Kickin it in Barcelona

Americans always assume all the talk about football is about the American kind with the 300 pound men running at full force into one another. Rarely do they think of the sport soccer which is what football is to the rest of the world. Football is the number one sport in the world and this year was a great time to be in Europe in the summer. Every four years the World Cup is held and it is a time when country’s people really let their patriotism hang out. In Spain, particularly Barcelona football takes on a whole new meaning.

The slogan of the FC Barcelona is Mes que un club, which means more than a club. This in its four words entirely sums up the way that Catalans feel about their football team. As describe by FCB’s official website the club is more than a club because it represents the true sport of the Catalans and it is something that all Spanish from around the world see as a staunch defender of rights and freedom. The club is now working to become more globalized and take their popularity and values around the world. The clue was started to serve that Catalan people and preserve the way of life that was disappearing.

These ideas are stated into the articles that govern the club second objective is “complementarily, the promotion and participation in social, cultural, artistic, scientific or recreational activities that are adequate and necessary for maintaining the public representation” http://www.fcbarcelona.cat/web/english/club/club_avui/mes_que_un_club/mesqueunclub_historia.html.This is something that is not taken lightly for the people of Barcelona or the Catalan area of Spain. Most of t he movement gathered force in The Spanish Civil war which was when ruler Francesco Franco allowed FCB to stay on as a club even though it represented ideals that were very different from those that he was promoting. Franco was a supporter of Real Madrid club. Because of this there has developed one of the largest rivalries in Europe between these two teams. The game that is held between these two teams is called “El Clasico” it is one of the more popular games in the season.

It is highly recommended that if you visit Barcelona to go and see Camp Nou, which is the stadium that FCB plays in. This is the largest stadium in Europe and the 11^th largest in the world. The stadium can seat 98,000 people. It is a sight to see and it reflects the uniform of the FCB players by having

the seats painted in red and blue strips like those that are on the uniform. It appears to be a really eye opening experience into the lives of football players and all of the fans that support them. This place would be one that would help any visitor to Barcelona or the Catalan area to better understand why football is such a huge passion to the Spaniard and the world. This year during world cup I was able to get a first hand view at how seriously fans take football and it appears that most American football fans( that of the non soccer kind) would not be able to understand why Spain loves this sport so much without seeing it for themselves.

If you would like a firsthand experience of a visit to Camp Nou see Taylor Stephens blog athttp://barcelonamudec.blogspot.com/2010/06/barca-mes-que-un-club.html for more information and travel ideas.