Around 70 young university students from the United States filled the headquarters of the Confederació Mundial de Penyes on Monday. The reason was a new edition, the 17th, of the talk that the blaugrana entity organises in collaboration with the Study Abroad programme of the Universitat Pompeu Fabra. Specifically, it is an activity included in the “Global Marketing & Culture of FC Barcelona” course, which deals with the keys that have turned FC Barcelona and its penyes collective into much more than just a fan base on a global level.
The talk, which lasted almost an hour and a half, was led by Vicenç Notari, treasurer of the Confederació Mundial de Penyes and president of the Federació de Penyes Barcelonistes del Baix Llobregat. In chronological order, Notari explained to the students the most important events during the first years of FC Barcelona’s history, not only on a sporting level, but also on a cultural, social, and political level in Catalonia. In this sense, the penyes movement, with more than a century of existence, has a special weight and contributes greatly to understanding the well-known name “More than a Club” with which FC Barcelona is known.
Great interest in the penyes movement
The American students attending the talk not only discovered the origins of the penyes collective, but also its constant evolution to become a point of reference for any football fan today. Vicenç Notari also emphasised the values that define this movement, such as respect, effort and teamwork, as well as the special strength that is given by its exceptional dimensional, organisational, territorial and multidisciplinary nature.
Last Monday’s talk was one of the largest since this initiative was launched in 2014 by Penya Barcelonista La Guineu and Penya Blaugrana Foment Martinenc, in collaboration with the Universitat Pompeu Fabra. Once again, the students showed great interest in learning about the keys to the impact of FC Barcelona all over the world.
