2024-09-30 21:46:23
The images that went around the world last Sunday at the Metropolitano during the Madrid derby, which forced the game to be stopped for a quarter of an hour due to objects being thrown by the Real Madrid goalkeeper, Thibaut Courtoisthey speak for themselves. In the stands behind one of the goals, where the Atlético Front is located, ultra symbols were seen, fans were covered with their faces and a lot of assassination, and all of them were accompanied by behavior unbecoming a football stadium. And it’s not the first time. This ultra group has already been involved in terrible incidents throughout its history and even murders. The intervention of the red and white entity is not enough.
With binoculars and a time machine, the entity led by Enrique Cerezo can see how Joan Laporta put an end to the majority influence of the Boixos Noiswho also had a criminal and inappropriate sporting history behind them in the Barça stadium. It was not a bed of roses or an easy one, but he finally succeeded, considering that today the Boixos are there, but the group is smaller and, although there has been an increase in adventures in this season spent, especially in the Champions League, it is. not much less than before. “They stood up to all the threats,” explained sources who lived through that process.
In his election program, Laporta promised to act. That happened from the first moment he stood for the presidency with his platform. Blue Elephantand it represented a threat to José Luis Núñez and Joan Gaspart, the presidents between 1978 and 2003. “The Boixos were protected by those instructions. They had their space in the Camp Nou, where they kept their flags, their tools ….”explains one of the sources who lived at that time. And also their brass knuckles and baseball bats. Laporta became president in 2003, went down to work and threw them down like Malay straw.
“The first thing was to take away their privileges”they send. At that time, the Boixos Nois were not considered an ultra group, but another group of the entity like any neighborhood or town made up of families, children and grandparents. That changed when Laporta came in. “They implemented a zero tolerance policy”the same source explains. Before they arrived, they enjoyed free tickets, subsidies and financial assistance and moved around with ease. In the Joan Gamper Cup they already saw that that would change. And they didn’t like it. Until then they were campaigning for the Camp Nou North Goal and the members remember that “going there was scary”, as explained by someone who had his seat in the second row and asked for a change. Threats were the order of the day.
Employee arrested, fined and change of address
The Boixos counter-attacked, making life impossible for the energetic Laporta, then 41 years old. Graffiti on his house (target) and death threats caused a substantial change in his life: he went to Sant Cugat del Vallès (15 km from Barcelona), he had an escort and his brother-in-law, Alejandro Echevarría, gained power as a member of the club’s security. The fall of the Boixos became a personal crusade for the Laporta-Echevarría family. And the brother-in-law drew contacts to act.
It is not surprising. In October, Manuel Santos, an employee who came to Barça 20 years ago and was in contact with the Boixos, was fired (Antonio Iglesias was head of security). Both worked for Nuñez in the security of the president’s parking lots, where some of the Boixos, the casualspecifically. In the investigations of the Civil Guard on Vic’s plot, they received a call from Santos to a casual (the most violent branch of the Boixos) to attack the president’s house. He was arrested and released on charges. During that period, it was a scandal and a proof that the president of Barcelona was fighting against.
…And he urged him to continue the crusade. The last one happened after a match at the Palau Blaugrana when a member of the Boixos came into contact with Laporta and it was interpreted as an attempted attack. Barça appointed Elias Frase as head of security, fired members, fired others and at the end of the 2003-04 season there were barely four survivors at Camp Nou. Laporta had scored a goal by excluding them from the field, and over time the entity created a new entertainment stand that sought to unite all groups of young people. A formula adopted by other clubs such as Espanyol and a Blue and White Brigadesthe ultra group which, when the new Cornellà-El Prat stadium was opened in 2009, was dispersed. But Laporta’s initiatives did not come for free. There was stiff resistance.
Today, the Boixos Nois and other ultra groups continue to roam around the Barça environment, controlled by the Mossos d’Esquadra and especially finding loopholes to sneak into the outside of Montjuïc and into games from home, especially in the games. Champions by distributing the entrances to the clubs. Less present and organized than previous years, although he still tries to attract new members. Vice President Elena Fort, after the club was allowed without fans in Belgrade against Red Star in the Champions League following the Monaco incident, spoke on the “shame” and the anxiety it contains. “It’s starting to be fun to join them in the cheering stands,” some fans explain. But nothing like before. After that one-year process that almost cost Laporta his health, but it reduced the scourge seen in the City on Sunday.
#stood #threats.. #Relief