Clubs As Symbols of Rival Communities
In Scotland, the Old Firm derby in Glasgow featuring Celtic, historically linked to the city's Catholic community, and Rangers, similarly linked to the city's Protestant community, have also historically seen trends along religio-political lines.
The policy of Spanish football team Athletic Bilbao of picking only Basque players is strongly linked to Basque nationalism. In the same vein, FC Barcelona have since the late 1990s promoted from youth ranks awash in ethnic Catalans (for example, Xavi, Carles Puyol). Indeed, the club is widely seen as the de facto representative of Catalonia, extending the Autonomous Community's reach to areas it otherwise wouldn't be able to influence.
In Canada, the Montreal Canadiens, the world's oldest and most sucessful profession ice hockey team, has always been a symbol for Francophone Quebeckers in Montreal. The teams has had rivalries in sucession with the Anlgophone Quebec's Montreal Wanderers and Montreal Maroons, as well as English Canada's Toronto Maple Leafs. As well, from 1975 to 1995 there was a rivalry with the Quebec Nordiques from Quebec City, which took on political overtones, with Canadiens fans being more likely to be Liberals and federalists, and Nordiques fans more likely Pequists and sovreigntist.
Read more about this topic: Nationalism And Sport
Famous quotes containing the words clubs, symbols, rival and/or communities:
“It is always a practical difficulty with clubs to regulate the laws of election so as to exclude peremptorily every social nuisance. Nobody wishes bad manners. We must have loyalty and character.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Children became an obsessive theme in Victorian culture at the same time that they were being exploited as never before. As the horrors of life multiplied for some children, the image of childhood was increasingly exalted. Children became the last symbols of purity in a world which was seen as increasingly ugly.”
—C. John Sommerville (20th century)
“Be sure he has a rival in thy love,
For without contest love shall not endure.”
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)
“Culture is the name for what people are interested in, their thoughts, their models, the books they read and the speeches they hear, their table-talk, gossip, controversies, historical sense and scientific training, the values they appreciate, the quality of life they admire. All communities have a culture. It is the climate of their civilization.”
—Walter Lippmann (1889–1974)