More than a Club

After the Spanish civil war, Franco’s dictatorship started oppressing Catalonia, north-east Spain. The regime banned the use of the Catalan language, arrested the scholars, and tortured them. During the hard time in Catalonia, the flag of Barça was not the only a flag of a football club, but that was the symbol of the hope of freedom in Catalonia. Dictator Franco cherished Real Madrid, a football club in Madrid, and used it as a political propaaganda as well. The match so-called “Clasico” in Spanish, Barça against Real Madrid, was the only place where people in Catalonia could show their identity and fight against the Franco regime. This history still makes people in Catalonia support Barça stronger than other clubs. It is their identity. It is their history. It is their hope. Barça is more than a club.