Catalan identity behind Spain's success

As George Orwell wrote in his memoirs Catulunia, ‘there was a belief in the revolution and the future, a feeling of having suddenly emerged into an era of equality and freedom. Human beings were trying to behave as human beings and not as cogs in the capitalist machine.’

Let me be apologetic in twisting Orwell’s last sentence. In Spain’s 4-2 win in penalties against Portugal, Spanish ‘footballers’ behaved like ‘footballers’ and not as indecisive as Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portuguese team, which showed signs of nerves in the semifinals. So, when Cesc Fabregas successfully shot home from the spot, the Spanish victory somewhat looked like a significant one. It forced me to think if this was a Catalunian win over a conservative Portugal who seemed to have messed up everything after the 120 minutes match ended goalless when they fought tooth and nail against the defending champions.

In fact, this Spanish team reflects the Catalan identity and which owes so much to Barcelona’s philosophy of social integration where everyone speak their mind in a democratic setup laid by their founder Joan Gamper, whose original values still continue to inspire Barça and gave an identity to the Spanish football team.

Gamper created an organisation which was open to everyone, regardless of their origin. He imbued FC Barcelona with the essence that has come to define it ever since and its commitment to a liberal Catalan identity which represents this current Spanish team.

Let’s bring in some economics behind Spain’s success.

In Socceronomics, Simon Kuper aptly demonstrated how Spanish football evolved because of a sound economic stability in the European Union which they joined in 1986. According to Kuper, a country’s success in football correlates with its wealth.

So, Spain from the 1980s was growing richer fast. In the 1960s and 1970s, when Franco’s autocratic rule snuffed Spain, the country’s income per capita had been stuck at about 60 per cent of the average of the core 15 member nations of the EU.

But in the 1980s and 1990s, Spain’s finances improved and the 1992 Barcelona Olympics nicely captured the country’s rise — a youngSpanish football team guided by 21-year-old Pep Guardiola won the gold.

If we ever believed that during those years Spain had been perennial underachievers, we were wrong. In fact, the bright red shirts hadoverachieved during that era and, success followed soon after the 2008 Euro win.

And, if they successfully defend their Euro title on Sunday, sociologists might also be keen to do an introspection about this Spanish football team.