The Other Spain
How Catalunya and the Basque Country viewed the World Cup.
An estimated two million people took to the streets of Madrid to welcome and celebrate with the Spanish national team following their World Cup victory. Where I was in Andalucía, Spain shirts were everywhere and the night was dominated by fireworks in the sky.
Even the following day on the main street in Gibraltar, the iconic white away shirt was everywhere, albeit these would be tourists here for a day shopping and taking in the bank holiday rather than Gibraltarians.
In cities across Spain, parks and squares were full to the brim with people collectively celebrating the second star.
In truth, though, in other parts of Spain those scenes weren’t replicated or celebrated in quite the same way.
Firstly, and perhaps most strangely, throughout the tournament a tiny minority of Real Madrid fans weren’t backing this team. They saw a team with no Real Madrid players, unless you count the signing of Marc Cucurella at the start of the tournament as a Real Madrid player.
They also saw a team dominated by Barcelona players, with nine Catalans representing the team, an unprecedented number. In 2010 many saw the team playing a very Barcelona style of football and yet they still had Iker Casillas, Sergio Ramos and Xabi Alonso representing them.
This has been a tiny minority, it should be said, but a vocal one. Come the final, and given it was an Argentina side dominated by Messi, many had jumped back across the fence and were supporting Spain again.
Where there has been a bigger dividing line has been in Catalunya and the Basque Country. Many would expect that maybe, but there have been some differences and more visibility this time around in what is going on as the national team progressed through the tournament.
