Posted on 07/30/2015 3:32:29 PM PDT by nickcarraway
The latest signing to Real Jaén FC wore a T-shirt printed with the face of the fascist dictator and after causing a stir claimed not to have a clue who the man was.
He might play on the right-wing but Portuguese signing Nuno Silva got into a right-wing controversy of a different kind on Wednesday when he wore a T-shirt bearing the face of General Francisco Franco, who ruled Spain with an iron fist from 1939 - 1975.
"We were chatting beforehand, signing the contract, and no one realized. It was our fault for not preventing him from going into the press conference wearing the T-shirt. The lad didn’t have a clue who he was," the football club’s president, Rafael Teruel Lara, said in a statement.
While some areas of the Spanish press blamed the incident on the second division team’s lack of good PR, others were outraged that a footballer would wear a t-shirt emblazoned with the face of the country’s former dictator.
Then there was the more right of centre press who took issue over something entirely different:
"Francoists should be the ones who are really outraged," wrote daily newspaper ABC.
"Franco never wore T-shirts, he was always dressed much more appropriately."
Nuno who has moved to Real Jaén from CD Santa Clara in Portugal, took to the team’s Facebook page to issue a public apology:
"Today was my presentation as a new player at Real Jaen CF in the press room of La Victoria," the player wrote.
"Given the controversy over my shirt, I wanted to clarify that I acquired it a long time ago in Portugal and never knew the impact this historical figure has to part of Spanish society.
"I lived in Portugal and Angola and I don't know the bulk of Spanish history, so was completely unaware of the significance of wearing that shirt in your country," he continued.
"I want to apologize to all those who have felt offended or who have been shocked. At no time have I have tried to make excuses for the ideologies professed by this person. I do not have any political preferences."
Not any more offensive than Che or Mao.
Lighten up, he’s still dead.
If he wears that in Catalonia he wont have legs to play soccer by the end of the day.
“I do not have any political preferences.””
So he’s retarded too?
It doesn’t take any intellectual capacity to play soccer.
Well, as long as he’s still dead.
One had a t-shirt like the one below.
Franco was a hero who saved Spain.
This just in....Chevy Chase's career is still dead.
No more offensive than a pro-commie shirt with Mao or Che or Kim Jong-un or Obama...
And hopefully will stay that way.
What they don’t tell you about The Spanish Civil War
The Red Terror
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Terror_(Spain)
This is a better shirt.
What a mess that war was. Anthony Beevor’s recent account was the only one I could even slightly understand.
Pinochet, another hero, who saved his country.
And, like Franco, the Left never forgave him for it.
Surprised that’s on Wikipedia. I would expect that to be airbrushed from history soon.
Sure, and Portugal’s military government at the time was critical to Franco’s effort. Instead of backpedaling on Franco, this player should look at his own country’s history in Angola (and their part in helping the Rhodesian government when the West shunned them). Rhodesia was doomed when Portugal gave up those African colonies; from that point on they had unfriendly borders.
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