The claim that Franco sought to benefit Real Madrid at the expense of FC Barcelona is, along with with half-truths like the banning of the language and blatant lies like the banning of the sardana, a key element in Catalanista victimist mythology, and has been readily embraced by innocents from abroad. Here’s a Chris Nawrat piece for the British Channel 4, based on Jimmy Burns’ Barça: A People’s Passion:

When Franco’s fascist forces finally prevailed over the Republicans in 1939 … Barça, who had narrowly survived the Civil War, came in for a pounding.

[...]

Real Madrid - Franco’s team - was to be deified. Officially. State-controlled Spanish television continually showed highlights of Real’s matches and very little of Barça’s, thus generating the notion among the populace that Real were Spain’s team. A Franco stooge Barça president managed to ‘lose’ Alfredo Di Stefano to their arch rivals when they’d already signed him. Di Stefano went on to lead Real to five successive European Cup victories.

The Spanish referees were also got at in a regime of terror. Not only did they favour Real in any encounter with Barça, the 1940s, 50s, 60s and 70s were also littered with bizarre - and obviously biased - refereeing decisions in other matches involving Barça which cost them championships and Cups. The decisions were so appalling that eventually even a puppet Barça president had the temerity to complain to the Spanish College of Referees. He was ignored.

Etcetera. Here, from Anti-Barcelona.com, is part of the case for the defence:

During the Civil War Real Madrid tried to get away from the front and provide a solution for its professionals by requesting inclusion in the Catalan championship inaugurated on October 4 1936. Given the increase in income this would have meant, all the Catalan clubs participating were enthusiastic, with the exception of Barcelona… [This] earned them the condemnation of all Catalan society, including their own players.

Protectionism. The Barcelona public …, incited by an aggressive press campaign which counted on the collaboration of Juan Antonio Samaranch, resulted in the first displays of sporting terrorism, intimidating Real in their 1943 Cup semi-final away match. Madrid won the subsequent game 11-1.

[...]

The Regime’s team. From the end of the Civil War until the arrival at Real Madrid of Alfredo Di Stéfano, Barcelona was the most successful team… At the beginning of the 60s, Barcelona had a large deficit which it decided to pay off with the sale to developers of the old Les Corts ground. Since it was green belt, the council rejected the scheme but, after losing various appeals, the Council of Ministers, presided over by Franco, gave the project the go-ahead… In 1974 the dictator received the club’s 75th Anniversary Gold Medal.

Despite the site’s name, this interpretation is closer to the truth than the version above. Here are two charts showing respectively the absolute (remember that low = good) and relative (Real position - Barça position) league positions of the two teams during the Second Republic and the Franco dictatorship:

Comment:

1. Barcelona successes are concentrated in periods of repression (40s, early 50s, early 70s).
2. Real did better during periods of comparative openness (early 30s, late 50s, 60s).
3. There is no statistical (or any other) evidence to support claims that Franco or his government intervened to assist Madrid defeat Barça.
4. The (not particularly impressive) correlation between repression and Barça success could be thought interesting by those who worry about things like that. I suppose the Catalan nationalist-socialists might want to say that this shows the eternal spirit of resistance of the nation, while conspiracy theorists marching to a different drum might speculate that the government fixed results to provide a sporting carrot to accompany the repressive stick.

The closest we will probably get to any clear causal connection relating football results to government policy or Franco’s personal preferences is probably in Atlético’s string of post-war successes, when, as Atlético Aviación, it was sponsored by the armed forces. Allegedly. Here’s a chart of league positions from the period:

The same Santiago Bernabéu hagiography contains an anecdote from the period. Bernabéu escaped murder by the left and fought with the rebels during the war, but this was not, apparently, always enough:

