugly, to plain, not plain enough and so on, but having United on the front of our shirts whether it's in a different language or not is surely a no no for most if not all City fans.
I would like to think City would not do such a thing, but it is City so you never know. Like I have said previously I will always wear our clubs shirt no matter what, but surely it is not just me who won't like knowing that they are walking around in their City top that has United sprawled across it.
Can we as City fans see past it?, I am not so sure we could.
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Meh! Old news
ReplyDeleteYou say "amonst other things" - what are the other things?
ReplyDeleteThis has been debated on forums and the reality is that they will be pushing good money into the club and they are a big brand. Surely not many fans would care, Would they? I personally couldn’t care less.
ReplyDeleteIt also means "Federation" and "Union".
ReplyDeleteWell it has been mentioned in the past first poster, but mainly in national news, I wanted to collect City fans thoughts on it.
ReplyDeleteThird poster, it can apparently also mean - Unity, Union and federation,
Guys if you leave names it is easy to reply to you. Thanks
Stop reading the Daily Mail
ReplyDeleteIT MEANS UNITY NOT UNITED LOL
ReplyDeleteIt does mean unity as well as union and federation but most importantly to us City fans it can mean united, I have looked in to it properly. And it was in the Daily Mail I think, but it was also in many many other places, I wouldn't just print something on the back of what the Daily Mail says believe me.
ReplyDeleteAs an Arabic City Fan. 'Etihad' has a thre pronged meaning: -
ReplyDelete1. Unification of seperate entities - The mechanism of our join
2. Coalition - Parties working together to facilitate the same goals.
3. Harmony - mutual respect.
In conclusion.
It is quite annoying that people who have no knowledge of our language will re-translate phrases to suit themselves. The meaning is much deeper than just one word - I.e. one could say that Etihad means 'Joint' (cue drug-use puns) as much as it means 'United'. I would suggest that the sponsor is apt under the cicumstances.
Don't buy it then.
ReplyDeleteAli thanks a lot for your input but it kinda still come back to it being able to mean United. I did say it means United amongst other things and you still say it can mean United ''one could say that Etihad means 'Joint' as much as it means 'United.'' So yes it can have other meanings but 1 of those meanings is United.
ReplyDeleteEven better don't beleive it!! It's a fake shirt similar to the leaked Image of the England kit! The badge on the shirt is totally fake an the words on the bottom of the badge don't even say superbia! The shirt was sold on a Chinese website that does kit for just about every other team so nothing confirmed about new sponsors!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ebaysoccer.com/index.php?gOo=goodspic.dwt&goodsid=166]
ReplyDeleteWhat a load of nonsense. We have enough trouble with the media hacks finding ridiculous petty things to say about City without our own fans doing so.
ReplyDeleteDo you think other teams fans get all uptight because they live in or their team plays in a 'City'?!!
Ali even clarified the issue but you seem desperate to make an issue out of nothing! Move on.
Ok Gary, is Manchester a United City? What you are trying to acheive is a play on words. Well, not in terms of football. I feel you have missed my point entirely - the meaning of Etihad is non of your English words. It doesn't mean 'Joint' or 'United' more than it means 'Donkey' - Etihad is Etihad!
ReplyDeleteFirstly to the anonymous guy I was trying to get City fans views on it, thats why it is on a fans site to get opinions rather than reading about it in the national news, thats all if you can't handle it you don't have to read.
ReplyDeleteAli, I have again had it confirmed to me it mainly translates to United or Unity, if tranaslated, I wrote the article based on good solid information.
Im not trying to achieve a play on words what so ever, just putting forward my opinion based on the information I have recieved, then in turn that creates a topic of debate like the one we have had, which was my main.
Thank you for your input I look forward to hearing from you on future posts.
Ok Gary, thank you for your feedback again - it appears that this discussion is by no mens over. I believe you have looked up 'Etihad' on Wikipedia and on free translation websites. Thus, can you now please look up the word 'lacuna' (or lexical gap)? Please be advised that the word 'Etihad' is a 'lacuna' and to give it an English word (as an equivalent meaning) is actually the lowest common denominator. As you have been provided with a platform, to air your valued opinion, please can you be slightly more cultured in your approach to issues such as these? Etihad is the name of the organisation and not, as you suggest, 'United'.
ReplyDeleteI do, however, appreciate the opportunity for debate but please don't attempt to cause mutiny to the members of the consortium who have provided us with great resources to acquire a player who this website is named after: I.E. No Etihad = No Robinho at City.
ReplyDeleteThat is true, Ali, he has got you there Gary. Etihad is wholly owned by the Abu Dhabi Government. Etihad is ADUG's favourite son as it is effectively Sheikh Mansour and Sheikh Al-Nahyan's baby. Read into that what you will but Manchester City will obtain Etihad as its sponsorship so lets start as we mean to go on and defend the name.
ReplyDeleteFor starters I put effort in to my blog and use better resources than wikipedia, so you were wrong there. I work at Manchester Airport, my source is a man who is a PROFESSIONAL translator within the airport. Because I am finished on this topic I asked him for this last evaluation. He says, ''although Etihad does not directly translate into united, it is considered to be one of the many words that it can rightly be translated in to.'' I wrote my article based on what this professional man had to say and as a trusted friend of mine I am going with what he says.
ReplyDeleteAs for causing a mutiny, well for starters I am not part of the consortium that own our football club so it is impossible to cause a mutiny, so I am guessing you mean that I am trying to be negative towards our owners, why your saying that I do not know.
The point of my article was about a word and that only, not about our owners, so to try an imply that I am some how against our owners is ridiculous. I am extremely happy that we have them involved in our football club.
I think all has been said that can be said on this matter now, so once again thanks a lot for your input.
Thanks again Gary, please forgive my misuse of the word 'mutiny' - I thought it meant 'United'.... well if other people are doing it - why can't I?
ReplyDeleteAs an aside, Please can you ask your man to translate this French phrase 'il pleut comme vache qui pisse'? it translates through any professional translator as 'its raining cats and dogs' but when you disect and translate the meaning (which I know from studying French): 'its raining like a cow pi#*es'! What am I trying to say? Well, to directly translate a phrase into English is naive really. Etihad is Etihad.
City Til I die.
It may be naive and I am not saying your wrong not one bit, but naive or not it can be translated to that, whether it would be proper or not.
ReplyDelete'mutiny' - I thought it meant 'United'.... well if other people are doing it - why can't I?'' - That made me chuckle, nice one.
I really do hope to hear your opinion on future topics of debate on my blog. Great stuff, cheers.
'mutiny' - I thought it meant 'United'.... well if other people are doing it - why can't I?''
ReplyDeletehaha genius!
Arabic word "Etihad" means Union
ReplyDelete