When a Radio 5 Live newsreader referred to “the English rider Geraint Thomas” in an item on the Tour de France this week, the response from those with Welsh blood in their veins ranged from a pained wince to a weary shrug. It was ignorant. It was annoying. But no one was going to war over it.
In other countries and other sports the question of national identity can provoke very different reactions. This week, for instance, Mesut Özil announced his retirement from international football over the response in Germany – and from the head of the DFB, the German football association, in particular – to a row that began when he posed for a photograph with the president of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in London in May.
Written by Richard Williams
This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/jul/23/mesut-ozil-international-retirement-germany under the title “Mesut Özil’s Germany saga is symptomatic of a world under strain | Richard Williams”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
