Can politics and sport really not be mixed?

BarcelonaBarça's decision to suspend the tribute to the world champions has caused an earthquake on social media and a certain degree of discomfort in some Catalan press. This is the only way to explain why, for example, this issue does not appear on the front page of the "Sport and be frankly hidden in the of World Sport. In programs like The Jugones beach bar, as expected, they jumped on the bandwagon and accused Joan Laporta of mixing politics and sport, of dividing FC Barcelona supporters, and of taking sides with the independentists. And well, there are several reflections to be made here.

Politics and sport have always gone hand in hand. Specifically in the case of football, and specifically with the so-called national teams nationals, which are a powerful disseminator of identity, especially through media coverage (which in turn derive substantial economic profit from it). The instrumentalization carried out by Italian fascism for the 1934 World Cup is well studied, as is that of the military regime of Videla in Argentina in 1978. In the case of clubs, history has led them to represent something more, as is the case with Barça, but also with Athletic Bilbao, Celtic Glasgow, and Rayo, and it is precisely this that makes them special. And, normally, clubs that present themselves as apolitical also have a discourse and values behind them. Or do they want us to believe that clubs like Real Madrid and Sevilla, which incorporate the Spanish flag on their kits, are ideologically neutral? Nobody is. And this does not mean that all fans share these values.

Therefore, Laporta's decision is debatable, of course, but the mix of politics and sport would have been seen anyway with the tribute. And after the events in Elche, even more so. And above all, it was clear front-page news.