FC Barcelona: a political victim and protagonist

Credits: Stricikanegér Flickr

As I’ve said previously, FC Barcelona and politics have gone hand in hand in the past and continue to do so today. FC Barcelona fans have claimed throughout the history of the club, particularly during the dictatorships, that that club was a political victim. As the club had become a substitute political institution for the repressed Catalonia and a major catalyst for the growth of the collective Catalan identity, any political attack on the club was seen, and still is seen, as an attack on the Catalan nation.

In 1925, when the crowd at FC Barcelona’s previous home Les Courts booed the Spanish national anthem, the dictator Primo de Rivera closed the stadium for six months, effectively shutting down the only place left that Catalans could express their identity. Just over a decade later in 1936, the club’s president, Josep Suñol, was allegedly murdered by Franco’s men and according to Nili this “further cemented the club’s political association”.

FC Barcelona also fell foul of political bias on the field and in player transfers during Franco’s dictatorship. On June the 13^th 1943, FC Barcelona played Real Madrid in the second leg of the Copa del Generalísimo (the Spanish Cup) semi-final. Barça were the cup holders and had won the first leg 3-0. It is common knowledge that Spain’s Director of State Security went into the home dressing room and intimidated FC Barcelona players, ‘encouraging’ them to lose the match. Real Madrid went on to win the second leg 11-1. Throughout Catalonia, that game was widely interpreted as evidence of governmental influence and domination.

What is now known as the Di Stéfano affair also illustrates how Franco’s power and influence extended to football. In 1953, FC Barcelona signed the Argentine star Alfredo Di Stéfano and were licking their lips at the thought of the unstoppable duo of Di Stéfano and Kubala. However, in what the club describes as “A strange federative manoeuvre with Francoist backing”, it was stipulated that Di Stéfano should play alternate seasons with both Real Madrid and FC Barcelona. In the end FC Barcelona let the player go to Real Madrid and Di Stéfano and Kubala played against each other for many years. This affair was seen by many in Catalonia as yet another attack on the club and on Catalonia. Shobe adds that, “the incredible success of Real Madrid in the ensuing years would only add to the bitterness and resentment of many Catalans and further solidify Real Madrid’s reputation as the dictator’s team.”

The late 1960’s were a time of liberalisation in Catalonia thanks to Franco’s deteriorating health and his slipping control of the country. It was in 1968 that the famous motto “més que un club” was uttered for the first time during the inaugural president’s address by Narcís de Carreras. Although it only became commonly used from the 70’s onwards, it is evidence of the political and social role that the club and its president lauded for itself.

Despite this sense of increased freedom, the Guruceta case in 1970 was a stark reminder that the power still rested with the central government in Madrid. The incident took place in the return leg of the quarter-finals of la Copa del Generalísimo, in what is considered the most scandalous match in Spanish football. In the 60^th minute, the referee Guruceta Muro awarded a penalty to Real Madrid for a foul on Velázquez. The foul, however, happened clearly outside the box by over a metre. The FC Barcelona players threatened to leave the pitch and the irate supporters invaded the pitch where they were met with police brutality. FC Barcelona were fined 90 000 pesetas and were knocked out of the Cup. The Guruceta case became shorthand for the oppression and repression that both FC Barcelona and Catalonia suffered at the hands of Franco’s regime. But it was also in a sense a reawakening of FC Barcelona as an active force in political Catalanism. 

Early on in the 1970’s, before Franco’s death, FC Barcelona had already started to use its status to endorse Catalanism. In 1972 the club publically promoted a campaign advocating the use of Catalan in schools. A year later announcements at el Camp Nou started to be made in Catalan and the Catalan flag was flown again at the stadium. In 1974, a year before Franco died, the club reclaimed its Catalan name and FC Barcelona beat Real Madrid 5-0 with their hero Cruyff leading the way. Just before the dictator’s death in 1975, Catalan once again became the official language of the club. It has been said that during the final years of the dictatorship, FC Barcelona’s directors increasingly took Catalanista politics into their own hands and used the club to challenge the regime. Shobe claims that this “shows evidence of the inextricable connection between politics, sport and national identity in Catalonia.”

