A Basque pelota World Cup without its own Basque representation

From this Sunday to October 29, the Basque Pelota World Championship will be held in Biarritz, organized by the International Federation of Basque Pelota (FIPV). The World Cup to be held in the town of Labour, is number nineteen of those disputed, the previous ones being dominated, in attention to the medal table, almost entirely by Spain and France.

As even the least experienced in this sport can deduce, the vast majority of players who have made up the two state teams have come from the Basque territories that culturally make up Euskal Herria. overwhelmingly. However, it has never been possible to form a Basque representation of its own in these official championships. And this, simply and simply, because the Basque Pelota Federation (FVP-EEPF), despite its expressed and continued desire over time, has not been accepted within the International that has its headquarters in Pamplona.

On October 12, an act took place in Durango in which a wide representation of Basque pelota players of both genders demanded the international status of the Euskal Selekzioa. They proposed (not for the first time) to be able to play this World Cup and other team competitions with the green shirt and the ikurriña. The claim was supported by the Basque Federation with the presence of its current and previous presidents. And it must be remembered that there have been many steps taken by the Basque Government to make this wish a reality. Unsuccessful actions so far. In any case, it can be affirmed that the world of pelota in Euskadi aspires to the recognition of international officialdom precisely in the sport that bears its name, and that it was born and has developed in its habitat. Is something so apparently diaphanous, logical and coherent, is it a chimera?

FIPV’s statutes currently require that its member federations correspond to independent states, so for the admission of the Basque Federation there would have to be a statutory change. It would be in the opposite direction to that adopted by its assembly in the past at the initiative of the Spanish Pelota Federation, which does not bear the last name of Basque unlike the international organizations in which it is inserted, including the Union of European Federations of Basque Pelota . This continental subsidiary, which shares a president with the Spanish, does open the door statutorily to a possible agreed admission of non-state territorial federations.

So there are paths. If there is a will, of course, to make a reality among all the parties concerned something that so many people, not only from around here, would see as normal. And to which a legal provision that contemplates the regional exceptionality for cases of sports with special origin and social roots in a community would decisively contribute.

Is it really necessary to explain why Basque representation in this sport rests on historical and cultural legitimacy? Does anyone believe, with arguments, that this presence is not justified in this singular case, in the most genuine sport of the Basques, who continue to dominate competitively and organizationally, as it is known and recognized in one and another continent?

There are sports disciplines throughout the world in which, due to their birth, roots and territorial identification, which do not coincide with the borders of an independent state, the international action of the federations exclusive to those territories is historically justified. We could mention, among others, the own representation of Hawaii, different from that of the USA, in the same international Surfing (ISA). Or that of the Iroquois Confederation with its own selections in the sport of Lacrosse. Or the very presence of Scotland, historical origin of the sport of Golf, at the IGF. Not to mention cricket, rugby or football.

The sport of Euskal Pilota, and the society that faithfully follows and supports it, cannot and should not renounce the fact that sooner rather than later an agreement is reached whereby the Euskadiko Euskal Pilota Federakuntza forms part of the International Basque Pelota, so that Basque pelota teams can participate in their competitions. If it is not in this World Cup in Biarritz, which is about Basque pelota, on Basque land, but even without Basque representation of its own, let it be in the next one.