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Abstract
In Catalonia, fervour for Football Club Barcelona (Barça) goes well beyond sporting success as the team supports the demands of the stateless nation. Much ‘more than a club’, Barça is a platform for the expansion of a Catalan national consciousness. At a time when Catalonia is at a critical point in its relations with the Spanish state, claiming the right to national self-determination and presenting the possibility of secession, this paper examines how Barça boosts the strength of Catalan nationalist feelings through dynamics characteristic of the football sphere, such as rituals of group belonging, fandom performances of loyalty, the dramatization of rivalries, the elevation of those achieving sporting success to national icons or the strength of feeling provided by the sports ground. Looking at the period 2003–2014, it concludes that Barça is key in advancing claims that Catalonia is a sovereign nation with the right to decide its political future.
Acknowledgements
This paper is based on a thesis written to complete a Master of Cultural Studies at the University of Sydney. The author would like to thank two anonymous reviewers for their suggestions as well as the friends who helped in editing drafts and Hernan Lleida for giving permission to reproduce his photographs.
Notes
1. Hargreaves and García Ferrando, ‘Public Opinion’, 70.
2. Gyori Szabo, ‘Basque Identity and Soccer’, 525.
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6. Of the 37% of the electorate who voted in the 2014 consultation, 81% wanted Catalonia to become an independent state, 10% a state within a federalist Spanish state, and 4% to remain an autonomous community within the Spanish state. ‘El 81% de persones voten “sí” a la independència de Catalunya’, El País, November 10, 2014, http://cat.elpais.com/cat/2014/11/09/catalunya/1415542400_466311.html.
7. Bairner, ‘National Sports and National Landscapes’, 228.
8. See Armstrong and Giulianotti, Football Cultures and Identities; Cronin and Mayall, ‘Sport and Ethnicity’; Harris and Parker, Sport and Social Identities; Hunter, ‘Flying the Flag’.
9. Guibernau, ‘Secessionism in Catalonia’, 368–9.
10. Anderson, Imagined Communities.
11. Bairner, ‘National Sports and National Landscapes’, 224–6.
12. Hargreaves and García Ferrando, ‘Public Opinion’, 69 (my emphasis).
13. Andrews and Jackson, ‘Introduction: Sport Celebrities’, 7.
14. Hobsbawm, Nations and Nationalism since 1780, 143.
15. Billig, Banal Nationalism.
16. Balfour and Quiroga, The Reinvention of Spain, 97.
17. Jarvie, ‘Internationalism and Sport in the Making of Nations’, 540–1.
18. Giulianotti, ‘Sport and Globalisation’, 447.
19. Quiroga, Football Identities and National Identities in Spain, 128.
20. Vázquez Montalbán, Fútbol: una religión, 90.
21. Ibid., 112, 89.
22. Jarvie, ‘Internationalism and Sport in the Making of Nations’, 541.
23. Jarvie and Walker, ‘Ninety Minute Patriots?’, 44.
24. ‘Barcelona FC Wades into Catalonia Independence Row’, The Telegraph, December 6, 2012, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/barcelona/9726281/Barcelona-FC-wades-into-Catalonia-independence-row.html.
25. Giulianotti, Football: A Sociology of the Global Game, 33; Stone, ‘The Role of Football in Everyday Life’, 75.
26. Miravitllas, La función política del Barça, 147.
27. Anholt, ‘Definitions of Place Branding’, 7 (his emphasis).
28. Ginesta and San Eugenio, ‘The Use of Football as a Country Branding Strategy’.
29. Miravitllas, La función política del Barça, 7, 123–4.
30. Ibid., 260–1, 268.
31. Sobrequés, FC Barcelona, 256–7.
32. Ibid., 257–8.
33. Solé i Sabaté and Finestres, El Barça en guerra.
34. Ibid., 174–5.
35. Santacana, El Barça i el franquisme.
36. Sobrequés, FC Barcelona, 262.
37. Sobrequés, Història del FC Barcelona, 10.
38. J.M. Solé i Sabaté, ‘A propòsit de Laporta’, El Punt Avui, September 14, 2009, http://www.elpuntavui.cat/article/7-vista/8-articles/291654--a-proposit-de-laporta-.html.
39. E. Bañeres, ‘Es este Barça el más catalanista de la historia?’, La Vanguardia, October 25, 2009, http://www.lavanguardia.com/deportes/futbol/20091025/53811247395/es-este-barca-el-mas-catalanista-de-la-historia.html.
