Random cule

This is one of those random things I waste my time on.

I read today that the Centro de Investigaciones Sociologicas (CIS) had conducted a survey asking Spanish voters what their club affiliations were, and here's what they found:

- Barca's supporters tend to come from the Left and those that support Catalan nationalism, while R. Madrid has mostly support from the Right and The Establishment.

-Barcelona supporters who are leftist voters comprised 41%, twice that of R. Madrid's.

-Nearly 43% of center and 50% of the right are Madridistas, compared to less than 20% who sympathize with Barca.

-The other Catalan club, Espanyol, draws support mostly from centrist voters, with only 0.7% of its fans saying they are left wing. No right wing voter identified themselves as Perico.

-Among the other clubs, Valencia has mostly right wing support (16%), with only 1.4% of the Left identifying with the club.

-Among Catalan nationalist parties, Barca sympathy is strong: nearly 85% of voters of CiU and over 93% of Esquerra.

I wont attempt a statistical interpretation here. I wouldn't know how anyway. Besides, some of these things are pretty obvious. That Madrid is supported by the Establishment comes as no surprise. Same way that Barca attracts the rebels and revolutionary minded, and not just in Catalonia either. (Even as far as Bosnia, but dont ask me how I know. I read all sorts of useless stuff.)

What I'm curious about is what this survey isn't saying - how much support does Barca have in Catalan society as a whole. I really want to know that. Laporta once said its 50%, but I'm not sure how self serving that is. Note that in the CIS report, Madrid had half as much leftist voters as Barca, but Barca got less centrist and rightist support compared. Could this mean Madrid is making inroads into our rebel lairs? Yikes.

I wondered about the Catalan support cos I was reading a study about Barca one time, and basically it says: Catalan society is identifying less and less with the Club - i.e. Barca's politics of place, whatever that means - is waning. Experts seem to believe that as the Club grows stronger as a global brand, its Catalan-ness becomes more and more lost on its own people.

Sad if that happens. One reason I got hooked on Barca was because of its footballing philosophy. But the clincher for me -thanks to my mom's forebears- was its being a Catalan club, connected to its people and their struggles, etc. Its not only me. I've met other people, Barca supporters, who felt the same way. I know a Club cannot stay the same and must evolve with the times. But I'm hoping Barca can somehow keep its unique identity. I hate saying this, but maybe Laportaism should continue for this to happen. The good parts of it anyway.