In the final months of the breakaway Republic of Biafra, young football enthusiasts in Valls, Barcelona, gathered to honor the Biafran struggle. They created a symbolic pennant and founded the Biafra Football Club to draw global attention to Biafra’s plight using football. CF Biafra had about a hundred players from Reus to Pla and Nulles to Tarragona. They settled in El Vilar, joined the federated amateur league, and advanced to the Third Regional League.
Fifty years later, the golden anniversary of the Biafra Football Club was celebrated. Although now extinct, Biafra still represented the struggles of these idealistic young men. They saw parallels between Biafra’s plight and their own region of Catalonia’s situation with the Spanish government and decided to make a difference.
They found a connection with Biafra through the formation of the Biafra Football Club in Valls. The club existed until 1978, when economic difficulties ended its activities.
In June 2007, an exhibition on the history of the Biafra Football Club took place at Patio de Sant Roc. A delegation from CF Biafra, led by Ramon Rovira and Oscar Gasso, visited Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu in Enugu. They presented him with the club’s official jersey and historical album.
When the Biafra hero died, in 2012, CF Biafra promptly sent a delegation to Nigeria for his funeral rites. They took a stone from Biafra and added it to a commemorative plaque, linking Biafra with Valls forever.
On December 29, 2020, officials installed a copper plaque in the square where CF Biafra players met in 1969. Mayor Dolors Farre and Sports Administrator Enric Garcia unveiled it, joined by regional officers, politicians, surviving players, and some Igbo community members.
To Ramon Rovira of FC Biafra, the Biafra Friendship Club salutes you for preserving our legacy. May your efforts never fade.
The Biafra Football Club’s story exemplifies the power of sports to unite and inspire, even in the darkest times.
https://talkafricana.com/10-little-known-facts-about-the-nigerian-civil-war/