40. Shobe, ‘Place, Sport and Globalization’, 260 (his emphasis).
41. Shobe, ‘Football and the Politics of Place’.
42. ‘El català’, Directe.cat, October 17, 2007, http://www.directe.cat/xoc-de-trens/3560/el-catala-la-nova-bandera-blaugrana-3560.
43. Billig, Banal Nationalism, 70–3.
44. Hearn, Rethinking Nationalism, 121.
45. Badia, El Barça al descobert, 51–2.
46. Ibid., 54, 133.
47. G. Tremlett, ‘FC Barcelona Boss Joan Laporta to Swap Goals for Polls as He Promises “to Set Catalonia Free”’, The Guardian, April 11, 2010, http://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/apr/11/joan-laporta-messi-barcelona-catalonia (my emphasis).
48. In a speech in the United Nations, Laporta delighted himself about the fact that most Catalan people feel part of a Catalan nation, of which Barça is a great representative. In another speech in the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, Laporta said that Catalans have ‘suffered’ from being a stateless nation and that Barça, as part of the Catalan civil society, must act in consequence. Joan Laporta, ‘Discurs a la seu de les Nacions Unides el 7 de setembre de 2006 per la signatura de l’acord amb UNICEF’, Facebook note, June 5, 2011, https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=169555976439382; FC Barcelona Website, ‘Discurs a la seu de l’ACNUR’, accessed April 20, 2014, http://arxiu.fcbarcelona.cat/web/Fundacio/catala/nacions_unides/convenis/unhcr_acnur/continguts/discurs_president.html.
49. ‘Quina seria la projecció internacional d’un país on hi hagués un club amb un milió de socis?’. FC Barcelona Confidential, 27:45. All translations to English are my own.
50. FC Barcelona Confidential, 12:35; 2:10.
51. FC Barcelona Website, ‘Discurs davant de la UNESCO’, http://arxiu.fcbarcelona.cat/web/catala/club/especials/Unesco/discurs.html.
52. Ginesta, ‘What Is the Next Step?’, 75.
53. J.M. Solé i Sabaté, ‘No sense Unicef’, El Punt Avui, December 14, 2010, http://www.elpuntavui.cat/article/7vista/8articles/344671nosenseunicef.html.
54. Ginesta, ‘What Is the Next Step?’, 73–6.
55. Andrews and Jackson, ‘Introduction: Sport Celebrities’, 8.
56. J. Pi, ‘¿Guardiola president?’, La Vanguardia, February 24, 2011, http://www.lavanguardia.com/politica/20110224/54118750895/guardiola-president.html.
57. Andrews and Jackson, ‘Introduction: Sport Celebrities’, 9.
58. Miravitllas, La función política del Barça, 195, 244.
59. Andrews and Jackson, ‘Introduction: Sport Celebrities’, 10.
60. Kuper, Soccer Men, 255.
61. J. Burns, ‘An Independent Catalonia Could Rob Barça of its Halo’, Newsweek, October 8, 2012, http://www.newsweek.com/independent-catalonia-could-rob-barca-its-halo-65367.
62. ‘Si ens aixequem ben d’hora … som un país imparable. Moltes gràcies i visca Catalunya!’. ‘Discurso subtitulado (español/English) de Pep Guardiola en la Medalla de Honor del Parlament’, YouTube video. September 8, 2011, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVuZwBGlpRc, 11:47.
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64. Armstrong and Giulianotti, ‘Introduction’, 1.
65. Santacana, El Barça i el franquisme, 38–40; Sobrequés, FC Barcelona, 293.
66. Quiroga, Football Identities and National Identities in Spain, 139–42.
67. Billig, Banal Nationalism, 123–4.
68. Beats by Dre. ‘Beats by Dre x Cesc Fàbregas: Hear What You Want Commercial’, YouTube video, March 23, 2014. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84niw5mYoXk.
69. Giulianotti, Football: A Sociology of the Global Game, 69–70.
70. Sack and Suster, ‘Soccer and Croatian Nationalism’, 306.
71. Giulianotti, Football: A Sociology of the Global Game, 32.
72. Jarvie and Walker, ‘Ninety Minute Patriots?’, 4.
73. Jarvie, ‘Internationalism and Sport in the Making of Nations’, 540.
74. The mosaic formed the official flag of Catalonia, but the fact that the word ‘Barça’ was formed on blue cards on top suggests an interesting visual overlap with the independence flag, which is the same as the official but with a star on one end inside a blue (or sometimes red) triangle.
