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🇪🇸 Spain /Culture & Society

50 years of football in Catalan: “As always, everything starts at Ràdio Barcelona”

From El País · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

In-depth Named sources Outcome reported
  • Ràdio Barcelona broadcast Barcelona's first football match in Catalan after the dictatorship on September 5, 1976.
  • Joaquim Maria Puyal and station director Manuel García Terán revived Catalan on the radio when the language remained excluded from public life.
  • The broadcasts helped normalize Catalan and created a new, more conversational style of football commentary.

“But will people understand it?” That was the skeptical yet conspiratorial response from Cadena SER's management in 1976, when Ràdio Barcelona director Manuel García Terán and a young Joaquim Maria Puyal arrived in Madrid with an idea that would change radio: broadcasting Barça matches in Catalan.

But will people understand it?

· Cadena SER managementThe response came in 1976 when Ràdio Barcelona proposed broadcasting Barcelona matches in Catalan.

Francisco Franco had died only 10 months earlier, and Spain had not yet held its first democratic elections. Catalan had spent four decades silenced, confined to private life and excluded from public institutions. Football was no exception.

Puyal had already spent years commentating in Spanish. With the backing of Ràdio Barcelona, he and Terán proposed broadcasting Barcelona matches in Catalan on FM, then a less influential band. SER agreed. The station would continue carrying Carrusel Deportivo on medium wave, while football returned to Catalan on FM.

As always, everything starts at Ràdio Barcelona.

· Manuel García TeránTerán later used the phrase to emphasize the station's pioneering role.

The first match was Barcelona against Las Palmas on the opening day of the league season. It immediately became a historic broadcast. The station received a flood of letters, calls and telegrams expressing enthusiasm. Years later, Puyal recalled that the first commentary may have been open to criticism, but recovering the language for radio and the country was crucial.

I think the first commentary was open to criticism, but it was very important to recover the language for radio and for the country.

· Joaquim Maria PuyalPuyal reflected on the significance of the first Catalan-language broadcast.

The work also required rebuilding the language of sports broadcasting after 40 years of silence. Puyal, trained in Catalan philology, worked with Jordi Mir to avoid common Castilianisms and find natural Catalan formulas for expressions such as “corner kick.” Their aim was to establish a rigorous but popular vocabulary that could capture the spontaneity of supporters. The broadcasts later accompanied Cruyff's first goal in Catalan, Barcelona's titles, its first European Cup Winners' Cup and the famous cry “Urruti, I love you!”

It was very beautiful. A group of friends laid the first stone.

· Manuel García TeránTerán recalled the early broadcast nine years later, after Catalan football commentary had spread to other stations.
About this summary

Originally published by El País in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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