By David Owen
October 7 – More than four decades after the dictator’s death, the members of Barcelona – slogan ‘More than a Club’ – have voted to revoke medals given to General Francisco Franco.
According to Marca, last Sunday’s members’ assembly approved the measure by an overwhelming 671 votes to two, with seven abstentions. The club’s board had approved a request to make the revocation in February.
Franco, who emerged from a brutal civil war to rule Spain for the better part of four decades until his death in 1975, received two medals from the club in the 1970s. The first was a commemorative gold medal for the 1951 Copa del Generalísimo, presented in 1971, the second was an anniversary medal bestowed three years later.
Josep Maria Bartomeu, Barça’s president, said the measure was “better late than never”. He went on: “This is a tribute to our parents and grandparents who suffered in the dictatorship.”
The Catalonian city where the club is based was one of the key centres of resistance to Franco during the war, which lasted from 1936 to 1939, and produced hundreds of thousands of casualties.
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