This warm-up game for Euro 2020 was hardly notable for the football as England ground out a 1-0 win over Austria. France and Portugal capped their first black players in the 1930s, the Netherlands in the 1960s. Photograph: Russell Cheyne/ReutersAs in the old colonial powers, these multi-ethnic national teams can be an exemplar of a new civic nationalism. Although Spain has capped black players, the balance of Basques, Catalans and Spaniards consumes the nationalist energy. Scotland’s great Irish migrations and the vicious sectarian politics that bedevils Scottish football and society provide the backdrop to the cultural politics of its national team.

Source: The Guardian June 06, 2021 06:45 UTC