A sporting dilemma?

So I’m in Jerusalem, watching el Clásico. The Israelis find my Spanish cursing amusing. The Real fans from Spain, slightly less so, but only slightly. A good is had by all, not least because the good guys win it 4-3, albeit aided by a bullshit call against Real.

Which brought me to a thought. I am opposed to Catalan independence. Barça has become known as a symbol of Catalan independence. But no one descended from fighters on the losing side of the Spanish Civil War can support Real Madrid. Real was not politicized at the beginning of the war (its manager was in fact a Communist) but afterwards it became a symbol of the Francoist regime.

So I am a Barça fan. Regardless of the whole secessionist thing. Lo, lolololololo, lo lo!

Comments

[Will Baird]

Is Venice the next Catalan or Scotland? Are we entering the era of Europe fracturing into micro states?

[Randy McDonald]

1. Maybe. There's some room for devolution in Italy, and if Italian politics continue to be Venice isn't. The poll was online only, and not representative of the wider Venetian population.

2a. Even if all the likely candidates for secession left their parent states--Scotland, Flanders and Wallonia+Brussels, Catalonia and Euzkadi, Venice (and almost certainly) South Tyrol--the resulting states would all be larger than the smallest EU member-states in terms of population and landmass, and would more often rank well alongside reasonably substantial established nation-states like Denmark, Austria, or Finland.

2b. If all the likely candidates left, there wouldn't be any additional fragmentation. Bavarian, Breton, Yorkshire, or Andalusian separatisms often don't even exist, never mind have a mass base.

[Chris Williams]

Randy, a Scottish 'yes' - especially one which results in an independence-lite scenario for the fUK, and/or one which threatens to re-position Trident in Milford Haven - is going to be worth a good few percentage points and possible rosy scenarios for Welsh nationalists.

After that, I agree re Yorkshire. I would bet very lightly on Cornwall being the only bit of England to consider independence, followed a long way down the line by the north-east. Within the British Isles, the Manx might decide that the Crown government which they'd rather come under is the one in Embra not the one in London.

[Chris Williams]

PS I share Noel's position on Spanish footy for reasons which are less personal but otherwise very similar.

[Randy McDonald]

Would the Welsh follow suit? Plaid Cymru and Welsh separatism doesn't seem to have been doing nearly as well as their northern counterparts.