Catalonia y FC Barcelona bajan los pantalones
Yes it’s official, Catalonia and FC Barcelona have dropped their trousers when it comes to supporting their views on Catalonia as a nation, free Catalonia and Catalonia is a country blah blah blah regarding playing the final of La Copa Del Rey.
Basques and Catalans mingled together at the Mestalla stadium in Valencia and then promptly booed the national anthem in the presence of King Juan Carlos. I have a question as this looks like Catalonia and the mighty Barça have indeed dropped their strides. After the win by Barcelona FC the other day which was a foregone conclusion, as has the league championship this year too, they celebrate the King’s Cup or La Copa Del Rey by wrecking half of the city and causing mayhem at the Canaletas fountain.
Question 1:Can anyone explain this: if Catalonia wants to be a nation separate from Spain, what the hell is Barcelona FC doing playing in the final of the Copa del Rey (The Kings Cup)? With all the booing the other day at Spain’s national anthem and in presence of the King, what place does Barcelona have in all this? While they fervently reject Spain’s ruler as the ruler of Catalonia, they gladly accept the football trophy in his name and then go and celebrate their win of La Copa del Rey!
Question 2: If Catalonia wants to be a “real country” why is Barcelona FC full of footballers from other countries? Surely they should take a leaf out of the Basque nation’s book and only signup “Catalan players” with a Catalan DNI, should they not? Looks like those trousers are being pulled down again!
We all know what would happen to Barcelona FC if that happened, right? They would promptly disappear into footballing obscurity, being no better than Nàstic de Tarragona – no offence to Nàstic fans but you get my drift! I think the last Barcelona player who shot his mouth off saying that he wouldn´t play for Spain was Oleguer. He now plays for Ajax and hasn´t been seen since. This is usually the case with players that don´t make the grade like Oleguer and wouldn´t be selected for their respective countries anyway. Can you imagine Carles Puyol saying that or even Xavi? No, I didn’t think so and therefore I rest my case.
If anyone can offer a sensible argument as to the above questions it would be most welcome.
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Comment by John Smith on 28 May 2009:
….the situation with Barcelona FC is very good example of the situation, I think, of Catalunya and Spain….
FC Barcelona as a team in an independant ‘nation’ would be nothing. Players like Messi, Etoo’h, Iniesta, Henry et al…would not play in a Catalan football league. Games like Barcelona against Girona would not get big audiences or big money ..(for top players need top money)..and so FC Barcelona would be nothing at European level.
Catalunya can not be an island. And Catalunya will always depend on Spain for most of its trade.
The current situation is probably perfect for Catalunya….they can almost extort out of the Spanish Govt. whatever they want…since the Spanish Govt. almost always relies on the votes from the MPs from Catalunya.
(is it true that the public system paid 60M Euros to FC Barcelona ?
…did the other football teams receive the same from their ‘Governments’ …if not then not competing fairly…
(60M paid by TV Catalunya to FC Barcelona, to put TV3 badge on strip, when TV3 does not need promotion in Catalunya, gets so much Govt. money that private channels can not compete,
and why promote TV3 in other regions of Spain, they don’t speak Catalan and also the channel is not transmitted !!
60M just to help FC Barcelona buy and pay good players in my view.
(Should it not go to help old people, improve schools (many are in barracons) pay to implemente Dependancy law…etc)
Comment by ferdhy on 22 June 2009:
I had never seen it that way, but up to a certain point you’re right. Thousands of Barça supporters harshly booed the Spanish king, and after that they celebrate their achievement as the players receive the trophee from the monarch and greet him kindly. Something doesn’t add up here. But unfortunately, things aren’t as simple as that.
To my mind, FC Barcelona itself doesn’t represent Catalonia as a nation, its culture or identity. Barça is just a football team. And, let’s face it, Barça as many other football teams is bussiness.
However, if it’s become such an important simbol for a whole nation is thanks to their supporters. They started showing Catalan flags in Franco’s time. And it’s because of them that pleople say Barça is more than a football club. You hardly ever hear the players or the president express their political opinions, but thousands of supporters do it on every game. So Barça is just a medium through which people express their feelings and ideas about their identity as a nation. Apart from that, the club itself is most of the time sitting on the fence.