Barcelona Eagles Cricket Club
Most of the players of the Barcelona Eagles Cricket Club go unnoticed in the city.
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They work as labourers, taxi drivers or security guards. Some are married and others have just broken up with a girlfriend. Cricket has a dual purpose for each of them. It is a mental reminder of Pakistan but it is also a sign of the roots they have put down in Catalunya. Some of them even play for the Catalan national cricket team.
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Behind the stereotype of a closed, backward community that is strongly influenced by religious rules, is hidden the young, modern and little-known face of a complex and contradictory country. It is a place far from the borders of Europe, but every day closer to Western society, economy and culture.
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This is the side of Pakistan revealed by these players both on and off the cricket pitch. These young men have succeeded in Barcelona but their stories are emblematic of a young generation of Pakistanis heading towards the major European capitals.
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Translation by Sally Bayley