This article was translated by John R. Bopp

The Italian website Opinione Pubblica has published an article by Marco Bagozzi introducing us to the book “Euzkadi: La Nazionale della Libertà”, written by Edoardo Molinelli.

It’s a book that tells the amazing story of a group of Basque sportsmen who put themselves to work for the cause of the Basque People, Freedom, and Democracy.  Despite the political pressure and the opposition of the FIFA, they traveled the world to bring the Basque fight against fascism to the world, becoming the ambassadors for a country fighting for survival.

Every time we remember what they did and their commitment to the service of the Basque Government, we can’t help but compare them to some of the the current players on the Basque Soccer Team, who boycott team activities trying to impose their names and ways.

Some of the current players, but by no means all, will be remembered for their sports skills.  But we don’t think any of them would be written about this way:

La storia della nazionale Euzkadi rappresenta un “evento eccezionale” secondo le parole dell’Autore: “sedici calciatori di livello assoluto, tra i migliori rappresentanti di uno dei principali movimenti calcistici del mondo chiamati ad impegnarsi in prima persona per una causa politica e umanitaria: un fatto con pochi eguali nella storia dello sport”.

“The history of the Euzkadi Soccer Team represents an “exceptional case,” in words of the author: “sixteen players of the highest level, among the best representatives of the main movements in soccer in the world, are called to commit to a political and humanitarian cause: a fact that has few equals in the history of this sport.”

And just a note to the article’s author: the Francoists were not the “nationalists” (truppe nazionaliste).  They were the fascists, the Francoists, the insurgents, the rebels, etc, as we mentioned a while ago, there are many correct ways of defining them and none were “nationalists”.

Opinione Pubblica – 25/6/2016 – italia

Euzkadi. La Nazionale della libertà

Un lavoro incredibile, minuzioso, attento, stimolante. In una parola “imperdibile”. La storia della nazionale basca tra il 1937 e il 1939 raccolta da Edoardo Molinelli è uno di quei libri che non si possono lasciar sfuggire. Prima di dare alle stampe questo volume, l’Autore ha sondato una quantità importantissima di fonti, come dimostrano le quaranta e più pagine di note, che per un libro del genere sono un valore aggiunto. Il risultato è questo capolavoro che racconta, per filo e per segno, con storie particolari, aneddoti e la grande cronaca, l’avventura della mitica nazionale basca durante la Guerra Civile Spagnola.

(Continue) (Automatic translation)

 

 

Last Updated on Dec 20, 2020 by About Basque Country


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