BARCA or MADRID?

Could you imagine entering a pub in Liverpool and discovering its decor to be dedicated to the glory of Manchester Utd? Or a Birmingham coffee bar decorated with memorabilia of Arsenal? No? Nor me and yet you will find bars full of Barcelona or Madrid mementos from Sevilla to Compostela to Valencia. And the bar on the corner of your street? Chances are that it won´t be decked out with posters or scarves of the local team. Have you ever wondered why these seemingly incongruous circumstances exist? To find the answer, we must travel back in time to the days of the dictatorship and advance from there.
With the civil war over and Franco installed in power, Spain, while officially at peace was a deeply and bitterly divided land. While supporters of the regime lived and worked in relative comfort, the repression continued against known or suspected dissenters be they communists, socialists, anarchists or simply believers in democracy. Now Franco, apart from his hunting was a passionate supporter of Real Madrid C.F. He rarely missed a match which he would watch from his seat of honour in the tribune. As a result of this of course his entourage, followers and arselickers in general also declared their undying devotion to the "equipo del govierno", the government`s team as Real Madrid is still known in many parts of the country. There are many accusations from that period of unfair advantages favouring Real, bent referees, star players from other countries only being facilitated the paperwork if they signed for Madrid and not other clubs and a large etc. which cannot be proved and is now irrelevant.
In those dark days of closed frontiers there were only two teams with the ability to take on and beat Real Madrid. They were Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao. The overiding difference between these two clubs of course was that Bilbao , staunchly nationalist would only play with Basque born players (although the club now insists that its players be Spaniards while preferring those of Basque origen), whereas Barca played with a mixture of Spanish and foreign born footballers. Therefore, outside the Basque country, Barcelona C.F. became the symbol of anti-franquism attracting supporters from every corner of the Spanish geography whether interested in football or not.
Although a lot of agua has passed under the bridge since the dictatorship, human nature is still human nature. It would be difficult to find a Spurs or an Aston Villa supporter for example, whose father or grandfather hadn´t supported that club. Football fanaticism runs in the family however much the younger generation may rebel against their parents. So is it for the sons and grandsons in whose bars you may find yourself observing football paraphenalia of Barca or Madrid even though you are at 1000km distance from either Camp Nou or el Santiago Bernabeu. Remember,you are not looking at football but at the political history of modern Spain and don`t be surprised at the passion aroused in any match between these two teams. It runs much, much deeper than simple sporting rivalry.