Barcelona board secretary Josep Cubells has this evening announced that Barcelona presidential candidates Sandro Rosell, Marc Ingla, Jaume Ferrer and Agustí Benedito have passed the cut of the 2.095 signatures of club members needed to take part in the final vote on Sunday 13 June.These are the official numbers:
- Rosell: 12.635 validated signatures (13.620 presented - 985 invalid)
- Ingla: 4.288 validated signatures (4.744 presented - 456 invalid)
- Ferrer: 3.935 validated signatures (4.442 presented - 507 invalid)
- Benedito: 2.520 validated signatures (2.896 presented - 376 invalid)
Read more:
The final number of signatures of support
The electoral proceedings
The process of collecting the signatures
Posts
Pep, how can Rosell continue to be a candidate after the remarks heard here?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.goear.com/listen/8e0b428/sandro-contra-los-africanos-de-la-cantera-sandro-rosell
How can he speak against the involvement of African youths? Doesn't this hurt both the Unicef ties and the Mes program?
yeah, it's a bit an unclear theme for now, tim. let's see how it turns out.
ReplyDeletefor people who don't speak spanish: rosell says in the audio that it's not a good idea to bring african youth players to barcelona because they have fake birth certificates and because they take the places of the local youth players. with time going by they would also lose the physical advantage they have and they then often have to be send back which has an impact on their families.
Sandro actually voices some very valid concerns, not just on behalf of the club but on behalf of the youngsters from Africa as well.
ReplyDeleteyeah but his comment about local youth players seems silly when an israeli, brazilian/spaniard and mexican are some that are also there and are taking away from the "local" guys. Let's not forget where Messi came from either.
ReplyDeleteSo it's not good to bring African players but other nationalities are welcome? Gai looks certain to be gone too so why not criticize foreign players in general as ones who have to be sent back and not just african. This, from a guy who brought us Brazilians.
I have two remarks. One, he disrespects the current African in our youth teams by saying they're cheating. How must these young players now feel and how will opponents react to them? And that they're all older than they say they are is history. With modern techniques you can check their real age accurately.
ReplyDeleteTwo, it's just a cheap way to attract the local votes. "Taking the place of our guys". Oh yeah, Messi and Iniesta also took the place from Catalan guys but who cares about that? With such a closed view, this club is getting back to the past century.
IBES, I think the point is that players from South America, Israel, Europe etc. don't share the issue with false dates of birth on their documents so they're entered into the correct age group and given the same chance as everybody else. I don't think Rosell would have a probelm with African players if this widely recognised problem didn't exist.
ReplyDeleteAccusations of racism or xenophobia are blatantly absurd when we're talking about the man who did more than anybody to bring in a certain black Brazilian and was instrumental in orchestrating the arrival of other foreign players at the club. Certain parties will be predictably quick to manipulate and twist what Rosell has said but the issue he highlights does exist and the concerns are valid.
The age can be checked nowadays, Adam. It was a problem in the 1990s (also in Brasil, by the way, that was known for falsifying birth certificates --- note: there were rumours about Ronaldinho's birth cerificate being false too), but not anymore. Now it's a cheap argrument to attract local votes.
ReplyDeleteI've read before you're a soci, Adam. What do you think about his plan to limit the number of members by only allowing family members to enter. Tots som el Barça?
That's an interesting point if true Toni. Maybe Rosell's argument was misguided but I don't think it was motivated by racism or xenophobia. The man and his team has a strong background of inclusion.
ReplyDeleteOn the subject of membership I'm really not sure whether a cap is the right way to go. I joined Barca as a member in 2005 (at the height of El Gran Repte) when I moved to the city as a student, and continuing as a member since then has served as a strong emotional bond with the club. If I had arrived in the city back then to discover that I had to be somebody's son to become a member I think I may have lost a lot of respect for Barca as an institution and I doubt whether having moved back to England since then if my friends and I would have gone on to found the Penya we run. People underestimate just how powerful a tool of integration Barca is in Catalan society, transforming membership into an exclusive clique, albeit a large one, won't do the club any favours in my opinion
Basically: when this cap would have been put in place 6 years ago, you would never in your life have been able to become a member. In the future, people like you with the same background and the same love for he club but just a few years younger will never have that chance if Rosell is elected as president.
ReplyDeleteAnd which affect will this have on foreign penyas? It will be extremely hard to get the necesary socis together to form a penya abroad. And a lot of the existing ones will just die out.
In general, at this time of globalization, it's so terribly wrong to close the club while we should do the opposite. Socis and penyas are the best ambassadors of Barça (and Catalonia!) abroad. This whole idea is so bad.
So then Adam/Toni - would you guys say this is the best time to become a member? (before being limited to having to marry a soci :s)
ReplyDeleteAdam, I am not saying he is racist, just a jerk.
ReplyDeletebecause they take the places of the local youth players
That right there is what sounds bad. You can say one group of foreigners are bad for the local youth and ignore the other. Either say all foreign or don't say it at all.
How do you think players like Elvis and Etock feel right about now while playing for the academy? Everything he is complaining about is no longer a valid problem thanks to bone density scans and such which would eliminate the doubt from the get go.
Again, I am not calling him a racist. Just think that yet again, Rosell put his foot in his mouth with that comment. Either criticize all the foreign players and not some or don't criticize any seeing that some of the youth players doing well for the club are not exactly local.