World Football: The Greatest Rivalries: Barcelona Versus Real Madrid

    The game described by Sir Bobby Robson as the biggest club game in world football is an obvious place to start when examining the fiercest rivalries around the globe.

    However, despite it being a club game, Real Madrid versus Barcelona has a distinctly international feel to it.  This is not just because of the myriad of different nationalities on display but because of the social and political roots the rivalry between Spain's two biggest clubs has.

    It is often said that that politics and sport should not be mixed, but as is often the case in the biggest rivalries, politics is the issue which has most defined the deep-lying sentiments of disdain towards the rivals. And el gran classico is no different.

    FC Barcelona were founded in 1899 by Swiss businessman Joan Gamper just a year after a humiliating defeat for the Spanish army in the Spanish-American war of 1888. With a sense of disillusionment in the declining Spanish Empire, local pride grew provoking a stronger sense of Catalan nationalism. In FC Barcelona, the Catalan people had the perfect vehicle to express their local identity.

    These sentiments of nationalism within Catalonia have not only survived to the present day, indeed time has only served to increase them. The oppressive nature of the Francoist regime toward Catalonia and her people forged a siege mentality within the club and region towards the controlling centrist powers in Madrid. The fact that Franco’s team was Real Madrid only served to intensify the rivalry between the two clubs.

    The theory is, therefore, that Barça are the club of democracy and freedom fighting against the fascism and oppression of Real Madrid. As always, the reality is not as clear cut.

    Barça fans animosity towards Real Madrid properly started in 1936 when club President Josep Sunyol was murdered by Francoist troops. Every year his death is remembered by FC Barcelona delegates with a not-so-subtle subtext of anti-Francosim and anti Real Madrid. The fact that his assassination had more to do with his affiliation to the Catalan Independence Party than to Barça is overlooked by fans who see him as an embodiment of their cause.

    The success that FC Barcelona enjoyed during the years of the Franco regime is also often overlooked, with fans preferring to concentrate on the injustices their club suffered at the hands of referees they believed to have been threatened by members of the Franco regime. In all fairness, there is a long list of blatant cases which prove Barça suffered at the hands of refereeing “malpractice.”

    For example in the final of the 1943 Copa del Generalissimo, after winning the first leg 3-1, Madrid defeated Barça 11-1 in the second leg. It is claimed that the referee, in the company of a state official, paid a visit to the Barça dressing room with a gun. Another example of this came on June 6^th 1970 in the shape of “The Guruceta Case.” Guruceta, a young Basque referee, produced a string of biased decisions in Real Madrid’s favour in a match at the Camp Nou against Barça. It was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back and provoked a mass riot and pitch invasion. This was an outpouring of frustration and anger at years of injustices Barça had suffered at the hands of the Madrid authorities, the fans taking it as an attack upon their very culture, country and identity.

    The Alfredo Di Stefano transfer saga is also a subject which can touch  nerve with nearly all Barça fans. They believe that it was the Francoist regime who intervened to bring Di Stefano to Real Madrid, when it had been Barça who had been pursuing the Argentine longer, and who seemed favourites to land him. Again, however, the reality is somewhat different (although that is an article in itself for another time!).

    The sense of history that defines this rivalry has meant that on the field we have seen some explosive encounters. However, this derby match often witnesses exciting and top quality football. Think back to Real Madrid’s 2-0 victory at the Camp Nou in the Champions League semi-final in 2002. Goals from Zinedine Zidane and Steve McManaman won the game from Madrid who played great counter-attacking football.

    Perhaps the greatest recent game between the sides was at the Bernabeu in November 2005. Barça, and particularly Ronaldinho, wee in scintillating form as they blew Madrid away to win 3-0. Ronaldinho’s second goal even earned him a standing ovation.

    However, el gran classico is often more notable for the animosity between fans. There is a deep lying hatred in both camps. For this reason only a few players have ever played for both clubs. The reaction to Luis Figo’s controversial transfer was passionate bordering on crazy. Seeing it as a betrayal, one fan threw a pig’s head at the Portuguese winger on his return to the Camp Nou.

    This rivalry is one of the biggest in the world not only because it is almost drowned in conflict, but also because both teams are huge clubs. The bloody history of politics of the two regions has formed the intense rivalry we have come to know. Sir Bobby Robson claimed he felt “like the general leading the Catalan army.” It’s a great way to understand this rivalry as both clubs are used as symbols to promote their respective regional causes.

    It would be preferable not just for all football fans, but for all sports fans in general, if politics and sport remained separate entities, unable to wreak their effect on each other. However, in the case of Real Madrid versus Barcelona, it would be a naive stance to take as it is impossible to understand this rivalry without an understanding of the politics of the regions.