PP battles to preserve ever less popular celebration

The Spanish Constitutional Court overturns the Catalan ban on bullfighting, a tradition followed by less than 10% of Spaniards

Mario Martín Matas
4 min
, a espatlles dels seguidors a la Monumental

BarcelonaIt was 25 September 2011. On that day, close to 18,000 people filled the Monumental arena to see the last bullfight in Barcelona. José Tomás, a matador from Galapagar near Madrid was again the only person capable of the feat of filling the only active bullring in Catalonia. The poster for the occasion was even designed by Miquel Barceló, an artist from Majorca, and, amid cries of “freedom” and the odd Catalan flag, supporters prayed for bullfighting’s swift return, something which would be allowed under yesterday’s verdict by the Constitutional Court overturning the ban.

The truth, however, is that the fifteen bullfighting events held that last year barely drew a few hundred spectators, many of them tourists. The death-knell of bullfighting was ringing in Catalonia and, to use a relevant metaphor, the ban was its death blow. Five years later, bullfighting isn’t in much better shape in Spain, where figures from the Ministry of Culture show that the tradition doesn’t interest more than 10% of the population. According to the 2015 Study of cultural habits, 9.5% of the population had attended some bull-related event in the previous year, but the percentage drops to only 6.9% when talking specifically of bullfights. At the same time, the number of this type of show went from 953 in 2007 to only 394 last year, a decrease of 58%, according to the Statistics of Bull Issues collected by the same ministry. Even the Spanish regions with the most bullfights (Andalusia, Castile and León, Castile-La Mancha and Madrid) have seen a drop of approximately 30% since 2011.

Male, rural and young

Bullfighting fans, however, see it in a very different light. They argue that, in reality, the number of popular festivals with bulls and calves, for example bull runs, has increased from 14,262 in 2011 to 16,383 in 2015. The cite the same studies by the Ministry of Culture to emphasise that the hobby has grown again by a percentage point in recent years and ascribe the decrease to the recession.

“The number of attendees has a lot to do with the quality of the show” adds the president of the Bullfighters’ Union and patron of the Foundation of Fighting Bulls, Juan Diego. He points out that in the Madrid region alone there are a million spectators a year and, as such, rejects the idea that fights are in decline, because some rings have increased their capacity. It varies from place to place, as seen in the statistics which show a concentration of aficionados in the centre of Spain. The statistics also show that it is a predominantly male, rural activity with young people having a prominent presence, especially in festivals. Diego does lament that the sector hasn’t known how to reply to the “violent attacks by animal-rights activists” but is hopeful that with the economic recovery and the Constitutional Court’s decision, supporters will gain self-confidence. “It’s a legal activity and, if an impresario wants to organise an event with bulls, they must be free to do it” he stresses. This opinion is shared by Justo Hernández, a representative of the Salamanca cattle industry, who was celebrating yesterday that Catalonia, the region that “historically has produced the most famous bullfighters”, could once again welcome fights. “We’re the second most popular mass spectacle after football, and things are going well. It’s profitable and real, because a show doesn’t spend more than it takes in”

The PP’s iconic policy

Hernández was also critical of the political nature of the ban, because “bulls don’t have political beliefs”, even though it’s a political party —the Partido Popular (PP)— that has taken a stand to overturn it. This is all the more striking because, at least in the Canary Islands, it was the PP who promoted the 1991 ban on fights in the archipelago. The decision was taken after a decade without any such show and has never raised any kind of outcry.

The Catalan ban, on the other hand, led to the PP lodging a complaint with the Constitutional Court and yesterday, with a solid conservative majority (eight votes in favour and three against), the court ruled that Catalonia went beyond its remit in 2010 because it cannot ban a cultural heritage festival. The decision to declare bullfighting Intangible Cultural Heritage, however, was taken after the Catalan decision, only adopted once the PP returned to the Spanish government in 2011. Since then, Unesco has been asked to add bullfights to its lists of Cultural Heritage, the PP has brought bulls back to TVE (the Spanish public broadcaster) and has promoted a series of intellectual meetings to revalue them.

It was in this climate that, in March, the National Association of Bull Show Organisers (Anoet) published an economic study claiming that bulls generate 1.6 billion euros in revenue for the state per year, and, for every euro of subsidies, the sector generates €2.80. The same association, two years previously, was shouting from the rooftops about the “structural crisis” that “very seriously [threatened] the sector’s future”. With the Spanish government in favour and the Constitutional Court on their side, bullfighting fans are ignoring the statistics, believing they’ve already hit rock bottom and can only grow from now on.

What could the decision to defend bullfights cost the Catalan government?

The bullfighting ban in Catalonia came with a need to pay compensation to the disadvantaged parties. The Catalan government received 29 applications for compensation, including from the owners of the Monumental ring (the Balañá group), fight organisers, livestock transport companies, a medical team, a media agency, two ranches and bullfighters. The total came to more than 300 million euros.

The government, however, only accepted one claim (Balañá’s) which it valued at 329,698 euros. Balañá had applied for 10 million euros and so appealed to the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia. The Economy Department of Catalonia explained to ARA yesterday that Balañá isn’t the only claimant to have appealed. There are five other petitions waiting to be resolved by the court. The Constitutional Court’s decision will foreseeably contribute to clearing the way for these cases.

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