We have found little about the Penya Boqueria, which we wanted to add to the list simply because of a doubt that generates us: if it was really a penya barcelonista or simply a group of friends of Hostafrancs, who were also fans of FC Barcelona, who were called by this name.
The only two references we have of the Penya Boqueria are from Mundo Deportivo. The first, from April 11, 1929, refers to a match they played against a certain Penya Eureka where the Boqueria team won 6-0 away. The article refers to the narration of the match, describing the plays of the goals and informs about the line-up of the winning team only.
A very proud penya
It must be said that these of the Penya Boqueria also called themselves UE Hostafrancs and, in this case, there are two possibilities: that it had nothing to do with Barça and it really was a second team of Hostafrancs, or simply that Hostafrancs itself, under the name of Penya Boqueria, was under the shelter of FC Barcelona. This happened with many of the Club’s fourth teams, which from the middle of the second decade of the 20th century until the Spanish Civil War were already running around playing matches under very different names. We must remember that, at the time of Primo de Riviera’s dictatorship, the most Catalanist names ceased to exist, and no penya dared to put names like some of those we saw between 1916 and 1923.
To finish it off, it is seen that the Boqueria, after that humiliating victory against the Eureka, ended up being “cocky” and they didn’t mince their words to finish the chronicle with the following challenge: “The Penya Boqueria UEH challenges Apolo de Badalona, CE de Vilasar and Canet de Mar in their field. To accept it, write to Jose Perez, call Roca 16, 3 2″.
With a pair… And, moreover, as a visitor! We do not know today if this Jose Perez received many responses from these teams or how it turned out… What a pity.
A “curious” charity match
On the other hand, and continuing with the Penya Boqueria (it seems that they were a type of Globetrotters, because they always played opposing fields and challenge matches), on September 14, 1930 a poster is published which is nothing more than an invitation in a charity match in the old field of the Europa, against Barceloneta.
And what kind of charity initiative was this match for? For themselves! Without any complexes or hiding from anything. The poster itself already says that the proceeds of the tickets will be for the benefit of the two clubs. They had a lot of nerve but were honest. Today, the original poster is for sale through a collector’s company.
