The Multicultural Pitch

by Mohamed Haniff

Sunday, the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan, home stadium of the football club Sevilla, witnessed two historic events.  Firstly Athletic Bilbao under the tutelage of Marcelo Bielsa, who is being vindicated on a weekly basis, won their first game in this stadium for 18 years; and secondly the spectators got to see the first black player to ever suit up for Bilbao, in the form of youngster Jonas Ramalho.  This may seem like a strange fact for those who are not aware of the fact that Athletic Bilbao only select players who are born or raised in the Basque region of Spain or France to play for their team.

Ramalho holds a Spanish passport having been born in Baracaldo, Vizcaya to an Angolan father and a Basque mother, and his case helps to shine a light on the increasingly multicultural look of the football pitch.  A country like Spain who's history is not littered with tales of immigration is now most recently starting to see the byproducts of the immigration wave that countries like France and England have had for quite some time now.  This could prove to be  a turning point in a Spanish game which is often accused of being one of the most culturally backwards in the European leagues.  Incidents of racism in the past have tarnished the name of the Spanish game and the increasing rise of these multicultural players could be a step in the right direction in terms of shedding this image.  The Spanish federation however like many of the footballing organizing bodies in my opinion need to reassess the way in which they punish these vile acts if we are to see true change; but that is a story for another day.

A player like Jonas emerging at Bilbao is also important because as Sid Lowe mentions in his piece this week for Sports Illustrated it helps to dispel the myth that Athletic Bilbao is one of these hardcore racist clubs in Spain attempting to preserve some kind of fervently racist culture.  As the world grows smaller and smaller we are beginning to see nations that we do not historically associate with multicultural values emerge as proponents for the multicultural game.  A fine example of this is the German national team who have been playing some scintillating stuff at the moment, with a team that some ignorant people in the past may have accused of not being innately German.

Players such as Khedira, Ozil and Boateng all consider themselves to be truly German and rightly so, but they certainly represent a new image for the team, reminiscent of the French team of 1998.  The rise of multicultural Spaniards such as Jonas and Thiago will certainly do wonders for the profile of the team which has often been hampered by accusations leveled at a fan base which is perceived to be inherently racist.

I still have vivid memories of the night in the Bernabeu when England visited Spain only to have their black players ambushed by a group of hooligans in the
stands who had found themselves stuck in a world where fascism still reigned supreme.  Some may argue that this incident opened the eyes of the world to some of the more unseemly aspects of Spanish football which players like Eto'o were dealing with on too regular of a basis.  The hope is that not only will the emergence of a player like Jonas help to shed some of this negative imagery but also help to educate the minds of the young fans who can now be exposed to more racially diverse players and not become embroiled in this world of ignorance.

In Barcelona we have the Alcantara brothers who are both highly rated amongst the Barcelona supremos and are both eligible to represent the Spanish national team, with older brother Thiago having already won the European U-21 Championship with Spain over the summer, going on to win his first cap for the senior team.  In the youth levels of Spain we also have the burgeoning striker Rodrigo who recently managed to grab himself  a hattrick against Estonia; a player formed in the Real Madrid cantera, who is also helping to break the stereotype of what a Spanish player looks like.

Some harsh movitation? Just racism.

It must be said that the Spanish national team in modern history has never been a code name for the SS of the Nazi regime; they have in fact had black players represent them.  Most famously Brazilan born Marcos Senna donned the red shirt and played an integral part in guiding the team to a Euro 2008 Championship.  Senna was not the first either, as the Spanish national team has seen players such as Catanha and Donato represent them at that level; however the actions of a few, including former national team coach Luis Aragones who famously told Jose Antonio Reyes that he was better than that “black piece of shit”, in reference to colleague Henry, has certainly tarnished the Spanish name in recent history. 

As has been mentioned previously Spain is a country which is truly inexperienced when it comes to the issue of immigration.  It is something which has only recently become a topic of conversation in the footballing sphere itself; however with the emergence of Spanish players who hail from multicultural backgrounds such as Thiago and Jonas, one can hope that there will be a fostering of these multicultural values amongst the younger generation, thus helping to eliminate some of the racism that many argue still prevails in many stadiums around Spain.  We can only hope that these new Spanish players are able to break some of the stereotypes which outsiders have formed of the climate in Spanish football.

Posted in: france,multicultural,racism,spain