BarcelonaOne of the negative surprises that Joan Laporta’s board of directors encountered when she took over the presidency of Barça in March last year was in the institutional field. “We saw that relations with Catalan entities were abandoned, which had not mattered in recent times,” a member of the Laporta leadership told ARA. “I don’t think Bartomeu’s board gave it any importance because of political or ideological interests, but because of simple negligence, they didn’t care and that’s it,” he added. In any case, the aim is to re-establish links with these entities to tackle common projects with the aim of spreading Catalan culture around the world.
In fact, this had already been done during the presidential term of Sandro Rosell and the first half of that of Josep Maria Bartomeu. For example, in 2012, Vice-President Carles Vilarrubí, who would resign from the 1-O as a result of the match against Las Palmas, was the main driver for Barça to have an agreement with the Institut Ramon Llull with the purpose of carrying out joint activities aimed at the external projection of the Catalan language and culture. But initiatives like these were weakening over time, and the tension caused by Barça’s undecided stance at the height of the process also blew up bridges with institutions such as the Catalan National Assembly (ANC) and Omnium Cultural. Club sources assure ARA that work is underway to redo them. With Omnium the conversations are more advanced.
Barça agreement with the Government
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is trying to reactivate its role as Catalan ambassador to the world with Barça,” government sources said. “Before, every time Barça played away from home in European competition, the club organized activities to promote Catalonia in the country where the match was played, and this was stopped at the end of 2017,” they report.
They also reminded that there are 98 consuls in Barcelona and that every time a foreign team visits the Camp Nou, a joint invitation should be made from Barça and the Government so that the government of the country of the team in question is present at the market. The intention is to activate such actions with the direction of Laporta and even translate them into a written agreement.
The Liceu, the first step
The first Catalan institution to document its link with Barça during Laporta’s term in a document was the Liceu, which at the end of 2021 renewed its agreement with Barça. “We would like to go beyond the educational agreements that exist for the children of La Masia. Our goal is that if one day a great patum from the world of football comes to Barcelona, we can invite her to go to the opera or that if a star is performing at the Liceu, we can think of inviting her to the Camp Nou box office. ” , they explain from the direction of Joan Laporta.
“People may see that Barça has signed an agreement with the Liceu and it doesn’t give it much importance, but this means that two of the most important entities in Catalonia are working together to make a country, without interfering politicians “, insist from the Barça leadership. And they announce that what they would like is “to do at least a couple of events a year with each of the entities” with which they are “signing agreements”.
