This article was translated by John R. Bopp
Euan McTear is a sports journalist and author specialized in soccer. In addition to reporting about this sport to the different media, he’s the author of several books, including one we’d like to highlight that is dedicated to the SD Eibar, titled Eibar the Brave.
And we’re blogging about it today because an amazing article about it was just published on the website These Football Times, which discusses the story of the Euzkadi National team in its last year.
The struggle against the monster of fascism was fought on many fronts, not just the battlefield. One of those fronts was that of international public opinion, broadcasting the image that Basques were defending Freedom and Democracy.
Lehendakari Aguirre and his government understood that those fronts were just as important as the military one.
On the cultural front, Eresoinka, the Euzkadi National Choir, was created, and its main mission was the show our cultural reality to the world; we’ve had the pleasure of blogging about it several times. They were also at the 1937 Paris International Expo, sharing the truth of our country there.
The Basque Government created the Euzkadi National Team with the same goal, and during its existence, it shone brilliantly. We’ve mentioned this team on several occasions, but we’d never found an article that went as in-depth about their last year competing in the Mexican League’s 1938-1939 season…in which they finished runners-up.
We thank Euan McTear for bringing us this story of our national team, which we include in this collection of snippets of our history that we’re saving here on the blog.
These Football Times – 14/10/2019 – Great Britain
WHEN THE BASQUE NATIONAL TEAM FINISHED SECOND IN THE MEXICAN LEAGUE
On the day that the bombs fell on Guernica, the Basque national football team wasn’t in the Basque Country. The squad was in France, where they’d just played a match. The day the Francoist troops captured Bilbao, the Basque national football team wasn’t in the Basque Country. The players were in the Soviet Union, where they’d just played a match. The day the Spanish Civil War came to an end, the Basque national football team wasn’t in the Basque Country. The players were in Mexico, where they’d just played a match.
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Last Updated on Dec 20, 2020 by About Basque Country