An ardent Spanish patriot, but politically independent, he always kept Real Madrid safe from meddling by the winning side in the Civil War which was prevented from laying hands on our Team thanks to the truly heroic resolution of Don Santiago. Resolution that could have cost him his life when he stood up to no-one less than General Millán Astray, founder of the Legión Española and comrade in arms of General Franco, whose more prominent “deeds” include having been on the point of shooting dead [the philosopher] Don Miguel de Unamuno at the start of the University of Salamanca’s year and having attacked [tango star] Carlos Gardel. Millán Astray was in the VIP box during a match at the [old] Chamartín stadium when he took liberties with the wife of one of the other guests. When Don Santiago heard of the incident, he went up to the VIP box and threw out Millán Astray, forbidding him from entering the stadium. Millán Astray threatened to have Don Santiago killed and only the intervention of the mythical general Muñoz Grandes, under whom Don Santiago served in the Civil War, prevented our having lost our chairman. This act of Don Santiago, completely inconceivable in post-war Spain, raised him to the status of a true hero. The interference of the winners of the Civil War in Spanish sport caused Don Santiago to have various furious confrontations with the hierarchy of the Franco regime during which he always received the full support of Madrid fans, inhibiting the regime from taking reprisals against him such as forcing him to resign. To Don Santiago politics and football were like water and oil and he never allowed them to be mixed artificially. Another example of the personality of Don Santiago was seen in the sports pavilion (today the Pabellón Raimundo Saporta) during a basketball game between Real Madrid and Macabi from Tel-Aviv. During the presentation Don Santiago took off his golden Real Madrid insignia and pinned it on the Israeli general Moshe Dayan who was proud of being a faithful Madrid fan. This unprecedented act caused the wrath of the government, since General Franco’s regime didn’t recognise the state of Israel and it caused the “eternal hatred” of many in the Franquista hierarchy for Don Santiago.

There, some more lies to debunk.

Data here, extracted from League results this site (manipulate the URL for more detail).

If you copy-paste this post, you’re a worthless twat. Capisce?

Tags: Alfredo Di Stéfano, Atlético de Madrid, Barça, Barcelona, Chamartín, Civil War, corruption, football, Franco, Guerra Civil, Jimmy Burns, Juan Samaranch, Madrid, Millán Astray, Real Madrid, Santiago Bernabéu, Unamuno
Categories: Ball-playing, Les bourgeois, Liberals & locals

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1. Geoff
   March 25th 2005 11:35

   It makes perfect sense that Franco would favour Barça. Cataluña was a major industrial region and there’s no point in pissing people off unnecessarily. Croat Tito was so successful in Serb-dominated Yugoslavia for the same reason - if you’re good to troublesome minorities they’ll shut up.

2. chip
   March 25th 2005 15:47

   You are a dumbass. Franco and his fascist machine killed our president and forced half our team into exile. Franco did as much as he could to ruin our team, and its a testament to our drive and passion that we survived him. You are truly ignorant.

3. Trevor
   March 25th 2005 21:10

   Have you got any evidence that he tried? Can you explain why an all-powerful dictator should have failed? Why do the stats show Barça doing better during the worst repression?

4. jvl
   March 30th 2005 01:50

   I think you both, Geoff and Trevor, should read something, I don’t know exactly what but it should be quickly, before your brain helplessly dries out. First and last of all, if you need an evidence just look back on History: the president of the FC Barcelona WAS KILLED BY FASCISTS at the very begining of the war. That’s enough, isn’t it?
   The reason why who you call the ‘all-powerfull dictator’ did fail is basically because he was incredibly moron!
   Besides, we haven’t been struggling againts fascists to end up trying to convince of the true facts to a bunch of just landed Pommies

5. Trevor
   March 30th 2005 10:06

   FC Barcelona says that Suñol was killed because of his political activities–he was a prominent separatist. (I am told that the trainer of Espanyol was taken away from the ground and shot by anarchists at the beginning of the war, but again it had little or nothing to do with football: his sister was a nun.) If you’ve got any evidence to the contrary (or to support the ridiculous Franco-hated-Barça claim), I’m sure you’ll produce it.

