Irish Examiner view: We bid a sad 'adieu' to the Squirrels

Sadly we have one less weird and wonderful soccer nickname now that Benin's national side has ditched 'the Squirrels'

Benin's national soccer team has dropped its 'Squirrels' nickname (‘les ecureuils’ in French) in favour of the far more fearsome 'les guepards' or the Cheetahs.  File picture: Ozan Kose/AFP/Getty

Strange nicknames for soccer clubs abound — you’ve got the Shrimpers in Southend, the Monkey Hangers in Hartlepool, and, further afield, you get such as the Moody Diva at Eintracht Frankfurt. Sadly, however, no more will we have the Squirrels from the West African country of Benin.

Fan dissatisfaction at the ‘Squirrel’ moniker for the team, on the basis that the little critters were ‘insignificant’, spurred the Benin Football Federation to take firm action.

This week, the French-speaking nation thus decided the old ‘les ecureuils’ handle had to be dropped, and replaced by the bolder and more imposing nickname of ‘the Cheetahs’ — ‘les guepards'. 

Justifying the decision to ditch the poor squirrel in favour of a big cat, the federation said that the national team’s nickname must resonate with the population, and reflect the country’s strong ambitions in the world of sport.

The bolder new cognomen, therefore, also reflects those of other African nations such as Cameroon, ‘the Indomitable Lions’, or nearby Ivory Coast, ‘the Elephants’.

In fact, each one of Africa’s 54 national teams lean heavily on the animal kingdom for nickname inspiration. Thus we have the ‘Leopards’ of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the ‘Crocodiles’ of Lesotho, and the ‘Wild Dogs’ of Guinea-Bissau.

For now, though, it’s au revoir to the Squirrels.