Catalonia a Political Football
Sport and Nationalism are potent motivational forces at certain times within society. Is it a good idea to mix sport and politics? In Catalonia these two forces seem to be inextricably linked between the Catalan independence movement and FC Barcelona. A number of Barcelona players Pique, Xavi and former manager Pep Guadiola have expressed avowedly nationalist sentiments in support of the Catalan nationalist cause. The other side of this is the approach of Anders Inesta who has been part of Barcelona FC since he arrived from la Mancha in Castilian Spain at the age of 12 to Join La Maise the Barcelona academy. Inesta also speaks the Catalan language and in press conferences he takes questions in Catalan but answers them in Castilian. Espanol the other team in the city of Barcelona are the team which is supported by those who live in Barcelona but consider themselves Spanish, supporting the government in Madrid.
The more I read of the present situation in Catalonia the more I seem to be finding parallels with the partition of Ireland and the formation of the Northern Irish state. For example an argument often used by the nationalist supporters in favour of independence is that although Catalans are only 16% of the population of Spain they create 19% of the Spanish GDP. This was also one of the principle arguments used by the Protestants in Northern Ireland when pushing for the partitioning of Ireland into what was essentially a catholic Southern independent Ireland and a protestant Northern Ireland state.The greater Belfast area created 80% of the industrial wealth of the whole of Ireland now it is an economic backwater. N. Ireland was the place where I was born and spent 33 years of my life.
In the past number of years I have gotten to know people who place themselves on either side of the Spain/Catalan question. Some of them see themselves as being Catalan with no interest or loyalty to Spain while others see themselves as being provincially Catalan but nationally Spanish .The banners on display in the Camp Nou are more often an expression of Catalan nationalism than of football. I see this as a subversion of the idea of sport into something else. None of us like it when teams like Lazio, CSKA Moscow, and Partisan Belgrade bring their politics into their football stadiums with them.
There are 7.5 million people in Catalonia and a good proportion of these are migrants from other cities and provinces of Spain. The number of socios of Espanol have increased over the years. I believe this is reflective of new migrants finding it difficult to assimilate within FC Barcelona and the political atmosphere in Camp Nou. Migrants or minorities are inclined to ghettoise themselves so I am sure the there are ghettos in many of the cities of Catalonia populated by migrants and their descendant. In N. Ireland most of the minority Catholic population would have preferred unity with the Republic of Ireland. I assume most of the migrant non-Catalan population of Catalonia would rather remain part of Spain. As a former member of a minority population (N. Irish catholic) I can well imagine the feelings of political and cultural alienation, and the uncertainty for the future felt by the non-Catalan in Catalonia at this time.
When Ireland was partitioned in 1921 about one third of the population of the north was catholic. These catholics owed no allegiance to the new state, while the other two thirds were protestant who set up a protestant parliament for a protestant people. Those catholics isolated within this new protestant state were told to accept, change or leave. They didn’t leave, they stayed and seethed. I wonder would similar sentiments be voiced to any degree on the pro-independence side in Catalonia? In Spain, as in Ireland, old enmities die hard. The most vociferous of the Catalan parties, Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya, has called for a unilateral declaration of independence. During the Spanish civil war one of its former members was captured by nationalist troops and his body has never been found. His name was Josep Sunyol and he just happened to be the President of FC Barcelona at the time. There seems to be a fear within the more moderate Catalan politicians that this party could win the majority of seats at the next Catalyunan election and declare UDI. On the other side of the argument are the likes Javier Tabas and former Real Madrid chairman Lorenzo Sanz a former member of the Spanish National Front, both of whom would be considered very right wing and anti Barcelona. They are advocating the expulsion of FC Barcelona from La Liga. It is a situation fraught with disastrous possibilities for Spanish people, politics, and football.
I have read much on the history of Spain from the 1920’s onwards. I first visited Spain,( Majorca) in 1967 so I got a sense of the fear and loathing of the then Spanish Dictatorship by many of the ordinary Spanish people I met. I took a crack from a Guadia Civil’s baton for not wearing a t-shirt on the street in the town of Soler. It reminded me of home. The Catalans were then a suppressed minority, culturally and politically. In their drive towards a Catalan state I would hope they will be mindful of the rights of minorities. I see Sinn Fein are playing their away game again.A sporting metaphor. In Ireland they call for a vote by all the people of Ireland on the issue of ending Partition and they call that democracy. In Catalonia they are supporting the catalonians call for only catalans be allowed to vote and they are saying it is their democratic right,Democracy? Well Sinn Fein style. Win win with a loaded deck. My contention is that FC de Barcelona should remain politically neutral in all the present political uncertainty. The business of a football club should be football, leave politics to the politicians.
clarkeysfootball 