A significant group of supporters of La Liga giants Barcelona have announced their intention not to cheer their side on during the opening exchanges of today’s derby meeting with Espanyol.
This comes amid mounting tensions between the Barcelona brass, and the Grada de Animación.
The powers that be at the Camp Nou this week made the supporters group in question aware of the value of the fines which they accrued for open cases last season.
A bill for the same amount – €21,000 – has in turn been passed on to the powers that be.
And, safe to say, as much has not gone down at all well…
In a joint-statement this weekend, the Penya Barcelonista Almogàvers, Penya Barcelonista Front 532, Penya Barcelonista Nostra Ensenya and Supporters Barça announced that they will remain silent for the opening 15 minutes of Sunday’s La Liga clash with Espanyol.
Their statement in its entirety, as cited by Mundo Deportivo, can be read below:
‘Following the request received by the 4 groups of the Animation Space (EdA) sent by the Social Area of FC Barcelona and also after it was made public by the Communication Department of the Club itself, the groups of the Animation Space feel obliged to speak out:
Since the 90s, the youngest fans of the Camp Nou have been demanding a stand where all those Barcelona fans who wanted to cheer on the team could gather. In 2011, the Members’ Assembly approved and ratified the creation of an animation stand.
The current EdA was created in the 2016/17 season and since then there has been a before and after in terms of animation at the Camp Nou. The EDA’s objective is to help and push the team to achieve victories and titles: to be the 12th player.
From the different cheering groups in the stands, songs have come out that have become a reference for the fans, for the players and for the Club itself, such as “in 1899, the Club that I carry in my heart was born”, “if we all cheer, we will win” or “A match day”. We have also made tifos from the EdA that have become iconography of the Club, such as “Walking To Glory” or the mega flag unfurled against PSG with a large 1899 with the ‘Moreneta’ in the centre and the skyline of the city. And it is true that the support of the stands together with that of all the Barcelona fans present on the pitch has helped to lift many games, achieve victories and titles.
We know that this is true and that our task is essential to offer good support to the team. The players themselves have let us know this, they sing our songs, share our tifos on social networks and They come to us to share their joy and celebrate victories and even to thank us for our support in the big defeats. It is true that sometimes there have been shouts and chants that are undesirable and banned by the institutions that control modern football, but in no case have these shouts been made in a choral and organised way by the entire stands. They are shouts initiated individually, sporadically and sometimes even from areas close to the EdA but by the EdA itself.
We understand the Club’s desire to minimise and eradicate these shouts, but we are convinced that the Club is completely wrong in its ways. Making the 4 groups and all their members pay in full for sanctions received for acts carried out individually and in some cases sporadically is not the way to do it. It seems that the Club deeply disowns the members of the Eda and with its action it is criminalising each and every one of the members of the Eda groups. In this way, the just will end up paying for the sinners.
In the next match against Espanyol we will hold a protest to show our rejection of the Club’s way of acting. We will be present in the stands for the first 15 minutes of the match but we will not be cheering. We will merely be spectators. From the 15th minute onwards we will encourage our players so that the entire field is for the 12th player and help them achieve victory.
We seriously regret that the Club has taken this decision and we continue to ask them for what they have been denying us for many months, a fluid and permanent dialogue that will help us improve our main task.’
Conor Laird – GSFN
