/ 29 June 2008

Spain revels in new spirit of unity

Toni Horcajada is a Catalan and proud of it. But his footballing allegiances are, at least at the moment, complicated. Tonight he will be supporting Spain. ”I am a Barca [Barcelona] fan first,” said the 47-year-old. ”If there was a Catalan national side, I would support them. But I hate all that nationalism, whether it is the Spain fans dressed as bullfighters or the Catalan nationalists.”

This evening, from Corunna to Cartagena, from the Pyrenees to the Sierra Nevada, millions will be glued to the television, willing the 11 men wearing red and yellow to victory in the final of the 2008 European championships.

For citizens of most of the nations in this competition, the question of allegiance to the national side is relatively straightforward. The only people doubting the loyalty of France’s immigrant population to Les Bleus were the racist right-wing. The Azzurri have had every Italian behind them. The Russians surfed a wave of pent-up patriotic fervour that led to their government organising a flow of tens of millions of pounds to the sport. Spain’s opponents, the Germans, have become a much-needed symbol of the benefits of reunification and of a new, proud guilt-free sense of nation. But in Spain — and in the regions of Catalonia, the Basque Country, Galicia, which each have their own culture, language and fierce claims to autonomy — not everyone sees the match the same way.

When Spain beat Russia 3-0 in the semifinal last week, car horns blared, bars emptied, fireworks exploded. Nothing out of the usual in the Plaza Cibeles in downtown Madrid, but extraordinary in Barcelona, capital of the proud north-east region with its seven million inhabitants. Even La Rambla, Barcelona’s famous boulevard and a site as significant to Catalan identity as any, was filled with hundreds of fans after the game.

For some, the response of the Catalan masses showed how out of touch nationalist leaders in the regions are. ”The highest television audiences of the year in Catalonia and the Basque country are when Spain plays an important football match,” said Louis Maria Anson, writing in the Spanish daily El Mundo. ”The chattering of some nationalist leaders at these times merely shows how distant they are from popular feeling.”

Some experts link the popularity of the Spanish team to the fact that nationalist aspirations may have reached their limit, a generation or more after the end of the Franco dictatorship. ”It seems that football has united Spain,” said Madrid-based political analyst David Mathieson.

He pointed to failing support for Catalan nationalist party Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC), which came a poor third to the ruling socialists and regional parties in Catalonia in March, and the dead-end apparently reached by the nationalist project in the Basque country as evidence.

Polls have shown that the vast majority of football fans in Catalonia support the national side. In one survey in Barcelona, only 30% said they could not bring themselves to support the national side. ”It’s still a lot I suppose, but I remember when you wouldn’t dream of cheering for Spain,” said one hotelier.

”I think most of the country will be fully supporting the Spanish team,” said Meritxell Duran Blanco, an estate agent from Blanes. ”I’m very proud of my Catalan culture and language, but this is the chance to bring the entire country together. A win would be fantastic news.”

Regional identity vs national fervour
But, as everyone emphasises whenever it is a question of identity, things are very complicated. In Catalonia, it is far from sure that the province has suddenly jettisoned its regional identity in favour of a new national fervour.

Catalonia has been governed by a succession of nationalist authorities since the 1980s. Children in state schools learn only in Catalan with a maximum of three hours of Spanish a week, a controversial linguistic policy partly in reaction to the ban which Franco, who ruled Spain from 1936 to 1975, imposed on speaking the language. Promotion of the language and culture extends worldwide with ”embassies” opened by Catalan authorities in London, Paris, New York and Beijing.

Inevitably, football has become caught up in politics. A small group of Barcelona fans who travelled to last season’s European Champions League game against Manchester United, carried a sign saying ”Catalonia is not Spain”.

And hardliners are under no illusions about where their loyalties lie. A spokesperson for ERC, the separatist party which forms an important part of the Catalan regional government, said that ”some leaders of the party hope Germany wins the match”.

Football has long been political game in Spain. ”Politicians have used national identity and sport to try and reinforce cohesion,” said psychologist Esteve Espelt of Barcelona University. Faced with being ostracised by the international community, Franco shamelessly promoted the Real Madrid of Alfredo de Stefano and Ferenc Puskas to boost his image overseas, historians point out.

But the crowds were out on La Rambla after the semifinal and will be again tonight, whatever the result. Why? It may be because the Catalans now feel represented in Spanish football in a way that has never been the case before.

First, there is the simple success. ”La seleccion”, as the national side is known, has often struggled in international competitions and attention has been turned to the big league clubs, all of whom have a powerful local identity. Spain is in its first major final for 24 years, so the country is unaccustomed to victories on the international football stage Then there are the players. The Spanish side contains more from ”Barca” than from arch-rival, in sporting, cultural and political terms, Real Madrid. It was Cesc Fabregas, the 21-year old Catalan who plays for Arsenal, who scored the penalty which took Spain to the semi-final against Russia.