75. Barça was accused by Spanish politicians of lending itself to political foul play and showing a bad and inaccurate image of a divided Spain. ‘Margallo cree que lo ocurrido en el Camp Nou “perjudica” a España’, El Mundo, October 8, 2012, http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2012/10/08/espana/1349686216.html.
76. ‘Reafirma las raíces del club, la catalanidad de su ADN’. D. Torras and J. Domenech, ‘Sandro Rosell: “Política hubiera sido hacer un mosaico con la estelada”’, El Periódico, October 14, 2012, http://www.elperiodico.com/es/noticias/barca/sandro-rosell-politica-hubiera-sido-hacer-mosaico-con-estelada-2225144.
77. J. Ferrandis, ‘El Consell alienta el anticatalanismo tras exigir al Barça que se siga disculpando’, El País, October 29, 2005, http://elpais.com/diario/2005/10/29/cvalenciana/1130613491_850215.html; ‘El Barça dóna 350.000 euros a la Federació Llull’, Racó Catala, April 11, 2008, http://www.racocatala.cat/noticia/16328/barca-dona-350.000-euros-federacio-llull?pag=1; Catalan National Assembly Website, ‘90.000 Voices for Independence at Barcelona’s Camp Nou Concert’, June 30, 2013, http://www.vilaweb.cat/noticia/4130591/20130630/90000-voices-for-independence-at-barcelonas-camp-concert.html.
78. Xifra, ‘Soccer, Civil Religion, and Public Relations’, 140.
79. Giulianotti, Football: A Sociology of the Global Game, 17.
80. Hobsbawm, ‘Mass-producing Traditions: Europe 1870–1914’.
81. Billig, Banal Nationalism, 65–70.
82. Crawford, Consuming Sport, 10, 113, 125; Stone, ‘The Role of Football in Everyday Life’, 170–1, 180.
83. Crawford, Consuming Sport, 128.
84. G. Aranda, ‘Un “Visca Catalunya” en la favela’, El Mundo, July 9, 2013, http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2013/07/09/barcelona/1373396307.html; ‘Un club més que un club, un tricentenari, una samarreta amb les quatre barres’, Ara, June 6, 2013, http://www.ara.cat/esports/club-tricentenari-samarreta-quatre-barres_0_932906968.html.
85. Back et al. in Horne, Sport in Consumer Culture, 124.
86. Jarvie and Walker, ‘Ninety Minute Patriots?’, 10.
87. Ibid.
88. Kuper, Football against the Enemy, 87.
89. C. Feixa, ‘Fútbol e independencia’, El País, November 17, 2012, http://elpais.com/elpais/2012/11/14/opinion/1352917787_864962.html.
90. FC Barcelona Website, ‘Convenio con la Agencia Catalana de Turismo’, November 9, 2012, http://www.fcbarcelona.es/club/detalle/noticia/convenio-con-la-agencia-catalana-de-turismo.
91. ‘El Barça es uno de los grandes prescriptores culturales de nuestro país. Si esta institución despliega buena cultura, se beneficia todo el país’. ‘Los libros se hacen un hueco en Can Barça’, ABC, January 17, 2012, http://www.abc.es/20120117/local-cataluna/abci-libros-hacen-hueco-barca-201201171000.html.
92. N. Arroyo and A. Llimós, ‘Quan la primera porta a un nou país es el Barça’, Ara, November 2, 2013, http://www.ara.cat/premium/tema_del_dia/primera-porta-nou-pais-Barca_0_1022297826.html.
93. M. López, ‘Rosell: “El Barça és més que un club i ho serà tota la seva historia”’, El Periódico, October 4, 2012, http://www.elperiodico.cat/ca/noticias/barca/rosell-barca-mes-que-club-tota-historia-2218739; ‘Sandro Rosell: “Som un club català i catalanista, i sempre defensarem el dret dels pobles a decidir el seu futur”’, Ara, November 22, 2012, http://www.ara.cat/esports/barca/Sandro-Rosell-catalanista-defensarem-decidir_0_778722281.html.
94. J. Burns, ‘An Independent Catalonia Could Rob Barça of its Halo’, Newsweek, October 8, 2012, http://www.newsweek.com/independent-catalonia-could-rob-barca-its-halo-65367.
95. Jarvie and Walker, ‘Ninety Minute Patriots?’, 8.