Hard warning from FC Barcelona to its own cheering stands

FC Barcelona will be relentless from now on with the Espai d’Animació at the Montjuïc stadium, that is, with the four groups that make up it during the matches: Almogàvers, Front 532, Nostra Ensenya and Supporters Barça. According to Barça club sources, the cheering crowd, made up of between 500 and 600 fans, has entered into an escalation of bad behavior that they want to stop before it escalates.

The measures that have been taken by the board chaired by Joan Laporta are forceful. Firstly, four letters have been sent to each of the affected clubs urging them to pay the global amount of 21,000 euros, corresponding to the fines accumulated for various incidents during last season. There is a previous document signed by both parties in which it was specified that in the event of any sanction for bad behavior those responsible should be responsible, but until now it was the club that paid them. In the event that there is no response in the next 15 business days, the club reserves the right to take new measures.

Secondly, and along the same hard line, the Barça club has decided that if from now on, starting with the next match (this Sunday comes the derby against Espanyol in Montjuïc), a new sanctioning file is opened. , the cheering stands will be closed in the following match. This season, FC Barcelona has accumulated three sanctions from the League, UEFA and the Generalitat. The reasons are diverse and range from individual or collective insults to rivals, whether players or spectators of the opposing team, as well as banners that contravene any sign of civility or the launching of flares.

The club defends that it has held numerous meetings with the entertainment groups involved to warn them that it would take action if they did not control the sources of recidivism and bad behavior.

In the absence of clarifying how the club will proceed with the closed field plot if it reaches that point (market its seats or leave it like this to generate an impact image), the board’s intention is to take advantage of the move to the new Spotify Camp Nou to correct what they consider a growing problem that they want to tackle in time. The idea is to maintain the animation tier with the change of scenery but improving the atmosphere.

It must be remembered that the problems have not been limited only to Montjuïc, but in the next Champions League trip to Belgrade the Barça fans will be banned by UEFA due to the display of a pro-Nazi banner in the Monaco stadium. Likewise, it is common for the stands, and not just the entertainment crowd, to whistle the Champions League anthem every time there is a match at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys, just as it already happened at the old Camp Nou. On the other hand, in the Barça-Bayern match on October 23, the cheering crowd did not enter the stadium until five minutes into the match as a sign of protest because four members of the cheering crowd were prevented from entering the venue.

Joan Laporta, who already spoke out against the Boixos Nois in 2003 upon his arrival to the presidency, wants to champion this, according to his feeling, an upsurge of radical elements.

The animation stand version

This newspaper has contacted some of the affected entertainment groups who confirm that on Tuesday night they received, through an email signed by a worker from the club’s social area, the notification stating that they must pay the 21,000 euros for the incidents accumulated last season. They also confirm that in the same letter they are also informed that if this Sunday in the derby against Espanyol or in another match a new sanctioning file is opened, the stands will be closed in the following match.

For reasons of agenda and the work they have, the members of the four animation groups have not yet been able to meet to assess what happened. They say that the email that the club sent them took them by surprise. They also regret that throughout the current academic year they have not been able to meet in person with the vice president of the social area Elena Fort or with any spokesperson to discuss the issues that concern them most. In fact, they claim that they have only held one meeting: it was last year, when the groups insisted on the need to discuss the transfer and operation of the stands in Montjuïc. They are also struck by the fact that issues such as the return to the Spotify Camp Nou have not been discussed with them.

Members of the cheering crowd criticize the club’s forms and deny previous meetings

Regarding the incidents, they recognize that there are offensive chants that come from the cheering stands. But in no case are they premeditated group initiatives but rather spontaneous individual acts for which, they believe, the entire group cannot be blamed. Finally, they regret that in the document they signed at the beginning of the course to constitute, as every year, the entertainment stands, the club included without prior notice and without any meeting the point that the financial sanctions for incidents in the stands are now their responsibility. .