I have not followed the international competition for many years (Olympic Games, World Games…). Indifference, tiredness, pain… and I also get a little rage. And so the alternative I have left is not to see it.

The reason is not that you do not like sport or that you do not like competition. They do not allow our selection, the Basque one, to participate. It is precisely other national and French selections that deny us their official participation. And the Basque selection is not the only one who suffers from this ban: Catalonia, Galicia, Corsica, Brittany…

Since my youth I have known several movements in favour of Basque selection, the main being the work carried out by ESAIT. Several strategies have been followed. But the official status of the Basque selections has not yet been achieved. And Basque athletes still do not have the opportunity to compete with the Basque team. Once a year, at most, if it is not to make symbolic friendships, of course…

"Standardisation" has been one of the words I have heard on many occasions about the Euro Cup that was held this summer. It has been considered a positive step, also in Euskal Herria, that people be dressed in Spanish t-shirts, without fear, that they put large screens in the cities to see the matches of La Roja… OK. But the other half of normal is missing: that the Basque selection is also official, that it can participate in international competitions, and that the fans of the Basque selection, dressed in green t-shirts, can hold the matches of our selection on large screens.

We are not asking for anything extraordinary. Just have the same rights as our neighbors. That the selection we feel has the right to play and that we can encourage. Because if we don’t, normality gets too tight, because we would be normalizing something that isn’t normal…

Another argument I have heard is that this is an issue between the parties, to be agreed between the two parties. But they don't say that the relationship between these two sides is not between equals. The Basque Country and Spain are nothing like Spain’s relationship with Italy, Portugal, Sweden or the Czech Republic. In our case, one part is above the other. Because one side denies the other's rights. As big fish, they eat small. Because it is Spain that prohibits the participation of the Basque selection. They are ancient songs: flag, language, culture and unique selection.

And it is curious that the Spanish hobby continually asks us to respect their rights. OK. But when do they have to respect our fundamental rights? The Basque selection does not prohibit any other selection. Quite the opposite. It is Spain’s that bans other football teams. Those who feel Spanish can encourage their selection, as they can participate normally in competitions. Those of us who feel Basque do not have that possibility, because we have been denied it.

It is therefore ironic that it is accused of being anti-Spanish to those we do not encourage or to those we do not celebrate the victories of Spain. In fact, they are the anti-Basques to the extent that they prohibit our selection.

Why does the Spanish state not do so like the United Kingdom? Where Scotland and Wales, for example, can compete with their own selections without any problem, even if they are not independent states. Why is it that what is possible does not apply here? Why does Spain not do the same and guarantees equal rights to all, once the problem has been solved? It is a matter of political will. This must be resolved politically. We cannot put all the weight on athletes (alone)… And also as a society, I think we should move more around this claim.

I do not know exactly what roadmap we should follow. But I know what is not the way: to take the current situation as normal and to encourage the selection that forbids us. And in this regard, I find it absolutely incomprehensible (supposedly) to see the people who support the Basque selection celebrating the victories of the Spanish selection. Also in very Euskaldunes small towns. 30 years ago and today. To justify it, they have a lot of excuses (they have Basque coach; they play Real and Athletic players; they are close…).

I don't know how to explain it. Are those (supposedly) in favour of the Basque selection not actually, and are their Spaniards (and speeding up) trying to hide away with La Roja? Or so much have we lost the north, that indeed even those of the Basque selection have come to encourage a selection that prohibits us? It is normal for people who feel Spanish to encourage the Spanish team. But how many are these in the small towns of Euskaldunes? Some will say the usual thing: we must not confuse sport and politics. Unfortunately, however, politics has an impact on everything, and this issue, to the extent that it is a strictly political issue, has very little sport.

It is not my intention to say to which selections each has to encourage. Not much less. But it's a subject that should give us a lot to think about. It requires deep reflection. Encouraging the selection that forbids us, because we will never have Basque selections.

Aitor Irigoien Odriozola