‘Football of resistance’; Johan Cruyff and the Catalonian struggle

Sarfras Sainudheen

On 9th February 1975, Barcelona was playing an away game against Malaga. Barcelona was denied two clear penalties and a goal was disallowed for offside. Johan Cruyff who was the captain of Barcelona was sent off for protesting against the referee and was taken outside the football pitch forcefully by the police of the then Spanish dictator General Franco. But while leaving the pitch, Cruyff took out the captain’s red and yellow striped armband which resembles the Catalonian banner ‘La Senyera’ and he kissed it before the spectators. That was a gesture of the Catalonian resistance against the Spanish dictatorship.

Spain and the states of Catalonia and Basque were under the dictatorship of general Fransisco Franco from 1939. Both the Basque and the Catalonian states were highly oppressed under him. He banned the regional cultural events of theirs and promoted Spanish bullfight and the flamenco dance. Franco also banned the regional languages of Catalonia and Basque and imposed the Castillan language. As Madrid was the center of the dictatorship, General Franco used the football club Real Madrid which was then the biggest team in Europe as a political tool to suppress those states even more. The matches of football club Barcelona, a Catalan club was the last resort of the Catalan people to raise their voice against the Spanish dictatorship and Camp Nou, the home stadium of Barcelona was the only place to do that. Hence, Barcelona has become more than a club for the Catalans.

Real Madrid was a dominant footballing force in Europe during the 1950s and 60s  and they used to thrash Barcelona which was a team already under suppression. All the good players available were never allowed to go to Barcelona, instead, they went to Real Madrid, and also there weren’t many resources to support the club as the owners of the club were a group comprised of Catalan locals only. Just like the club, Catalans also became voiceless and hopeless. Barcelona really needed someone to give a hand and then entered Johan Cruyff. Cruyff, a Dutchman was the best footballer in the world at that time. His total football with the Netherlands National team and AFC Ajax Amsterdam redefined modern football.

In 1973, Cruyff was invited to Real Madrid by General Franco and Ajax also wanted him to go there. But Cruyff refused the offer by saying that he won’t play for the dictator’s team and went  to join the Barcelona which was under the second last spot in the league. With Cruyff, Barcelona sensed a new hope and a spirit to fight. He led the team to the Spanish title after 14 years and to a historic 5-0 win against Real Madrid in their own stadium, the Santiago Bernabeu. Barcelona fans took on the streets to celebrate the win with the Catalan flags and songs. A New York Times journalist said “ What the political leaders could not do in decades, Cruyff did in 90 minutes”. Historian Jimmy Burns wrote “ Cruyff brought a sense of themselves to the people, with Cruyff, they believed they would never lose”. Cruyff was a source of courage for the Catalans whose minds were dead with the ruthless civil war and years of suppression.Cruyff adopted the Catalan resistance as his own. When the Catalan names were banned, he named his newborn son Jordi after the patron saint of Catalonia. He faced grave opposition from the authorities for doing so. The stubbornness of Cruyff endeared him to Catalonians.

In a documentary about him, he said “I didn’t know that the name Jordi is prohibited, but when I realized, I became adamant”. And his stubbornness paid off in the end. Cruyff refused to play in the 1978 world cup in Argentina which was then under a military dictatorship. When asked about that, he responded: “ how can you play football a  thousand meters away from a torture center?”. Cruyff had a great impact on the Catalan culture both as a player and manager of FC Barcelona. He gave them a sense of pride and hope for the people who were ruthlessly suppressed for decades. After his death, the Spanish newspaper Sport published a picture making Cruyff look like Che-Guevara. As this week would have marked his 73rd birthday, the football fans around the world remember him for his philosophy of modern football but the Catalonian folklore celebrates him as one of their greatest heroes.