Come on you Squirrels
Benin national team worried about friendly nickname
The sports minister of Benin has suggested a change of nickname for the country’s national football team amid concerns that their current name, the Squirrels, is not fearsome enough.
Les Ecureuils was apparently coined in the 1960s to signify Benin as a small creature capable of climbing very high. But sports minister Ganiou Sogl says the current nickname makes the team sound timid and afraid. He has proposed a change the team change their name (wait for it) to the “Emerging Panthers“. Sounds like a tabloid nickname for a stalker. He told the BBC:
“We were asked about it last year in parliament by lawmakers and they reproached us for making national teams bear the name of an animal which runs off when it is afraid. We are going to suggest to the government the name ‘Emerging Panthers’.”
Which got us thinking… what would you like to swap for the Three Lions? What would your new nickname for the England team be?
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