Political stability compared to Haiti you mean... Not political stability in the overall sense of the concept... Metro
a few weeks ago i was able to find a book about baseball in the Dominican Republic I found out that the first baseballgame on dominican soil was played in 1892 by some crew members of a cuban ship the first baseballgame between dominicans was played in 1897 and one of the best teams of the country, LICEY, was already founded in 1907 so it seems that the US occupation had less to do than we thought with the devellopment of baseball in the DR but I still have no clue why haitians don t play baseball
that's a fair question but the way Dominican, Cuban, and Puerto Rican sports fans ask why Haitians don't play baseball is the same way Jamaican and Trinidadian sports fans ask why Haitians don't play cricket. In the last olympics Haiti had players competing in track & field, judo, and boxing, while Haitian-born basketball player, Samuel Dalembert, is a starter for the Philadelphia 76ers in the NBA so it's not that there arent any other sports Haiti is affiliated with, it's just that football(soccer) is king. DR played their first baseball game in 1892, but then you have Haiti beginning the FHF(football federation) in 1904, the first North American country to do so. But in both cases Cuba had a great deal in helping both countries. I hope that in the future generations that Haitians and Dominicans can put away their differences(and there are very few besides language and sports). To put it clear tho, both countries are just passionate about the sports they play, when a tourist goes to Santo Domingo they'll see kids playin baseball in the streets and it's the same as when you would go to Port-au-Prince there's kids playin football and in San Juan the kids are playin basketball.
I hope that in the future generations that Haitians and Dominicans can put away their differences(and there are very few besides language and sports). To put it clear tho, both countries are just passionate about the sports they play, when a tourist goes to Santo Domingo they'll see kids playin baseball in the streets and it's the same as when you would go to Port-au-Prince there's kids playin football and in San Juan the kids are playin basketball.[/QUOTE] I COULD NOT AGREE MORE ON THAT
Puerto RIcans dont play on the street we have courts , never seen anybody plying anything on the streets here, to much traffic.
Until 20 years ago Dominicans suffer from the elusion of inclusion. They either thought they were dark Spaniard or Indios anything but African. This stupid way of thinking could be traced back to Spain, but in the Dominican and Haitians case you may look no further then 1844, when the Dominican white Spaniard Elite class refused to ever be rule by their neighboring Negroes again. DR elites had prove to be untrustworthy so the Haitian military take away their rites as states men and appointed, Haitian and Dominican Negroes and Mulattos (yes their was a large population of mulattos in Haiti,they even had their own Republic at one point but that’s another story). So the DR elites class wanted to keep their privileges and understood how easy it was for their so-called lower class, (former slaves and mulatoes), to related with the struggles of the Haitian people so they begun the famous propaganda machine called “Antihaitianoismo”. This did not take an immediate effect but it would serve the DOM Elites through the generation to come. Haiti is a Creole culture that mean a mix of Colonial Euro and African culture just as the D.R. Today both nations suffer from poverty, cause they have both been impoverished by higher powers. I really didn’t want to get in to a historical debate cause it could have went on for day but I my self who is mixed of both culture have got the rites to address this matter. I’ve discussed this issue with family members since the age of 10. Insult my people as if we don’t have a culture of our own, comparing us to a poor PR or to Africa. Haitian can only wish to be as African as the people of Togo. Yes there is a difference in language, and difference standard of living, but at the end of the day Dominican, Haitian mother still tell their children the same bed time stories at night, their food still taste the same, Dominican are not pround Catholics like you think they are, Haitian #1 music is Compa, and everyone knows Merengue was made by Haitians and for Haitians. Yes there is a difference but there are "Mores" similarities. You should pick up a book called “Why do cocks fight” by Michele Wucker so you could begin to correct those so called Idios and their Antihaitianoismo. As much bull sh*t propaganda surrounds Haiti would't you as a Dominican try too distance your self from it to. Even the most ignorant person would tell you that all Haitian worship the devil.
Your intentions seem to be good, but there is a lot you don’t know about that island. Just as there is a lot of things that a born American don’t know about his own country. In a since, both sides DR and Haiti are comprised with multiple layer of characteristics. I guess it depends on what you have experienced. Just ask them whose pumpkin soup taste better, ask them about their 22 different flavor of women, ask them about “The Baca beast”, ask them who raises the best fighting game cocks. Ask a Dominican if meregue really born in Haiti, an ignorant answer would be “no”. Do not let those people fool you, just as their media has done to them, the past 150 years. Both sides seem to have a pathetic nature when it comes to each other, propaganda rubbish ran ramped in their literature in the mid-1800s and they are still alive to day on the tube. Some people think the DR elites are bad, today Haitian elites are worst. To them the worst thing a young adult can bring home is a Dominican, no matter his wealth or social status.
http://www.ole.clarin.com/jsp/v4/pagina.jsp?pagId=01298082&fecha=20061027 Here's a nice interview with Gustavo Barros Schelotto (PR Islanders) where he talks about playing in Puerto Rico among other things.
You are right. Haitians and Dominicans are very similar. In fact, so are Cubans. People need to understand something. The DR is a country where the crime rate is as high if not higher than in Haiti. Why don't we hear about all those nasty things going on in the DR but we always seem to hear the negative about Haiti? The answer is simple....tourism. The tourism industry is controled by foreigners. Mostly spanish, but also germans etc. Those foreigners also control the media, therefore they do everything in their power for the negative stuff not to be talked in the media, nationally or internationally. The same goes for Jamaica. Kingston was once called the murder capital of the world. Kingston is alot more dangerous than Port au Prince. All this to say that the DR and Haiti are very very similar countries with small differences. Historical events as well as the media, have led people to believe the contrary.
If you really want to know some Puerto Rican soccer history background, you only need to know two things: A. Spanish B. This web page, www.hfpr.blogspot.com
A few years ago the PR team of Caguas Baitoa played a u 17 tournament in Puerto Plata, Dom Rep They lost their 5 games because they were the only honest team All other teams had players that were over age Nevertheless Caguas did the right thing There is absolutely no progress with age fraud
Theres a small internacional tornament for high schools going on this december, in PR. Teams from PR, DR and Mexico are participating.
PR is holding tryouts for the sub nacional team, for people between 16 and 15, born after 89 on dicember 8, if you whish to know more pm me.
I just came across another DR player. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yohan_Kely_Viola Anyone know anything about this guy? Metro
I live in the DR since 1993 and I have never ever heard his name before. More or less 2 millions of Dominicans live abroad, probably he s one of them. Well known are the Espinal twins, they play pro soccer in Italy.