6. xavi
   June 4th 2005 10:30

   i love barça that s all

7. Gio
   March 29th 2006 15:35

   … Sunyol was killed…fine I’ll admit that

   ..what about our president president Rafael Sánchez Guerra, a prominent Republican, was imprisoned and tortured his VP was arrested & Murderd, the Club treasurer was Prisoned & Murdered
   why do people forget what happened to Real Madrid as well
   so now tell me who suffered more???

   Barca keep their lies around the glob no one stands for Real Madrid..

   the team was forced to exile because
   1- there was a Civil war so they ran for safety reasons nothing more
   2- the liga was supended for 4 bloody years
   so it made no affect what so ever on Barca.

8. Trevor
   March 29th 2006 18:54

   It seems fairly obvious that Real suffered at least as much as Barça, but is there another team out there that thinks it did even worse?

9. DonDon
   September 28th 2006 19:15

   Wikipedia says about Di Stefano:

   On 1953, Di Stéfano signed a deal with FC Barcelona and the FIFA authorized the transfer from River Plate, the club that still had his rights, but the Spanish Federation did not. On May 13, 1953, he arrived to Spain to sign his contract with Barcelona but, during the troubles with the Federation, Real Madrid’s president Santiago Bernabéu convinced him to sign for them. Additionally, Real Madrid had negotiated with Millonarios.

   On September 15, the Spanish Federation made public its decision to allow Di Stéfano four seasons in Spain, two in each team, to be played alternately. Barcelona protested and finally renounced on October 23. The reasons of this decision are different on each side. While the Real Madrid has always maintained it was a voluntary decision of Barcelona, their rivals denounced pressure from the Spanish dictatorial government. This incident exacerbated the traditional enmity between the two clubs. Di Stéfano finally debuted with Madrid on September 23.

10. DonDon
    September 28th 2006 19:17

    No one knows who killed Sunyol. He went with some other guys to the Madrid front to do some war tourism while carrying a large sum of money. They were all found dead and the money was gone, so it could have equally been Republican gangsters in the know.

11. zvezdan milojevic
    January 24th 2007 20:34

    Dear friends,
    Dictator Franco in my modest opinion was fun of Real Madrid. I am sorry that I cannot read anything about Barcelaona s best team, of 1960s. They lost final match vs Benfica, but no one can forget fantastic players such as Cocsis, Csibor, Evaristo, Cubala, although Laci did not play in Zurich.

12. Bruno
    October 21st 2007 00:51

    “…half-truths like the banning of the language …”
    I married a Catalan woman. We had to notorize her birth certificate to marry. Her birth certificate was in Castellano and later, Catalan. Why? Because of the evil dictatorship of Franco. Trevor, thanks for the provocation, but you make things sound like they didn’t happen. You are very wrong, and need to talk to more Catalan and merengue fans to who lived through the cruel dictator’s reign.

13. ALAN PORTER
    December 11th 2007 13:55

    WHAT A COMPLETE MORAN YOU MUST BE. AN INCREDIBLY UNEDUCATED ACCOUNT OF A VERY TRAUMATIC TIME.

14. boynamedsue
    December 11th 2007 14:07

    Indeed.

    I believe he’s one of the County Antrim Morans.

15. Barça gagnera ce soir contre le Real machin . « Agharass, les délires de mes écrits.
    December 23rd 2007 01:30

    [...] va leurs creuser onze tombes. J’ai la certitude que le Fc Barcelona gagnera son match contre les lèches bottes du Général Franco. Dans l’engagement et le combat on est des vrais guerriers honnêtes et c’est pour cette raison [...]

16. Barça gagnera ce soir contre le Real machin .
    March 5th 2008 14:11

    [...] va leurs creuser onze tombes. J’ai la certitude que le Fc Barcelona gagnera son match contre les lèches bottes du Général Franco. Dans l’engagement et le combat on est des vrais guerriers honnêtes et c’est pour cette raison [...]

17. boynamedsue
    May 19th 2008 01:32

    Fuck me.

