A triumph for German diversity

Football teaches us a fundamental lesson. Belonging to a nation nowadays has more to do with inclusive citizenship than with blood.

I grew up associating the German football team with the likes of Jurgen Klinsmann, Karl Heinz Rummenige, Lothar Matthaus...Unlike the Brits and the Dutch, they were ethnically homogeneous.

But times have changed. Now we have players with names like Özil, Boateng, Khedira, Podolski and Cacau. For more than 80 years, the rules about who could represent Germany were clear and strict. Players had to be German born, of parents born in Germany.

That law was scrapped in 1999 laying the foundation for the current squad. This change coincided by a general relaxation of citizenship laws which offered the prospect of real integration for “guest workers” who created much of Germany’s wealth in the post war days. Half the current squad were either born outside Germany, are the sons of immigrants, or have one non-German parents.

Surely football has on occasions been abused by neo nazi hooligans who see a chance to vent their aggressive nationalism. These types must be disoriented by the success of a multicultural team representing the nation.... Perhaps football is more successful than politics in evoking a new sense of inclusive and playful patriotism. For what does belonging to a nation mean today? What has blood to do with it?

Football shows us that it has a lot to do with shared success, a common venture and a sense of pride which comes from being a citizen of a particular country.

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Alex Grech
After homogeneous Italy won against diverse France 4 years ago...it’s now the turn of homogeneous Spain to triumph once more against a diverse Holland team! In ur face Mr Debono!
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Patrick Calleja
Multi-cultural England did not benefit from the blend!...and South Africa.s team, was not exactly multi-cultural either given that there were no white players! This all goes to show that what you are suggesting, does not exist in real life. Sorry, but your" political correctness" is a bridge too far!
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Peter Cassar

my point was not that Germany is a better team cause it includes foreigners   but simply that belonging to a nation does not depend  on blood or ethnicity ..and that patriotism is not alien to an  inclusive society.   

It was  Former German great Franz Beckenbauer who on Monday said one reason this year's World Cup team has played so well is because it has benefited from a blend of players from different cultures. But that was not the point of my article.

It was pure and simple celebration of  patriotism  based on an inclusive identity... Spain yesterday won because they played better football. 

I am sure that Spanish football will still generate the same enthusiasm if in a couple of years time their squads includes  foreign born players or children of immigrants who now form part of the social fabric.

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Jospeh Attard
The diversity discourse punctually getting debunked ... Enjoy your racist diversity, we believe in merit!
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Alex Grech
Homogeneous Spain trash diverse German team! What about a story on these lines James?! Manipulating sports to make a point for your own creed makes no sense at all, it is actually infantile!
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Adrian Zerafa
Hpiski, your comment might sound ironic. But France's success in 1998 and 2000 was actually a great example of diversity. James, I agree with most you've said however unfortunately after France's triumph of diversity in 1998, shortly afterwards the xenophobic Le Pen recorded a high % at the polls.
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Alfred Galea
If, as you say, diversity has anything to do with having a champion football team, then the US, OZ and Canada would take turns being world champions coz there are no more diverse societies than them. Nice try though.
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Herbert Brincat
France's national team is also another great example.
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If this was meant to entice us to multiculturalism in Malta it fails James. We have seen the other side of multiculturalism in other countries and even in Malta which is a tiny country which certainly does not need multiculturalism with all the problems that it causes.
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Alex Grech
So now we’re taking football so seriously that it is indeed being manipulated to make a point for our own ideologies?! Germany are indeed making a huge success from their diverse football squad, but that should never be interpreted a success to diversity of everyday life. In order to support the claim that diversity actually works one should look into other matters that truly affect people’s everyday life; security, health, identity, education and various others, and unfortunately for you Mr. James Debono, diversity fails miserably in every of these aspects! As in Arts, Sports might be an area where Multi-Culturalism works, however, human society is much more complex than that!