THE DERBY OF THE IKURRINA

The Basque country has long held notions of their linguistic, ethnic and historical distinctiveness from the rest of Spain. For a long period, regional autonomy was guaranteed through fueros or a series of laws allowing for independent control and decision-making for the region. This system was wiped out under the constitutional reform of 1876 that created a liberal monarchist constitution. After Franco took over Spain as a result of the Civil War, he sought to systematically eliminate all elements of regional autonomy and identity in the country. A major thrust of this project was the attack on Basque culture and language and also the removal of all foreign elements. As a result, the ikurrina was banned form circulation across the country and any display could invite a prison sentence. In 1976, a football game between Athletic Bilbao and Real Soceidad, a team from the Basque city of San Sebastian paved the way for a historic event for the Basque community. Josean de la Hoz Uranga was a player for Real Soceidad and an ardent Basque nationalist who was later imprisoned for his ties with ETA. Uranga had the idea of bringing the Basque flag into the game, carried by both captains in a display that would possibly speed up the re-legalisation of the flag and other Basque symbols. Since the flag was illegal, he had to force his sister, Ane Miren, to sew a flag from scratch without revealing its true purpose to even her. After this, he snuck the flag into the stadium with his match clothes, an act in which if he was caught, he would have been imprisoned immediately. After convincing both set of players, the captains of the teams walked out holding aloft the ikurrina to a rapturous crowd. The police were caught off-guard and seeing the delirium set off by the display of the flag, they decided to permit its presentation. Hence, the game came to be known as the "derby of the Ikurrina" and by January 1977, the flag was legalised.