Ángel Haro and the great ovation

It was one of the most significant moments of the shareholders meeting of the Betis. The room, with more than 300 attendees, broke into applause for several seconds after a fiery defense of its president, Angel Haroof the club’s position in the controversy with Sevilla, three of its players sanctioned for the exhibition after the derby of a flag with the green and white shield crossed out. In Heliópolis their position is clear and this was endorsed by the shareholders en masse. If on other occasions the president was applauded for how he resolved differences with other Beticos in the context of a meeting, Tuesday night’s was the strongest defense that the green and white fans of their team expected against their eternal rival. And that convinced everyone. The great applause that Haro received and the subsequent congratulations at the cocktail party after the meeting were very significant because it was an event marked by the majority shareholding that the president and vice president, López Catalán, have achieved through the capital increase. It was a fiery defense in which the speech was even interrupted by the applause. It is not easy to find that in a Betis board in recent years. There have been tense and excited moments but the support for a president in such a unanimous way was striking.

Betis’ position is clear and this is how Haro explained it with transparency. The club informed LaLiga and Antiviolencia of the evidence of the display of this flag considered offensive by three players (Carmona, Juanlu and Isaac). The rest of the consequences are already up to the committees. They argue in Heliopolis that There has been no call from Sevilla to apologize and that in Nervión they were aware of the sanction since Wednesday. Betis did not ask for any type of punishment, they only reported. And they remember that they have not started anything, but that there were already previous requests for sanctions by Sevilla towards Betis in the framework of the cup derby with the throw on Jordán or with the escape room typhus, which were ineffective or reduced to fines .

This is how Haro himself expressed it: «I was surprised by the statements and complaints. Professionals have to be respectful of institutions and symbols. Betis made some images available to the different committees, they did not report anything. He just put it up for you to evaluate. We did not ask for a sports sanction and we are not responsible for some players not playing a game. In any case, they will be those who have committed the punitive act for which they are sanctioned. It would be tremendous if we were the ones who had the responsibility. At Betis we have always opted for a healthy rivalry. We have even shown generosity on many occasions. In one of them, the cup derby where all of Spain saw everything that happened. We extended our hand without an apology because we understood that there should be cordiality. It is false that we set a precedent because Sevilla reported a typhoid that had passed through the Government Subdelegation. “We accepted and did not make a statement.”

It is expected that Sevilla’s definitive response will occur shortly, breaking off relations between both clubs, but Betis are calm and continue to reach out, waiting for direct communication between entities to redirect the situation, at the gates of a subsidiary derby in the Luis del Sol sports city and with the tribute to Jesús Navas shortly, where some significant representatives of Betis will attend, but Haro’s firmness is in demanding that the affronts have the same repercussion back and forth and that they not only tear their clothes when they are in only one direction. «Betis will continue with this same attitude, education, maintaining forms but it will be strict when attacking the club’s symbols. We are tired of the fact that when something happens in Nervión it is Sevillian, part of the rivalry and when it happens in the Betis field we are practically committing a state crime. I have not received calls, if this made me angry they could call me. My attitude is that of someone who represents Betis, but the symbols are not going to be touched, I’m very sorry».