Expatiperro

It's a bit embarrassing that even after seven months here, I haven't written about Catalunya's number one obsession- el futbol. But over the past week, there have been two major matches which have given me a good look at the depth of this obsession, and I'm starting to grasp exactly why soccer is such a powerful force in this little corner of the world.

Bigger than ham, mushrooms, and pooping peasants, soccer is what Catalan life revolves around, and the most important team in its universe is FC Barcelona, or Barça for short. Barça plays in the top Spanish league, and this year it's sat atop the rankings since the season began in the fall. From what my flatmates tell me, this year has been an exceptional year- Barça routinely destroys its opponents, no small feat in La Liga, which is widely considered to be one of the top leagues in the world. Even to the untrained eye, you can't help but be impressed by the way that Barça plays. Its passes are crisp; the ball moves across the field with ease; the players look like they're toying with their opponents; and goals can only be described as spectacular. As an inexperienced soccer fan, there's no better way to become passionate for the game. Still, I wonder if I'm just setting myself up for disappointment. It's like learning to appreciate classical music by listening to Mozart play his own concertos: there's no better education, but afterwards nothing else can compare.

(As an aside, I'm surprised that soccer hasn't caught on in the US. It's not difficult to draw parallels between it and other American sports. Like baseball, it's a relatively static game punctuated by rapid spurts of action, and points/goals are few and far between. Like football, it's a physical sport with a rabid, involved fan base. And like basketball, there is consistent movement, with little stoppages of play. [Note: last comparison not valid in the 4th quarter of most NBA games.] )

Barça's success this year is not just of interest to those who are rabid soccer fans. Instead, the entire city is following the team's exploits, reading about the previous game on the Metro, talking about it at cafés, and watching every game on television. Tonight's game was demonstrative: a semifinals match in the Champoins Leage (a competition of the best club teams in Europe), and the city streets were deserted, stores closed early, and bars were packed with people watching the hometown team take on Chelsea, a top British club. Even the kids that I teach follow the team. The first thing my 8 year old asked me today was if I was watching the game. (Another student, a 6 year-old, can name Barça's entire roster.) If there is such a thing as a non-soccer fan in Catalunya, I'd love to see it.

The key to understanding Barça's appeal to Catalunyans can be found in its slogan, "Més que un Club." While many teams claim to represent more than just its owners desire to make money by overcharging on tickets and consessions, to people here, Barça is more than just a club. It's a symbol of Catalan sovereignty and pride, dating back to the Franco years when Catalan culture was severly repressed and nearly stamped out. Deprived of the ability to openly speak their language and celebrate their traditions, Catalans of all types gravitated towards the Barça football club to project their nationalist feelings and protest against the Dictadura. That's why today, the most heated rivalry in all of Spanish soccer is between Catalan Barça and the formerly Francoist RC Madrid, which was heavily supported (and even today still is) by the military and conservative types. When these teams play, life in Barcelona comes to a stand-still; the glow of TVs can be seen out of nearly every apartment window, and tensions run so high that normal conversation is impossible in the days leading up to a game.

If it's possible to read more into soccer than what's presented on the field, then the Barça football club reflects not only the Catalan identity as we see it today, but also it's development and self-definition over the past 75 years. It's not only a club, but a point of difference between Catalans and other Spaniards, who might never have had to experience the suffocating repression and subsequent rebirth of their culture. But enough about this; despite these deeper meanings, to Barça fans, only one thing matters: the final score of the last match.