Diversity in Spanish sport
Miguel Carballeda, leader of the Spanish Paralympic Committee, characterized his teams as “the lame Red Team”. We are in 2012, when the athletes were preparing to compete in the London Games. This description took shape in a context where the Spanish women’s soccer team had won the world championship, a success that transcended the sporting field to also become a social triumph. However, this event was put on the back burner due to controversial statements and other events that followed.
The mirror of society through sport
The world of sport often reflects social reality. It is common to observe diversity and pluralism in the Spanish men’s national team, recent European champion. This team embodies what was previously known as diverse Spain. However, the perception of reality varies according to the point of view of each individual. The surnames Cucurella and Carvajal, for example, represent different realities, while surnames such as Olmo and Torres illustrate other identity realities. The case of Unai Simon, with an Ertzaina mother and a Civil Guard father, or that of Lamine Yamal, raised in Mataró with Moroccan roots and from the old Spanish Guinea, are witnesses of multicultural wealth.
The complex reality of Spain
The portrait of Spanish diversity becomes a recurring theme that reflects a reality in which many individuals can feel represented. However, there are always nuances. The resurgence of patriotism can lead to forced uniformity, moving away from reality and the law of gravity itself. This phenomenon is evident with slogans such as “Spanish Gibraltar”, which contrast with a reality contrasted by the Treaty of Utrecht. This tension between interests and realities forms an image that, always associated with sport, serves as a metaphor for events in Spain.
A symbolic perspective
The parallelism between the “lame red selection” and other symbolic situations such as “Spanish Gibraltar” or “Lamine, come ham” on the roads of Madrid reveals an image that, unfortunately, turns out to be a very reliable metaphor for Spanish reality . This tendency to uniformize and standardize represents a centripetal movement that comes into conflict with the plural and diverse reality of the country. As a result, the
The unexpected color
Thus, in this context, the “red selection” acquires an unexpected nuance in the form of blue color, which symbolizes this tension between plurality and uniformity, between diversity and the tendency towards forced unification.