MrStruth
Well-Known Member
http://travelblog.dailymail.co.uk/2...ism-tourism-can-do-wonders-for-democracy.html
By Frank Barrett, Travel Editor, The Mail on Sunday
In 1972 it has been suggested that it was supporters of Rangers Football Club who helped release dictator General Franco’s grip on power.
The defining moment was a confrontation with the local constabulary that became known as the Battle of Barcelona.
The pitched battle followed a ground invasion in the dying moments of the Glasgow club’s 3-2 win over Moscow Dynamo in the final of the European Cup Winners Cup competition.
In Franco’s fascist state the Spanish police were all-powerful, they ruled with a rod of iron.
Well they did until Rangers fans turned up and blithely stepped over them to rush the pitch.
The locals were not surprised that the police came back with a very heavy handed response – what amazed them was that anyone would dare to start fighting them in the first place.
Just as the night marchers in Leipzig signalled the start of the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989, the Nou Camp riot showed the Spanish that they didn’t have to put with Franco.
By the time that Franco died three years later he had long been a busted flush.
http://travelblog.dailymail.co.uk/2...ism-tourism-can-do-wonders-for-democracy.html
By Frank Barrett, Travel Editor, The Mail on Sunday
In 1972 it has been suggested that it was supporters of Rangers Football Club who helped release dictator General Franco’s grip on power.
The defining moment was a confrontation with the local constabulary that became known as the Battle of Barcelona.
The pitched battle followed a ground invasion in the dying moments of the Glasgow club’s 3-2 win over Moscow Dynamo in the final of the European Cup Winners Cup competition.
In Franco’s fascist state the Spanish police were all-powerful, they ruled with a rod of iron.
Well they did until Rangers fans turned up and blithely stepped over them to rush the pitch.
The locals were not surprised that the police came back with a very heavy handed response – what amazed them was that anyone would dare to start fighting them in the first place.
Just as the night marchers in Leipzig signalled the start of the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989, the Nou Camp riot showed the Spanish that they didn’t have to put with Franco.
By the time that Franco died three years later he had long been a busted flush.
http://travelblog.dailymail.co.uk/2...ism-tourism-can-do-wonders-for-democracy.html