”As a Barca fan you can relate to the fact that there are four or five players from Barca’s youth team there and really feel proud about it,” said Pablo Juncadella, a graphic designer in the Catalonian city.

Then there is the style. Spain, the only unbeaten side, have notched up 11 goals in four matches. Tonight, the team chosen by Luis Aragones, the Madrid-born manager, will play a fluid, creative, attacking and technical football far from the traditional ”Spanish Fury” that characterised the game for decades. ”It was all about being physical, energetic. It was not very interesting,” said Juncadella.

Now the team plays football as it has been played by Barcelona for years, full of flair and speed, much more influenced by Dutch tactical creativity than decades of traditional ”shirt-soaking” effort and much closer to the open-minded, European spirit that has brought Spain successive years of economic growth and led to two consecutive electoral victories for José Luis Zapatero’s Socialists.

Six hundred and forty kilometres north-west of Barcelona however, in the Basque country, few are so enthusiastic. Here where anti-Spanish feeling is profound, support for the national side will be muted. After Spain’s victory over Russia there were no fireworks in the streets of Bilbao, the regional capital, and the few who tonight will be rooting for their national side will not do so too openly.

There may be a more prosaic reason for the rallying round the national team. With Spain bracing itself for the impact of the worldwide economic crisis, some commentators suggest today’s match is a ”shot in the arm” for the nation as a whole. Ramon Balmes, a sports reporter on La Vanguardia, the highest circulation daily in Catalonia, said football is ”a kind of self-confidence. We are going into a crisis, unemployment is rising and the effects of the credit crunch are being felt. So a match like this is very welcome.”

He said that, despite some rhetoric, the new unity was genuine. ”Sure, some of the independence-supporting politicians in the Basque country and in Catalonia, particularly those on the republican left, have said they will not be supporting Spain. But even politicians from parties like the Basque Nationalist Party, the largest in the Basque country, have said they will be cheering on Spain. That’s quite significant. The phenomenon we have seen in the past few weeks can’t be ignored.”

Some see the change in footballing style, the new unity and success as emblematic of a Spain entering the 21st century, less divided, less chauvinistic and happier with its diversity.

”I was born in 1977, a son of democracy,” said Juncadella. ”I’ve grown up in an environment where we switch languages, where we are not anti-Spanish or pro-Catalan. We are enjoying the tournament and the team’s success. This generation is just into good football.”

Another league: Where loyalties can be divided Catalonia

Population: 7,2-million (16% of Spain overall).

Language: 95% of Catalonians can now speak Catalan, all speak Spanish.

Capital city: Barcelona, synonymous with modernity.

Classic food: Their air of refinement is exemplified by their famous sparkling wine, Cava.

Famous sons: Antoni Gaudi, famous for his ornate architecture, including the unfinished Sagrada Familia cathedral.

View from rest of Spain: The rest of Spain has mixed feelings, admiring Catalonians for their economic success and political independence but reacting against a perceived cultural arrogance.

Contribution to Spanish Football: FC Barcelona are second only to the European titans Real Madrid, with current Spanish Euro 2008 heroes Cesc Fabregas and Xavier Hernandez Creus among the Catalonian FC Barcelona alumni.

Galica
Population: Just under three million (6,5% of Spain overall).

Language: Galician, Spanish.

Capital city: Santiago de Compostela, the end of the medieval Catholic pilgrimage.

Classic food:
A wooden plate of steaming, spicy, boiled pulpo (octopus) liberally sprinkled with paprika and eaten in chunks with a wooden pick.

Famous sons: The province has the questionable honour of being the birthplace of fascist dictator General Franco.

View from rest of Spain: Their Portuguese roots and costal position feed the image most Spanish have of Galicians as yokel fisherman.

Contribution to Spanish football: The only football team of international repute from Galicia is Deportivo La Coruna, La Liga winners in 2000, they would be the Blackburn of the Spanish Liga, one-time winners who consistently fight for top flight respect.

The Basque Country
Population: 2,2-million (5% of Spain overall).

Language: Basque, Spanish.

Capital city: Vitoria-Gasteiz, though the larger city of Bilbao is the centre of culture for the region, with its ornate Teatro Arriaga Opera house and stunning architectural triumph, the Guggenheim Museum.

Classic food: The pincho culinary tradition where an early (or pre-) lunch is made up of a selection of traditional tapas snacks.

Famous sons: Sancho III of Navarre and Ignatius of Loyola and Francis Xavier, founders of the Catholic Society of Jesus, who are more commonly known as the Jesuits.

View from rest of Spain: Basque nationalism and the struggle for independence dating back to Franco’s years has resulted in a deadly campaign of violence by Basque separatist groups led by Eta, deeply souring relations with the rest of Spain.

Contribution to Spanish football: Athletic Bilbao and the recently relegated Real Sociedad. The popular Basque footballer Xabi Alonso has featured in the current Spain Euro 2008 team. – guardian.co.uk