JIMMY JUMP, the Catalan who tried to enliven Oslo's Eurovision Song Contest in May by joining the dancers accompanying Spain's contestant, made his own contribution to the World Cup final in Johannesburg on Sunday. Just as the Spanish and Dutch national anthems were due to be played he jumped onto the pitch wearing a "barretina" – a typical Catalan headgear – and raced up to the pedestal with the trophy and tried to drape it with another barretina.
Instead Jimmy Jump – real name Jaume Marquet Cot – was jumped upon by security guards and removed unceremoniously from the pitch. A fervent Catalan nationalist as well as a fervent follower of Barcelona football club – which contributed so many players to Spain's national side in the World Cup, it was inevitable that he would turn up in Johannesburg, said insiders afterwards.
But back in Spain last Sunday night nationalisms were temporarily forgotten during countrywide euphoria after winning the World Cup although a day earlier more than a million demonstrators thronged Barcelona's streets. The protest was prompted by the Constitutional Court's conclusion that there was no legal basis for recognising Cataluña as a nation, following challenges to the region's statute of autonomy by the Partido Popular opposition party. The court's further ruling that the Catalan language should not take precedence over Spanish also came as a disappointment in a region where the Spanish language is routinely relegated to second place.
The demonstrating Catalans were calling for greater autonomy with some calling for independence from Spain. Others were demanding that Cataluña should be allowed to field its own national football and sports teams - a prospect that Jaume Marquet Cot will doubtless regard as an opportunity to be jumped at.
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