DonAndres, fantastic post. This is my viewpoint, even though like I said, I do not live in Spain. I do have a somewhat understanding on why the Catalans and Basque have the political feelings they do, but to me if you have representatives like the Catalans and Basque do in the national team then it would be absolutely feasible to support the national team. I am like you in that it is one thing to be proud of a culture and nation such as the Catalans or whoever it may be, but with international football comes a time that people can unite behind a team of players that are from all over the country. They come together to compete, so why could others not come together to stand behind them.
I love the fact that Catalans are so proud of their culture and who they are by making the Catalan flag such a vital part of FC Barcelona and bringing it in the Camp Nou. I love the fact as well that FC Barcelona absolutely embrace and are vital part of Catalan culture. It was a huge reason I decided to follow FCB because it truly is "mes que un club." in that it represents a culture, a people, and a proud people at that. I love when the flag is brought in to symbolize a proud nation at the games and proud of where they are from, but when it is brought in for political reasons, I just can't seem to support that notion. Politics has its place and it's not in football, but we inevitably know that it will show up do to the enormous international stage it is set on. I do not want people to think I do not support the Catalans and what they stand for because I do. Yet, I feel Catalans should support their fellow brothers even in a national team that consists of others from different regions regardless of political shortcomings because in the end the national team represents the Spanish PEOPLE from all throughout Spain including Catalunya and not the Spanish government.
