I watched the replay of Spain beating Russia in the second game of Euro 2004 last night and heard the revived Soviet era anthem of Russia for the first time in years. What with all the Canada v. Russia hockey I watched on TV or at the Halifax Metro Centre it was a reminded that through sports we had something of an adversarial relationship with the old Soviets rather than being simply the enemy. It’s a good think that the anthem was brought back – I can’t think of a better one.
Spain’s, by comparison, was not great – you should not be able to imagine the lyrics from 1960’s TV Slinky ads fitting in a good national anthem.