(10-02-2017 10:29 AM)VA49er Wrote:  

(10-02-2017 09:45 AM)BearcatMan Wrote:  

(10-02-2017 09:29 AM)VA49er Wrote:  

(10-02-2017 08:58 AM)chiefsfan Wrote:  

(10-02-2017 08:10 AM)VA49er Wrote:  Apparently all hell broke lose in Catalonia as Madrid sent in military police to try and squash the Catalan independence vote. Barca tried to postpone the match, which was refused by La Liga. So, in protest, Barca closed the gates and the game was played in an empty stadium. I watched the entire match. It was surreal to watch and listen to the entire match played in an empty 99,000 seat stadium. It was interesting; however, in that you could hear all the players during the match. After the match, Pique offered to step aside from the Spanish national team and not play in next year's World Cup. Sad situation all around.

Barca put themselves in this situation though because they were so vocal about allowing the referendum to go through. You can't expect La Liga to have any sympathy for them.

Barca is Catalonia, so Barca's stance is expected, you know, Mes Que Un Club", etc. What people don't get is that the people, and the club, merely waned the opportunity to vote. Heck most Catalan's, from what I've read, do not want independence but only the chance to vote. The violence is all on Madrid and will only fuel Catalan distrust of the capital. Regardless, the next El Clasico should be more interesting than usual.

People are likening what happened this weekend to things that occurred during the Franco regime...you best be sure more and more people will be flocking to the Yes side of the referendum the more Madrid does this. With that being said, the BBC is reporting voter counts of around 2.2 million, with 90% of the tabulated votes saying they were for independence. I'm not sure where the narrative that a majority don't want independence is coming from...hell in 2014 they had 45% voter turnout and 84% of them said they wanted independence.

From what I've read recently it's close to 50/50 wanting and not wanting independence. Most just want the opportunity to vote. I'd imagine since the police were brought in to beat voters and steal ballots, then only the more ardent "yes" voters bothered to show up. You are right though in that Madrid has screwed up big time with it's actions which will result in loads of more potential "yes" votes. On another note, Las Palmas pulled a dick move before the match by putting the Spanish flag on it's uniforms. The Spanish flag isn't normally on Las Palmas' kit. Apparently 3 Barca directors resigned yesterday and maybe more are set to resign today. However, that's probably a good thing from a sporting perspective.

How does putting a Spanish Flag be considered a dick move? Spaniards are livid about Catalonia wanting independence, the Catalans are violating the Spanish Constitution. I have been to Spain and a lot of Spaniards don't like the amount of autonomy that Catalonia has and they feel that they get special treatment. They also don't like how the Catalans play the victim in the Spanish Civil War when there was very little fighting there for the first 2 years of the War, the War lasted 3 years and their casualties were very light compared to the rest of the Spain.