I shall never forget my first international match with the full Catalan Team
Xavier O’Callaghan i Ferrer
I shall never forget my first international match with the full Catalan Team
Xavier O’Callaghan i Ferrer
I shall never forget the first international match with the full Catalan Team. It was on January 4, 2000, in Granollers, against the all-powerful Swedish Team, world champion at that time. It has been the only one time that I have seen the Sports Palace of Granollers packed, body and soul surrendered to the team, making up a gigantic mosaic when the Catalan national anthem was played. I keep a photograph of it that moves me enormously each time I see it. The final result was a Catalan victory 30-28, which proved to us that we had a team that could allow us to place ourselves amongst the world elite thanks to a generation that was fully mature in sport. Unfortunately, we were never able to verify it in an official competition and we always had to guess which would really be our force in a world championship or even in some Olympic Games. After that match, I have played some more, year after year, until the last one before I retired last June. In all of them I have been able to feel the satisfaction of representing my country, the pride of making our different rival teams know that we are a nation and the belief that some time it might be an official match. These are feelings that, as a handball player, I will never be able to feel again, but that, as a Catalan, I will continue to believe that they are possible, even if I know that we have an enormously difficult and long task ahead. No one will give us anything easily; we will have to obtain it with our effort, as we Catalans usually have to do. It is additional proof of how we are and how we have to be in the future to progress as a country. We should not be surprised by the obstacles that have been purposely laid ahead of us and the ones that we will find with regard to our legitimate aspirations; we shall be aware. Anyone has the right to advocate his ideas and stands, and this is why we should have to be prepared. As happens in sport, one must keep an eye on his opponent and be watchful, always alert and ready, so that he never may find you off guard; one must foresee his movements and move first, as well as to counteract them in a clever way. We should imagine any type of scene or situation –as incredible as it may seem– and be prepared to act. It is not easy to be forced to work under these circumstances and the work of all is very difficult but praiseworthy. Each one playing his/her role and working all together is the only way of obtaining official sports teams. In this way, players will know that any time Catalonia needs them, they must be ready to play, managers will give their support at all levels, politicians will carry out their work with discretion and perseverance, and the general public, as I am, will give its support to all those public events and matches that will take place. It is the only way that may lead us to success, with unity and dedication, making our dream of being able to see us represented in sport as we are, a country, come true.