Chapter after chapter, as we move farther away from the city of Barcelona, we see how the expansion of supporters’ clubs has continued to grow since that big bang that took place in 1909 at the nerve centre of Barça fandom: the Canaletes fountain. This expansion takes us to the Baix Llobregat area, where two supporters’ clubs emerged with the same importance as all those created during FC Barcelona’s “desert crossing”, and today we will begin with the Penya Barcelonista de Martorell.
The Penya Barcelonista de Martorell was officially founded on 27 August 1961, although it had already been operating since the previous year. That is why we always consider the year of foundation not as the year it became official—which, in those days, was quite an adventure for social supporters’ clubs before the Francoist authorities—but rather the day when a group of Barça supporters decided to carry out the difficult task of coming together to form a Barça supporters’ club. The first president was José Canals Canals, and over the years he was succeeded by Josep Maria Capdevila Torres, Julio Pérez Carbonell, Roberto Tendero Llofrilu, Juan Martret Puente, Jaime Miró Domènech, Vicenç Notari Aries, Francisco Querol Pedrelly and Keli Pereira Da Silva.
PB Martorell helps pay for the new stadium
The club’s main activity consisted of excursions and trips, one of the most memorable being a journey to the Caribbean and another to Alaska. They also had a youth football school that brought some young players to the Camp Nou. During Franco’s dictatorship, they promoted the reinstatement of carnival in the city’s streets and even popular calçotades at a time when they had not yet become as fashionable as they are today.
PB Martorell contributed financially to the so-called Stadium Operation in 1962, in response to the major economic crisis caused by the construction of the Camp Nou, whose budget had spiralled out of control. The club, chaired by Llaudet, promoted various initiatives to meet the enormous cost of the operation.
One of the trips in the 1960s was to the Cup Winners’ Cup final played in Basel in 1969. FC Barcelona were defeated in that match by Slovan Bratislava, with a final score of 3-2. Goals by Zaldua and Rexach did not prevent the Blaugrana defeat.
In 1961, Miss Carmen Simó sponsored and donated the standard to the supporters’ club, serving throughout all these years as its Honorary Godmother. It is worth highlighting the family ties with the club, dating back to childhood, of FC Barcelona player Eric Garcia Martret, whose maternal grandfather, Joan Martret, was always deeply involved in the club and served as its president. This explains the strong Barça commitment of the great Barça defender, simply because he has lived the Barça feeling throughout his entire life with the supporters’ club, through a beloved figure such as his grandfather.
In the next chapter, we will look at another very important supporters’ club from Baix Llobregat, created during the difficult 1960s, which reflects how Barça supporters’ clubs overcame, or helped to overcome, the major Blaugrana crisis after the financial outlay involved in building the Camp Nou and the political difficulties of the time.
