Mess in Seville. The two most important clubs in Andalusia, Sevilla and Betis, very important institutions in the capital of the community, have declared war. It has been Sevilla that has officially broken relations with Betis. The reason is simple. A Green and White complaint to the different federative committees caused Juanlu, Issac and Carmona to not be able to play the last match against Celta, the farewell match for Jesús Navas. The Conduct Committee punished them for showing the three of them a flag of the Biris (sevillista radical group) on which a crossed out Betis shield could be seen. It was after the last derby, played on October 6 and where Sevilla won 1-0.
“The symbols are not touched,” said the president of Betis, Ángel Haro, to explain the complaint. Sevilla’s response has been forceful: “Sevilla FC, in light of the complaint from Real Betis Balompié that caused three of its players, Isaac, Juanlu and Carmona, to be suspended in the match against Celta last day, wants to communicate that it has decided to sever relations with Real Betis Balompié, since we do not understand that such relations can remain in force when the leaders of the green and white entity have deliberately and consciously sought harm to our club. That, and no other, to harm and harm Sevilla FC in sports, was the purpose of denouncing extra-sporting behavior before competition courts. Consequences that the green and white entity knew well.”
The statement, very forceful, especially targets the Betis leaders. At Betis, there are two people who make the decisions, president Ángel Haro and vice president José Miguel López Catalán. “Sevilla understands that the behavior of the leaders of Real Betis Balompié, denouncing the celebration of the Sevilla players and also doing so before the federative organizations and not before the Anti-Violence Commission, breaks an important code and sets a dangerous precedent, since it seeks sporting punishments for through non-sports events.”
“Everything would have been resolved with a call after the derby. I insist, the symbols are not touched and we did not denounce, but rather we made available to the committee some images where our symbols were attacked. Furthermore, I don’t know very well what it means to break relations,” stated the Betic president himself, Ángel Haro.
Next Friday the so-called boy derbybetween the subsidiaries of both entities, Betis Deportivo and Sevilla Atlético, both in the First Federation. There will be no Sevilla representation in the Luis del Sol sports city. Relations between Sevilla and Betis have gone through different stages throughout their centuries-old history. They were very bad with the presidency of Manuel Ruiz de Lopera and that of José María del Nido in Sevilla at the beginning of this century. In the last decade, respect and cordiality were the norm since the arrival of Haro to the Betic presidency, in 2015, with José Castro in that of Seville.
However, an event altered these good relations. It was the sad derby of the stick, of the Copa del Rey, played in January 2022 and which resulted in the Betic classification (they ended up winning the tournament) after the match was suspended due to an attack on Jordán. Betis understood that the footballer simulated the injury on the advice of Sevilla’s leaders so that the match (it was 1-1) was suspended and the pass was given to Sevilla. The Federation decided to finish the match behind closed doors the next day and Betis finally won 2-1. Since then, in every derby played between the two great teams in Andalusia, sparks have arisen between the two entities. Some sparks that have ended in this war.
