Barcelona and Spain star Aitana Bonmati has reacted with frustration towards critics, who have rejected her use of Catalan during the Ballon d’Or ceremony. Bonmati, who collected her second award on Monday night in consecutive years, spoke first to the crowd and the cameras in Catalan before switching to English.
As has happened in the past, Bonmati was the victim of numerous comments and plenty of abuse on social media for using her native tongue. The Blaugrana superstar has defended her use of Catalan, finding the reaction non-sensical.
📢 Aitana Bonmatí, a @EsportsRAC1, sobre el discurs de la Pilota d’Or:
“No entenc per què, quan és en anglès no hi ha crítiques, però en català sí.”
“Per mi és un orgull portar el català pel món. No ens hem de justificar. Tots aquells que ho critiquen, que facin una reflexió.” pic.twitter.com/1ZNxrsRygs
— Esports RAC1 (@EsportsRAC1) October 31, 2024
“It is my language, with which I express myself best and which I speak every day with family and friends. I do not understand why when English is spoken there is not all this avalanche of criticism and when Catalan is spoken there is. Maybe we we should look into it, because knowing languages is culture and the more languages a person knows, the better,” she told RAC1.
“For me it is a pride to bring a language that is not so recognised to the world. I don’t think we have to justify ourselves every time. All those who criticise us for speaking a language they don’t like should do a reflect on themselves, because in the end, it is culture.”
Bonmati has always carried her identity on her chest, but has received abuse in a way many other athletes have not for speaking in their own language. The reaction is rarely mimicked for Basque, Valencian or Gallego athletes in Spain, some of the other regions in Spain with native languages. In other areas of Spain, tension with Catalan has risen in recent years following the Catalan independence movement.
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