Football and Nationalism

On December 22nd, Catalunya played in and won a friendly against Argentina 4-2. On it's face the result is not remarkable, but for the fact that in the game the players were emissaries of the Catalan nation, as opposed to the country of Spain.

Let's back up a little. In theory, a nation is described as self-defined social and cultural community, whereas a state is defined as a geopolitical entity that serves as the overarching political organization of the nation. The nation-state then is predicated upon the coterminous existence of the political and cultural communities in a given territory. Problem is this is not always (even often) the case, even in Europe where the concept originated. Just take the case of Great Britain, within which the separate nations of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales exist.

Yet, this still doesn't explain how Catalunya came to have its own national team, even given the fact that the nation and the state do not coincide in its case. So how did Catalunya get a sanctioned "national" side? Well, after the demise of Franco's regime in 1957, the 17 semi-autonomous regions of Spain were allowed to set up their own "national" teams; though none has proven as competitive or vibrant as Catalunya's. Headlined by stars such as Victor Valdes, Gerard Pique and Carlos Puyol and coached by none other than the masterful Johann Cruyff himself, Catalonia's national team has still been forced to play most of its matches during the summer or in La Liga's Christmas break period. Nevertheless, the group has produced spirited displays against top level international competition...something other FIFA sanctioned national teams have failed to do.

So what do Cruyff and Catalunya mean for the "national" team? As of now perhaps not so much. Catalunya cannot apply for FIFA membership and participate in international competitions unless and until it is a member of the United Nations (which itself is unlikely to occur). In its place, Barcelona has been considered Catalunya's de facto national team. But the renewed vigor with which Catalunya is competing on the world stage is an interesting development to say the least, forcing us to reconsider the question: what is a nation? The answer matters both for football and for politics.

The Predicament in Palestine

It is a tale of two territories. In a recent "Dispatches" piece in World Soccer, James Montague contrasts the fate of football in Gaza and the West Bank.

In Fatah's West Bank, Jibril Al Rjoub, Palestinian Football Associaton [PFA] president, has "arguably overseen the most successful period in the West Bank's history," with game attendance regualrly reaching 15,000-20,000.

Alternately, in Hamas-controlled Gaza, football is dying a slow, painful political death. After Hamas took control of the area in 2007, they seized the top football clubs, seeking to use football as means to acheive their political ends. In particular, Ibrahim Abu Salim, the vice-president of the PFA notes Hamas' military wing continues to persist in their attempts "to have control and channel the minds, the thinking, of the youth" through football.

If political infighting between the Palestinian factions has thwarted regular competition, it has not hampered the desire of players, coaches and fans to organize their own games with some help from the United Nations Development Programme.

One of those games was the Gazan championship between Al Shate Sporting Club, a mixed team of Fatah and Hamas association that represents the 80,000 refugees in the camp of the same name, and Al Salah, a new, Hamas aligned team. The match ended 2-0 in Al Shate's favor. For a brief moment, the players successfully removed the beautiful game from the throes of political manipulation and returned it to the people, specifically the people of Al Shate refugee camp, who triumphantly commandeered the trophy from the players and paraded it around in the streets.

For that day, Al Shate were champions of Gaza and the "reality of life in Gaza melted into the background."