Euskal nazio garaikidearen azterketa futbol-ekitaldiaren bitartez

Abstract

Basque identity and football have gone hand-in-hand since the birth of both the Basque nationalism movement and the pioneering press that favoured it, which were created atthe same time as the arrival of the British sport during the late Industrial Age. Football wasthe bastion of the symbols of the Basque nation during and since the long-lived Francoistdictatorship in Spain, and nowadays it has become a reflection of the complexity of the Basque nation. The absence of a Basque State, the divisions within the Basque movement, andthe different perceptions to the sentiment of belonging to the Basque national collective havemade it difficult for the Basque Country to embody an unitary notion of a nation. This articleuses football culture as a social research tool to analyse the crossroad of the nation. It examinesthe distinctive composition of the Basque clubs and the impossibility of having an officiallyrecognised Basque national team.