Gibraltar fury at Spain team's 'offensive' Euro victory chants

More than half a million people gathered in central Madrid late Monday to welcome the national team home a day after they beat England 2-1 in Berlin to secure Spain a record fourth European Championship crown.

During the celebrations, which saw the city turned into a sea of red and yellow, several players grabbed the microphone to sing, with captain Alvaro Morata belting out "Gibraltar es espanol" - "Gibraltar is Spanish" - in a chant also picked up by Rodri, who plays for English club Manchester City.

The chants were not lost on Gibraltar, a tiny British territory at the southern tip of Spain, whose government expressed anger at such "discriminatory political statements that are hugely offensive to Gibraltarians".  Using the celebrations "for advancing the idea of usurping the territory of Gibraltar is contrary to the principle that sport should not be used to advance any politically controversial ideology," it said in a statement.

And Chief Minister Fabian Picardo took to X to express a more full-throated opinion, describing the chants as "worse than disgusting". "It sullies the sport of football and the win on the pitch.. This cannot stand unchallenged. The Rock is OURS," he said, using Gibraltar's nickname for its famous cliff-faced mountain.

The Gibraltar Football Association also slammed the chanting as "extremely provocative and insulting" and said it would file an official complaint with the European footballing body UEFA. "Football has no place for behaviour of his nature," it said in a statement. Gibraltar has long been a source of tension between Madrid and London.

Although Spain ceded Gibraltar to Britain in 1713, Madrid has long wanted it back in a long-running bone of contention that has for decades involved pressure on the frontier. Tensions peaked in 1969 when the regime of dictator Francisco Franco closed the border, which did not fully reopen until 1985.

Ahead of Sunday's final, social media had been buzzing with talk about the clash between Spain and England with many Spain fans posting the line: "The winner takes Gibraltar".

 

July 16, 2024