Simon Hunter
THE Gibraltar government has issued a statement slamming what it described as ‘rancid chants’ about the British Overseas Territory made in public yesterday by several players from Spain’s victorious men’s national football team.
Rodri Hernandez, 28, who plays for Manchester City, led fans in chants of ‘Gibraltar is Spanish’ during the team’s celebrations in Madrid after their 2-1 victory on Sunday against England in the final of the Euro 2024 tournament.
After he started the chants, which were enthusiastically repeated by the crowds, his teammate and captain Alvaro Morata intervened over the microphone to crowds of thousands in Cibeles square, to remind Rodri that he played for an English team.
“I don’t care,” was his response.
In a statement released on Tuesday, the Government of Gibraltar said it was ‘disappointed to note that several players’ from the team ‘celebrated their European Cup win with chants of rancid remarks about Gibraltar’.
“This is a totally unnecessary mixing of a great sporting success with discriminatory political statements that are hugely offensive to Gibraltarians,” the press release continued.
“The lamentable use of the platform of celebrations around winning the Eurocup 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,” the statement concluded.
Spanish politicians, meanwhile, came out to back the chants.
“The players did not say anything that most Spaniards do not feel,” said Madrid Mayor Jose Luis Martinez-Almeida during an interview, according to Spanish media.
The spokesperson for the far-right Vox party in Madrid’s City Hall, Javier Ortega Smith, shared a video of the chants on social network X with a one-word caption: ‘Si’.
The British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar, which is located on the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, was granted to Great Britain under the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, but its sovereignty has long been reclaimed by the Spanish government.
The issue is a traditional point of conflict both diplomatically and between people from the UK and Spain.
On Sunday night, after Spain’s 2-1 victory over England, hundreds of Spaniards headed to the border of La Linea de la Concepcion with Gibraltar to beep their horns, wave Spanish flags, and sing and chant as a way to laud their win over the residents of ‘The Rock’, as the British Overseas Territory is popularly known.
