Clapton Community FC were awarded the international Premi N2 award for our efforts in the antifascist struggle and for freedom.

The La Baula cooperative (a social/workers centre and union of social movements) in Lleida, Catalonia hosts the awards every year to remember the fascist bombing of the city on 2 November 1937.

That day, hundreds were killed, primarily students and teachers by the Italian air force. Today, La Baula carries the memory and the antifascist struggle against Franco forward.

We thank La Baula for their efforts, and for their recognition of CCFC. We also thank the CCFC fans who joined us at the awards presentation.

Here’s a report from Sam, who went to the ceremony in Lleida on October 30 …

Arriving into Lleida from a delayed train from Barcelona we were met by Oriol, a local activist who drove us to a local radio station and for a newspaper interview.

We were interviewed on CCFC, our history and why we care so much about antifascism at home and abroad. Our answer was simple, fascism is rearing its head and puts all workers and students at risk, regardless of nationality, religion or location. 

Beyond that a lot of our answers were thanking the Catalan people for supporting CCFC and buying thousands of our famous away kit. The newspaper journalist actually had a shirt to hand while interviewing us.

Next, we were shown around Lleida by Blau, an ultra with the group Rudes Lleida, attached to the local club, Lleida CF. She explained how Lleida was a club similar to ours. Fan owned, non-league, antifascist and a recent return to their home stadium.

She explained some of the local traditions. How they are opposed to Halloween as it dilutes their traditional festival where they eat sweet potatoes and chestnuts. More importantly she showed us the history of the fight against fascism in Lleida. Her great grandmother, interviewed in a regional magazine, explained how she hated the soup served at her school and while avoiding it she managed to escape and survive the bombing.

We then attended the awards and met the recipients of the two other awards.

In the national category anticapitalist, feminist group, Grup Feminista de Ponent won. 

In the honorary category Germans Muñoz was awarded. He is the brother of Gustavo Muñoz, a Catalan communist killed by the Spanish police in 1978. He was just 16 years old.

Despite the language barriers it was incredible and educational to meet these two recipients of the awards. And once more, thanks to La Baula for uniting us all.

Upon CCFC receiving the award, people in the audience raised Clapton scarves. We presented La Baula and Blau with CCFC scarves. In our speech we talked about Steve, a fan behind bars awaiting trial accused of being part of an action at an electronics firm linked to the Israeli military. We shone a light on his upcoming hunger strike. 

We also spoke about David Marshall, an east ender who travelled to Madrid to fight Franco. And we told the crowd how his wife Marlene Sidaway is a neighbour of the Old Spotted Dog Ground. And we put that in the context of the rise of fascism in Britain today.

Ending the speech we took the opportunity to say “Free Palestine, Free Catalonia, Solidarity”. The crowd chanted “No Pasaran” 

After the ceremony we were taken to La Baula’s social centre and bar/cafe. There Blau and local activist, Reuben showed us around. 

Here is where I learnt the most that can be translated to the OSD. You enter through the bar, which is open most days, regardless of a group meets or not. This is to encourage people into the space, so the cooperative’s values can be shared. Reuben offered us a beer. The bartender asked, “Big or small”. “He’s English, of course big,” said a local.

Next, a large dining area with a kitchen attached, suitable for big meetings. On the walls are photographs of the fight for Catalan independence in Lleida. At the back of this room is a crèche. Reuben had his daughter with him and she loved the space.

Beyond the crèche is a library, with a museum style exhibition of revolutionary, anarchist, socialist and communist leaders. A library is on the opposite wall with lots of literature, flyers and stickers from Lleida based activist groups. 

Next to this is a classroom where they teach Catalan lessons. Basically everyone in Lleida speaks Catalan but La Buala is located in a diverse area with more migrant workers than the rest of the city. So this classroom is important for them, as well as the activists who have access to the space for political education.

We told local activists the vision and similarities the OSD has to this space. We also have relevant art on the walls, a library and use the space for meetings. But we fall short at owning a kitchen, classroom and crèche. Hopefully something we can implement in the coming years. 

The activists said how important it was to open the space, not just at weekends or evenings to really imbed themselves in the community. At Clapton we are only open for match days and some other events. That does create an access barrier. Now we have a bar manager and are growing in infrastructure, capacity and confidence maybe that’s a future step for us.

After our tour, food started filling the communal table. We met a group of basque activists from Guarnica, a city also heavily bombed by fascist forces at the same time. They showed us a siren that they bring with them to the awards and city each year. Why? Well on 2 November 1937 in Lleida the siren didn’t sound, as they weren’t expecting an attack. That’s why the death toll was so high. They will play it out on 2 November at the highest point in Lleida.

The Basque group brought with them home made liquor and lots of food. They were very proud of their culture, singing Basque independence and rebel songs (even throwing in the odd Irish rebel tune).

Among the group was famous, regional cartoon artist, Tasio who has gifted us a book and sketch. La Baula also donated us some of their journals, of which I will donate to the CCFC Library for Catalan speakers. 

In the early hours of the morning, Blau was keen to introduce us to her friends and show us some of Lleida. In their car we went to the castle. They showed us bullet holes in the walls from the civil war and pointed out interesting areas of the city – the prison, the rich area, the poor area, the football stadium etc. 

We wondered if they were just showing us around as tourists, and if they’d rather be doing other things as they are just 18 and 19 year olds. But this wasn’t the case, they are incredibly proud of their antifascist history and their city, they wanted to share that with us.

We then went to a local antifascist bar where we met one of the Rudes Lleida Capos and a couple other members. They welcomed us with open arms. Some heard of us, some hadn’t. But once we explained our antifascist agenda, we became brothers, and exchanged ‘contemporary antifascist war stories’. But my main take away from this was that a bucket of 6 beers cost just £5.

We returned to Barcelona. Other than drinking and eating, we stumbled across a CE Jupiter youth match and talked about our previous fixture in Barcelona (where we got pumped on the pitch and drunk on the side of it). And encouraged by Blau, we visited the housing occupation in the centre of the city. 

Thanks, Blau, Pau, Oriol, Rudes Lleida and La Buala for their hospitality and recognition of Clapton CFC. You are welcome to the Old Spotted Dog any time. Solidarity.

Sam O