Spain has a very good soccer team — so good that the Spanish dared to beat England 2-1 in the Euro 2024 final.  That score seems close, but truth be told, they outclassed England.  Unfortunately, they were classless in their celebrations. 

In fact, UEFA (essentially soccer’s governing body for the Euro region) opened disciplinary proceedings against two of their prominent players: Morata and Rodri.  Their transgression: chanting “Gibraltar is Spanish” and inciting the crowd to join in.  Such provocative conduct breaches rules pertaining to decency, including “manifestations of a non-sporting nature, and bringing the sport of football, and UEFA in particular, into disrepute.” 

Notably, Rodri actually plies his trade in England with Manchester City, and Morata used to.  It is clear why they took up football (soccer) instead of something more cerebral — when it comes to history, they’re quite dumb.

Time and again, Gibraltarians have chosen British administration over Spanish.  In 2002, despite concessions by the magnanimous Brits to share sovereignty with Spain, voters in Gibraltar cast 98.97% of their ballots against the proposal.  They wanted to remain under British administration.  Gibraltar remains a British rock of stability, even as sultry Spain huffs and puffs on its doorstep.

Congrats to Spain’s soccer team; they were a joy to watch at the Euro 2024 soccer tournament.  But their players’ over-exuberant celebrations reveal a big chip on their shoulder, for Gibraltar, by its self-determination, remains an overseas territory of the United Kingdom. Tony Blair actually tried to give it up, but the Gibraltarians were having none of it. 

By the way, there’s more to sport than soccer and scurrying away from charging bulls.  Indeed, on the first day of the Olympic Summer Games in Paris, Great Britain men’s hockey team administered unto Spain a darn thorough 4-0 shellacking.  This ought to temper Spanish nationalistic chants even more:  Spain has a grand total of 174 Summer Olympic medals, ranking it 29th.  That pales in comparison to Great Britain, which has 951 medals, ranking it 4th overall.

But despite their sporting superiority, I doubt the Brits will taunt the Spanish with “Gibraltar is British” chants.  The former have bigger fish to fry.  They’ll probably even welcome Spain back to Manchester City for the start of the new English Premier League season.  Maybe the Spaniards will remain the “Rock of Gibraltar” in the Brits’ defense.

Image: Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office via Flickr, CC BY 2.0.