But what is the situation today? Does FC Barcelona still have role to play in Catalan politics? Can it still be influential? Some argue that nowadays the club has little or no role in Catalan politics as people have other alternatives now that all the Catalan social, political and economic institutions that were outlawed during the dictatorship are now thriving. However, the opposite can easily be argued.

The club is often seen to support initiatives which are aimed at promoting Catalan culture and by extension Catalonia. This inevitably falls into the political domain because of the centuries of repression and oppression. For Catalans, one of the major components of their identity is their language and as it was heavily repressed in the past, they are determined not to let it go again. FC Barcelona supports this view and endorses initiatives to keep Catalan in schools and to teach Catalan more generally. The club itself makes sure that their players are offered Catalan lessons and of course uses Catalan as its official language.

Although the club itself supports Catalonia and is involved in Catalan politics, it has distanced itself from the calls for independence. A reason for this is that this question goes beyond what the club feels that it can get involved in. It’s all very well supporting the promotion of Catalan culture and autonomy in terms of education, but independence is a whole different issue with a whole different set of challenges. The club also needs to be careful not to alienate fans. Although many FC Barcelona fans will and do support Catalan independence, I think that the club would do more damage in coming out in favour of independence than not taking sides at all.

The players also find themselves in difficult situations when it comes to Catalan politics. Even though many of them are Catalans through and through, the majority refuse to comment on political issues. By backing away from potential polemical situations, they know they are protecting themselves against media backlash. Most of the Spanish national team is made up of FC Barcelona players and they know that they would be torn apart if they criticised central Spain. It has, however been very interesting to see how Carles Puyol and Pep Guardiola are more prepared to be outspoken. Guardiola, a FC Barcelona legend as a player and a manager, was given the top honour in Catalonia by the Catalan parliament, la Medalla d’Honor, and was invited to speak to the parliament. 

Credits: convergenciaiunio Flickr

Although Puyol still plays for the national team, he knows that he only has a few matches left in him and he’s already won the Euros and the World Cup in 2008 and 2010 respectively. He doesn’t really have anything to lose now and anyway, I think it would take quite a lot to affect the respect that Spain has for him. This is why he can, via Twitter, publically criticise Jose Ignacio Wert, the minister for education, culture and sport, who has proposed to change current education legislation, which allows for Catalan to be taught in schools, to ensure that Castilian Spanish is taught in schools country-wide.

Credits: fcbarcelona4eva Flickr

The club president plays a major role in how politically involved the club is allowed to be and this has meant that over the years, the club has been more or less involved in Catalan politics. Josep Lluís Núñez was FC Barcelona’s president from 1978 until 2000 and arguably oversaw the club’s most successful period. Núñez treated the club as a business and felt that finances were more important than promoting Catalonia and Catalan culture. Some even claim that he was anti- més que un club. Laporta, club president from 2003 to 2010, on the other hand, promised to return the club to Catalonia and promoted FC Barcelona as Catalan institution. He wanted to reassert the social role of the club and this meant promoting the Catalan language, use of Catalan symbols and improving relationships with the city and regional governments. Laporta supported Catalan language rights and education such as Omnium Cultural (promoting official use and status of Catalan) and Free Catalonia (organisation that lobbies for Catalan language programmes in schools and funds Catalan teaching to immigrants). The club also started to use Catalan in every facet of operations including for player contracts.

FC Barcelona always has and still represents Catalan identity and Catalonia and as long as it has the national and international status that it has now, it will always be a tool for promoting the Catalan culture and nation. It can influence politics because it is so powerful and has such a following and because of being a global superbrand, it also brings the concerns of Catalonia to the international stage.