Barcelona City Council is demanding that the organisers of an amateur league in Horta expel the team that displayed Francoist symbolism on its crest. The head of Sports, David Escudé, is calling for urgency and warns that he will not tolerate expressions of hate in municipal facilities.
The Barcelona City Council has demanded the expulsion of the amateur football club 'Mingorrubio Balompié' from the competition in which it participates. The municipal head of Sports, David Escudé, has sent a letter to the manager of the Velòdrom, the municipal facility where the matches are held, to request that the organisers take all necessary measures to prevent the team's participation.
This request comes after a group of lawyers specialising in historical memory filed a complaint with the Prosecutor's Office against the club, whose crest displayed the inscription 'Bayern de los Caídos' alongside Francoist symbols. According to this newspaper, two members of Vox are involved with the team: Juan Cremades, provincial vice-president of the party, and Carlos Oliva, district councillor for Sarrià.
In the letter, Escudé states that such an activity is incompatible with democratic values in a municipal facility.
"We consider it absolutely incompatible with the values of sport and with democratic principles for an activity of this nature to take place in a municipal facility. Sport should be a space for coexistence, respect, inclusion, and tolerance. It cannot become a space for the exhibition or normalisation of symbolism associated with a dictatorship or elements that may be offensive to victims and their families," Escudé details in the letter.
The head of Sports also emphasises that the city cannot condone such expressions.
"Barcelona cannot allow its sports facilities to be used to provide cover or normalise expressions that glorify or display symbolism linked to a dictatorship," he concludes.
The amateur league in question is played in the Horta neighbourhood and includes several teams from the district. The complaint to the Prosecutor's Office seeks to clarify responsibilities for the display of emblems associated with Francoism in a public space.
The city council is now urging the organisers to act urgently and reminds them that municipal facilities are subject to coexistence ordinances and historical memory regulations. The ball is now in the court of the league's organisation, which must decide whether to remove the team before the next matchday.
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