    It’s Nostradamus.

18. Peter
    May 27th 2008 18:57

    “On 1953, Di Stéfano signed a deal with FC Barcelona and the FIFA authorized the transfer from River Plate, the club that still had his rights, but the Spanish Federation did not. On May 13, 1953, he arrived to Spain to sign his contract with Barcelona but, during the troubles with the Federation, Real Madrid’s president Santiago Bernabéu convinced him to sign for them. Additionally, Real Madrid had negotiated with Millonarios.”

    So when the FC Barcelona webpage itself lies about what it really happened what can we expect from them?

    River Plate DID NOT hold Di Stefano’s rights in 1953. It was Millonarios de Bogotá who held them, at least until the beggining of 1955. As Barcelona had agreed a deal with River Plate and Real Madrid had done the same with Millonarios we could be said that both clubs shared Di Stefano’s rights. Both Barcelona and Real Madrid accepted the same man who had helped Barcelona in their purchase of Kubala some years before than that, as an intermediary to solutionate the problem. So as a salomonic choice the player would play two seasons in Real Madrid and the other two at Barcelona. Marti Carreto had to resign because of the numeorus critics from both staff of directives and fans and Barcelona refused to share the player, so Real Madrid had to pay Millonarios, River Plate and Barcelona to finally get the player.

19. boring man
    July 12th 2008 11:41

    Franco was so opposed to Catalan teams that Catalonia was allowed to play Spain twice during the dictatorship. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalonia_national_football_team#The_Franco_Era There has been no match since the restoration of democracy.

20. Peter
    September 12th 2008 14:17

    The Francoist regime hated FC Barcelona that much, that rezoned Barça’s ground in Les Corts THREE TIMES during the 50s and 60s, which clearly saved the Catalan club from going bankrupted in that age.

    On the contrary, Bernabeu’s plan to rezone Real Madrid’s stadium and build new bigger one on a different area was rejected by Francoist authorities just a few years later.

    Common sense and cule propaganda just don’t fit well together, do they? Why are there so many lies and half-truths on internet about this matter? It’s not a difficult question to answer I can assure so…

21. JFM
    October 20th 2008 11:21

    I can’t say for the immediate after war but I lived in Barcelona from 1962 to 1976.

    In 1962, taht is before the 1964 referendum (after it regime begn to soften itself) there were plenty of stations like Congreso, Maragall, Las Corts, Casanova who referred either to catalanist figures (Maragall) or to figures from the 170x raising who were later “assimilated” by the nationalists (Casanova, who told explicitly that he had raised for all of Spain’s freedom).

    In radio there was a broadcast called “Voice of Sardana”. I don’t recall if it was in Catalan or in Spanish. And in 1965 (it was then that I got the opportunity to watch TV at an uncle’s house) there was a TV broadcast in catalan called “Mere Nostrum” using the frequencies, emitters and studios from national TV (in those times regular TV didn’t broadcast during afternoon, so 3Mare Nostrum” was emitted in that free time). In other words the state owned TVE was paying brodacasts in catalan

22. Visca el Barça
    December 12th 2008 23:06

    Statistics dont prove anything from a fascist liar like you.

23. Trevor
    December 12th 2008 23:59

    The fact that you bothered to comment suggests that they do.

24. Pablo
    January 9th 2009 01:59

    I am half Spanish. My grandpa was from Madrid and grandma from Lerida, Catalonia. They had to go to exile after the war and could not return till Franco died. Many relatives were killed and/or tortured. Still, Barcelona won eight titles during that era, so please, spare me these Barca-suffering nonsense. Franco is dead, keep him buried.

25. kobriendublin
    June 17th 2009 20:53

    Very thought provoking article.
    I have long believed that Franco’s Patronage secured Real the position it did in European football, but having read up on the matter I can see that this is false.
    Real’s success was due to good management, innovative ideas, and good teambuilding and coaching from the likes of Bernebeu et al, and the Franco had little and probably nothing to do with it.