The coach of the Unió Esportiva Petra (Mallorca) junior soccer team, Miquel Santandreu, has reported that he was expelled from a match last weekend for addressing the match referee in Catalan. His team was facing Cardessar and the coach protested at one point during the game. He claims that the referee asked him to speak to her in Spanish, which he refused, so she gave him a yellow card.
At half-time, he approached the referee again to ask for an explanation for the reason for the card, to which the referee again told him to speak in Spanish “because we are in Spain”, according to Santadreu. At that moment, he gave him the second yellow card. Santandreu affirms that she did not want to speak in Spanish because of the bad manners that the referee used when she addressed him.
The expulsion of the coach has caused enormous indignation among various groups in Mallorca. The mayor of the town, Salvador Femenies, has shown his displeasure over what happened and the soccer team and numerous clubs on the island have also protested. Més per Mallorca has requested a meeting of the federation to denounce the events and its coordinator, Lluís Apesteguia, has described what happened as “linguistic aggression.”
Entities such as the Balearic Cultural Work (OCB) have also joined the protest. The OCB calls for an investigation to be opened into a clear case of “linguistic aggression.” The EU Petra has denounced the events through a letter, but for now no formal complaint has been filed.
The arrival of the PP to the Balearic Government in the last regional elections meant the disappearance of the Government’s Linguistic Office, which was set up to address situations of linguistic discrimination, such as the one that occurred this weekend with the football coach of Petra. It was one of Vox’s demands to give its support to the president of the Government, Marga Prohens.
In fact, the Balearic Budgets for this year reserve an amount of 750,000 euros for the creation of a linguistic freedom office at the request of the ultra party. Its objective is to ensure that Spanish is not discriminated against and that the teaching of this language in education is encouraged. The office has not been launched for now, but Vox wants the director to have sanctioning capacity. Paradoxically, a case like Petra’s could fit into the actions of this office not yet created.
