Barcelona to drop home kit for Catalan colours against Athletic Bilbao
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Version 0 of 1. Barcelona are set to drop their home kit on Saturday, a move which has delighted followers of the Catalonia independence movement. Their yellow and red change kit features the colours of the Catalan flag, the Senyera. Thursday marked the National Day of Catalonia and the weekend’s game at the Camp Nou will be the first time the team have worn the flag’s colours at home since the club was founded in 1899. The defender Gerard Piqué, who was born in the city, joined a march for Catalan independence on Thursday and tweeted a picture of himself together with son Milan, who was wearing the shirt. The club, however, have attempted to distance themselves from suggestions that the kit change marks support for the movement, stating: “The Senyera shirt is not being worn because of the 11 September [National Day] – we are doing it to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the fall of Barcelona at the hands of the troops of Philip V and the French in 1714.” Moves to wear the strip for the visit of Athletic Bilbao began in June, and since then the club have sought permission from the league while attempting to reiterate the point that the club do not mix football with politics. Writing for the Guardian this week, Barcelona’s mayor Xavier Trias said: “Catalans have clearly and repeatedly expressed – peacefully – their desire to vote on Catalonia’s independence. If Catalonia becomes independent, it will be a new kind of state: European, open for trade, cosmopolitan and welcoming and protective of its many diverse inhabitants, including the millions of people from around the world who have come in recent decades … It is wrong, and divisive, to oppose this vision.” |