Bullfighting gets red card in Catalonia

A total ban on the sport takes effect throughout the north-eastern region of Catalonia after the regional legislature banned the centuries-old tradition after thousands of Catalans signed a petition against it.

The bullfighters are still convinced that they will eventually overturn the ban and bring the toros back to Catalonia next season. It is the only region in Spain to have blocked the event.

Bullfighting critic for La Vanguardia, Catalonia's top newspaper Paco March says that the conservative People's Party - one of the main political parties in the region - is fighting the ban on constitutional grounds while the Catalonia Bullfighting Federation is collecting signatures for a petition that will be delivered to the Spanish Congress.

However, fewer and fewer Spaniards are going to bullrings these days as the popularity of the sport wanes. According to official figures, spectators at bullfighting events dropped by 34% in 2007 and 2010. Barcelona's Las Arenas bullfighting ring closed down in the 1970s and is now a shopping mall.

March concedes that younger Spaniards do not know the names of top matadors and most of them struggle to explain the intricacies, rules and finer points of the tradition - if they even understand them themselves.

The only other Spanish region to ban bullfighting is the Canary Islands, which imposed a ban in 1991.

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