TVE censors crowd disapproval of Spanish national anthem at Copa del Rei final

15May/097

When the Spanish national anthem was played on Wednesday night, it was met with whistling, klaxons and a lot of other noise from the predominantly Catalan and Basque supporters present. TV España switched to its outside broadcasting units in Barcelona and Bilbao in an apparent attempt to hide this, and then played coverage of the anthem being played, with edited sound. The sport director of TVE has been sacked for this 'human error' which actually looks a lot more like the Spanish national broadcaster trying to hide a potentially embarrassing truth.

More coverage at Cataloniablog.

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Filed under: Catalonia, Politics, Spain, tv Leave a comment

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Adam
May 15th, 2009 - 08:28
United in not wanting to be united!
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Neil
May 15th, 2009 - 10:17
If the fans had any spine at all, they'd demand that their teams withdraw from any competiton or league that has anything to do with the horrible Spanish and their horrible country with their horrible monarchy, anthem, government, nationality etc. I wonder why they don't…
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Rhys
May 15th, 2009 - 12:59
Were you aware that two Breton teams reached the final of the French domestic Cup? Surprisingly the Breton national anthem was played before the match (whether or not the French one was also played, i don't know).
@Neil. Yes, it's easy to say that, but would the Spanish FA and Gov't allow them to set up their own national associations and become members of FIFA without any objections?
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Toni
May 15th, 2009 - 18:26
Fair enough if people want to exercise their freedom of speech and show their disdain for Spanish symbols. However, those that whistled will probably cry foul the next time a Catalan flag is burnt.
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Rab
May 15th, 2009 - 19:40
@Neil: the protest was led by the fans groups who have been trying for years to have international teams for Euskadi and Catalonia, but the Spanish government always block it. It is not for lack of trying.
Here's an idea: Why not rename the Copa del Rey to something without political connotations…and why the feck does the anthem need to be played?
Talk about not mixing politics and sport…
Pot, kettle…
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Frank
May 18th, 2009 - 14:44
An Unionist Politician, Mr Mayor(PP conservative party), encouraged people to ban Basque language at their homes as his grandfather did. Attitudes like that makes understand the position of Basque and Catalan people against the Spanish anthem.
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Lenox
May 18th, 2009 - 20:35
For Rhys – The French national team got a 'pitada' from the Algerians some time ago. They (quite rightly) fucked off back to the changing rooms.
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