After the Civil War, FC Barcelona requested re-entry into the Catalan Basketball Federation on July 8, 1940. On October 20 of that year, the Blaugrana club resumed its activity with a friendly match played on the outdoor court of Les Corts. "That match came just five days after President Lluís Companys was shot at Montjuïc Castle, but Franco's regime wanted to give a veneer of normality to the situation," explains Francesc Fernández, a journalist who has just published the second volume ofHistory of Barça basketball (1941-1965).