Iraqi and Spanish Real Madrid fans unite against IS war on football

MADRID, Spain – On 28 May, around 8.30pm, I joined a group of Spanish friends gathered at a mutual friend’s apartment in downtown Madrid to watch the UEFA Champions League Final between Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid.

In our late twenties and early thirties, our group was composed of both Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid supporters – all of them proudly wearing the jerseys of their respective teams – and a couple of non-partisans, including a Catalan nationalist who deemed the event a great opportunity to pester her Madrilenian friends with political remarks.

Despite the mixed group in question, by 8.45pm, all of us were glued to the flat screen TV, gobbling homemade patatas alioli. The match had just begun.

“I am afraid that Atletico will win tonight,” said Borja, my football-savvy boyfriend who was sporting a Real Madrid jersey. “The team’s performance has been outstanding so far,” he argued. For him, supporting Real Madrid is a matter of passion, a barely controllable emotion that often leads him to anticipate the worst-case scenario.

“Tonight, it does not matter which team wins. We, Madrilenians, have won already,” I replied. For me, being a Real Madrid fan, like rooting for the Spanish national football team, is a matter of identity: I feel part of a community.

Similarly, more than 4,000 kilometres away, at a club in the town of Baquba, Iraq, a group of Iraqi Real Madrid supporters were watching the match. For this group, however, cheering for Real Madrid was a matter of defiance against the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS): Two weeks ago, IS militants, who conceive of football as an un-Islamic entertainment, killed 16 Real Madrid supporters at a cafe in the neighbouring city of Balad, the population of which is mainly Shia.

Nevertheless IS had failed to deter Real Madrid supporters from meeting in Balad to watch the match. Agence France-Presse Iraq bureau chief Jean-Marc Mojon tweeted a photo featuring Real Madrid FC supporters in Balad watching the match, despite a possible attack. Safe in Madrid, we Spanish fans felt this to be admirable.

I hoped there would be no terrorist attacks that night, as I continued reading the latest UEFA Champions League related-news on my iPhone. The first two parts of the match had so far elapsed with no incidents reported off the pitch among the millions watching around the world.

On the pitch, the environment was tense, though: in the 15^th minute, Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos had scored the first goal of the match, which many argued was an offside goal, and, shortly after half-time, Atletico winger Yannick Carrasco had scored the first goal for his team, levelling the score line to 1-1. By the end of the 90^th minute, the score line remained the same.

“Puff, I am about to suffer a heart attack,” claimed Nuria, the Catalan nationalist. Out of the blue, she had become an Atletico fan, as had her Madrilenian boyfriend, who was anxiously smoking a cigarette. 

The extra time was as nerve-racking as the 90 minutes that preceded it.

“Real Madrid is not translating its possession and territory advantages into clear-cut scoring chances,” said a Real Madrid fan in the room as the referee marked the end of the extra time. “OK, my friends, so Real Madrid and Atletico are about to start the penalty shootout following extra time. The torture continues,” he joked.

Shots fired in Iraq as match reaches climax

Probably, at that exact same time, the Real Madrid supporters watching the match in the Iraqi town of Baquba were also joking about the spectacle when four armed men entered the premises of their club, and began to shoot at them.

Minutes later, at 11.35pm, Real Madrid striker Cristiano Ronaldo lashed the fifth out of five penalties for his team, claiming the 11^th UEFA Champions League title for Real Madrid.

In the apartment in Madrid, we celebrated our team’s victory, and so did the Real Madrid supporters in Balad, all of them unaware that their fellow Real Madrid supporters in Baquba had been the victims of a terrorist attack.  

“Thank you for sharing this historical moment with me. It was very special. I will remember it forever,” Borja said to me.

Everyone around us was enthusiastically commenting on the match, even Atletico supporters: “If we have not won today, we will tomorrow. Never stop dreaming,” was their motto.  

Subsequently, the president of Real Madrid, Florentino Pérez, dedicated the team’s trophy to the Iraqi Real Madrid supporters who were killed in Balad two weeks ago. By then, little was known about the latest attack in Baquba.

Next day, Real Madrid supporters in Madrid woke up exhausted. We had spent the night celebrating our team’s victory, and were planning on continuing with the celebrations: The football club had organised a series of visits downtown Madrid, and a free-entrance show at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu.

When I met Borja at the entrance of the stadium, he noticed a modest tribute on a wall. It read: “In memory [of the] Madridistas of Iraq, RIP, Hala Madrid.”

It was beautiful. Our victory was dedicated to them and fans in Madrid were showing their respect. I took a picture of it (above), as we entered the stadium to enjoy the show.

Back home, I checked my Facebook newsfeed. In an interview for Spanish daily AS, the president of a Real Madrid club in Baquba commented on the latest terrorist attack: “It was a similar type of attack to the one that took place earlier in the month. Twelve people have been killed, and at least eight have been wounded,” he stated.  

I immediately called Borja: “Have you read the latest news? Terrorists have perpetrated another attack in Iraq against Real Madrid supporters. While we were celebrating, they were mourning. I feel the urge to write a piece about this,” I told him. I emailed my editor.

The conflict in Iraq is no longer alien to Real Madrid supporters in Spain. Since that day, Spanish Real Madrid supporters have felt an emotional connection with their fellow Real Madrid supporters in Iraq. Unity against terrorism was now part of our common Madridista identity.

- Tania Ildefonso Ocampos is a Spanish political analyst who specialises in EU strategy in the Middle East. She is a former Schuman trainee (Euro-Med and Middle East Unit of the European Parliament's Directorate-General for External Policies), and holds an MA in Middle Eastern History from Tel Aviv University, Israel.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.

Photo: A sign, a scarf and a yellow rose in memory of Iraqi football fans reportedly killed by IS, is seen  during celebration held at Estadio Santiago Bernabéu, Madrid, following Real Madrid’s victory on 28 May, 2016 (Tania Ildefonso Ocampos).