The Penya Blaugrana de Manresa, belonging to the Federació de Penyes del Bages, el Berguedà and la Cerdanya, recently commemorated the 50th anniversary of its distinction with the FC Barcelona Gold Medal with a big event in Fonollosa, near Manresa. The celebration brought together a total of 120 people, among whom, in addition to many members of the organizing entity itself, there was representation of 18 other penyes from different parts of Catalonia, who wanted to be part of this milestone of the penya from Manresa.
The president of the PB Manresa, Ana Calvera, led the event, which was attended by Maria Elena Fort, institutional vice-president of FC Barcelona; Antoni Valverde, president of the Federació de Penyes del Bages, Berguedà i Cerdanya; Gabriel Cid, member of the Club’s Social Commission; and Alberto Manga, member of the Agrupació de Jugadors del FC Barcelona. Also in attendance was Valentí Moll, sports councilor of the Manresa City Council. All of them congratulated the PB Manresa and exchanged gifts to commemorate this occasion. In addition, all attendees received a small replica of the Gold Medal in the form of a keychain as a souvenir of this event.
A unique distinction within the FC Barcelona movement
The FC Barcelona Gold Medal was created in 1974 and was awarded to the Penya Blaugrana de Manresa in recognition of having been the organizer of the first World Supporters’ Clubs Meeting, which had taken place in the Monastery of Montserrat two years earlier, in 1972. It was an event that marked a cornerstone for the penyes movement, and the Club wanted to distinguish it with the Manresa entity. It is given the circumstance that, since then and until today, this Gold Medal has not been awarded to any other entity or person, therefore the PB Manresa has the honor of having it in a totally exclusive way. With 67 years of history, the blaugrana entity of the capital of Bages is one of the longest-lived of all the penyes worldwide.
