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Ole! Catalans brace for 'final' bullfight
Source: Agencies |
September 22, 2011, Thursday
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BULLFIGHTING fans will shout "Ole" for the last time in Barcelona's El Monumental bullring on Sunday before a ban on the sport takes effect across the northeastern Spanish region of Catalonia.
The regional legislature banned the centuries-old tradition - which pits a sword-wielding matador in a brilliant suit and red cape against an enraged bull - last year after Catalans signed a petition against it.
The bullfighting industry is still convinced it has a chance to overturn the ban and bring back the "toros" next season to Catalonia, the only mainland region in Spain that has blocked the sport - or the art as its fans see it.
"I think the politicians will think twice about the ban and bullfighting will live on. And thank God because Catalonia has plenty of serious bullfighting fans and in a democratic country they should be able to go to a bullfight," said Moeses Fraele, 64, owner of El Pilar, the breeder supplying bulls for Sunday's spectacle.
Some 20,000 spectators are expected to fill a sold-out Monumental - the only bullring still operating in Catalonia - for Sunday's blockbuster corrida starring celebrated Madrid matador Jose Tomas, who retired in 2002 but has made a few rare appearances since 2007.
"There are several catalysts which could lead to the ban being overturned," said Paco March, bullfighting critic for La Vanguardia, Catalonia's top newspaper. March said the conservative People's Party - one of Spain's two main political forces - is fighting the ban on constitutional grounds and the Catalonia Bullfighting Federation is collecting signatures to petition the Spanish Congress.
Even if the pro-bull lobby manages to reopen El Monumental, in a wider sense the blood is already on the sand. Every year fewer Spaniards go to the bullring. The number of bullfights shrank by 34 percent between 2007 and 2010, according to official figures. Barcelona's Las Arenas ring shut in the 1970s and is now a shopping mall.
The only other Spanish region to end bullfights was the Canary Islands, in 1991.
The regional legislature banned the centuries-old tradition - which pits a sword-wielding matador in a brilliant suit and red cape against an enraged bull - last year after Catalans signed a petition against it.
The bullfighting industry is still convinced it has a chance to overturn the ban and bring back the "toros" next season to Catalonia, the only mainland region in Spain that has blocked the sport - or the art as its fans see it.
"I think the politicians will think twice about the ban and bullfighting will live on. And thank God because Catalonia has plenty of serious bullfighting fans and in a democratic country they should be able to go to a bullfight," said Moeses Fraele, 64, owner of El Pilar, the breeder supplying bulls for Sunday's spectacle.
Some 20,000 spectators are expected to fill a sold-out Monumental - the only bullring still operating in Catalonia - for Sunday's blockbuster corrida starring celebrated Madrid matador Jose Tomas, who retired in 2002 but has made a few rare appearances since 2007.
"There are several catalysts which could lead to the ban being overturned," said Paco March, bullfighting critic for La Vanguardia, Catalonia's top newspaper. March said the conservative People's Party - one of Spain's two main political forces - is fighting the ban on constitutional grounds and the Catalonia Bullfighting Federation is collecting signatures to petition the Spanish Congress.
Even if the pro-bull lobby manages to reopen El Monumental, in a wider sense the blood is already on the sand. Every year fewer Spaniards go to the bullring. The number of bullfights shrank by 34 percent between 2007 and 2010, according to official figures. Barcelona's Las Arenas ring shut in the 1970s and is now a shopping mall.
The only other Spanish region to end bullfights was the Canary Islands, in 1991.
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