The controversey over La Liga’s decision to play a game in Miami later this season continued over the week as players found an innovative way to protest the move.
The Spainish football federsation (RFEF) announced in August that they had approved plans to move Villarreal’s home fixture against Barcelona on December 20 to the Hard Rock Stadium on December.
This decision was quickly and roundly criticised, with the Spanish Footballers’ Association (AFE) announcing that they had met with captains of each La Liga club and aggreed to ‘protest symbolically’ against the decision.
La Liga players protest Miami game go unseen
These protests began on Friday evening when Oviedo and Espanyol players refused to move for the first 15 seconds of their match. This precident was then followed when Bacelona hosted Girona and Atletico Madrid took on Osasuna on Saturday, with the same protests taking place for Sevilla v Mallorca and Villarreal v Real Betis.
Television viewers, however, did not see these protests in full at all of these fixtures. The Oviedo v Espanyol and Barcelona v Girona matches saw the TV cameras cut away to show the exterior of the stadium,
The other broadcasts showed an aerial camera zooming in on the centre circle, rather than showing a wide angle of the 22 players standing still.
According to The Athletic, this came after th Spanish league asked TV companies not to show these protests, with fans’ chants at games against the Miami fixture that could be heard in stadiums inaubible on the broadcasts.
Sunday’s match between Elche and Athletic Club - which was broadacast by DAZN - was the exception, showing a wide angle of the motionless players for the full 15 seconds.
Real Madrid head coach Xabi Alonso confirmed that his club did not approve of the Miami match before his side’s 1-0 win over Getafe. “We are against the [Miami] match. We believe it distorts the competition,” he said.
"There hasn't been unanimity or consultation for it to be played on neutral ground. The protests are positive and that sentiment is positive. We believe it could happen if there were unanimity, but that's not the case."
Barcelona boss Hansi Flick also confirmed his side were ‘not happy’ with the match but ‘La Liga decided that we will play this game.’
Serie A have also explored playing a match overseas, and plan to play AC Milan’s game against Como on Perth, Australia.
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