Mediaset hides Catalan “estelades” during Cup Final

BarcelonaControversy over Barça fans waving “estelades” (pro-independence Catalan flags) in Madrid’s Vicente Calderón stadium became heated in the lead up to the Barça vs Sevilla FC Cup final but, now that the match has been played, it is far from over.

While a Madrid judge eventually overturned the initial government ban on estelades, anyone watching the game on TV hardly managed to see any at all because Mediaset’s cameras made a deliberate effort not to show the Catalan flags. Whereas both Mediaset’s Telecinco and TV3 showed the match in Catalonia, the Catalan public broadcaster played no part in the production work, as this was handled exclusively by the Spanish network.

The highlight of this deliberate concealment of separatist flags came when the Spanish national anthem was played in the stadium, just before kick-off. Although the loud booing from a section of the crowd was picked up by ambient microphones, the cameras only showed Spanish flags being waved by Sevilla supporters in their section of the stands. Barça fans (many of whom carried an estelada) were shunned by the cameras for a whole fifty seconds —the duration of the Spanish anthem as played in the stadium last Sunday.

Interestingly, every time Barça fans cheered their team’s goals, only close-up shots of Catalan supporters were shown, presumably to avoid the display of any independence flags on TV. However, once the match was over and TV3 were allowed to mix their own signal, crowds flying numerous estelades could be seen on a number of occasions.

Catalan viewers quickly cottoned on to Mediaset’s efforts to avoid showing Catalan independence flags on the stands and many expressed their shock on Twitter.