Penya Blaugrana...

Having done a bit of research & looking for my local Penya, being in the UK it looks like the only Supporters Club is all the way down in London. Kind of sucks in the sense it's quite a bit of travelling to do, wish there were something more local like one in Birmingham where it's a central location. Ideally travelling to London means getting on a plane and going to Barcelona.

Is anyone on here a part of a Penya and even more specifically a part of the Penya Blaugrana London?

Whilst I appreciate the majority of members here on the forums are Barça fans and you guys know your football I'm looking to start stepping things up a bit and looking for a Supporters Club where I can get more involved as the match experience I've had is a bit... a) the atmosphere was way too quiet, b) the company with my wife is just that, it's my wife and she has no interest in football (a part from the Mexican wave & drinking coffee at the ground) so it's unfair of me to drag her along when I know she doesn't want to be there, c) really felt the need to travel with or meet up with Barça fans & go to a game.

It's a great home base to discuss all things Barça here on these forums but yeah see above

Im a member of the london penya and im from northern ireland i joined them.few months ago and they seem a great bunch of guys. Infact some of them have offerd us a lot of help with trying to get a penya set up.here in northern ireland. There is also penya union blaugrana who have members from.all over the uk i think they are more an internet based penya but there membership is closed to sometime in march. For me i doubt il.ever actually be over in london for meet ups etc but still plan on heading to a few games with them.all il.have to do is jump.on a plane and meet them somewere

Ah sounds good, thanks for the info.

That's probably ideal to meet them at the destination tbh. For games in England, closer to home if they do make the noise at matches then I'd be more than happy to add to the support if they'll take me on board. Believe membership is season to season though so if I paid £20 now I'd only be paying another £10 come the start of the new football season?

Pretty cool to try & set one up near you too, London is a bit far for me in all honesty just to watch the game with everyone else when I've got the game at home with costs covered (as opposed to travel, food & drink costs) & the forums here for match chat so it's not as lonely lol

But definitely beneficial from meeting up & travelling with fellow supporters for match days would be awesome.

Yea a few of Have been trying to get one going in northern ireland for over a year now a hell of a lot of tough work an regulations with it but will all be worth it in the end. Is there many barca followers around the birmingham area you could always start a unofficial supporters club to watch games together etc and see how it goes an if sucsessful apply for official status

I haven't got a clue how many are in Birmingham mate. You see a few shirts here & there but as always it's mainly kids. A few RM "fans" *cough* plastics *cough cough* too.

It'd be great for a Penya in Birmingham to be setup but honestly don't know how successful it'd be... lots of questions to be asked then there's setting up and as you say, it's not easy, it'll be tough with the regs etc.

Jus spread the word on social media local papers etc and see what the feedback is like

Yeah that's the ideal plan to reach out, would like to see how it's all ran first too, as PBL have a couple of bases where they go to watch the game so unless there is some secret place already setup for Barça fans in the Midlands area or one that could be implemented... like I say lot's of questions and ground work to do.

If its anything like northern ireland there will.be lots of barca fans the only problem is finding them all. All you really need to get started is find a few people interested in watching the games together and a pub or somewere to meet up

Had a quick search on Facebook and been in contact with a guy who runs the Barça Birmingham Supporters group... says he's from Barcelona and believe he studied at the University in Birmingham; during his stay he was disappointed not to find a Penya so instead setup that Supporters Club. Only has about 34 members I think and he says most of them aren't even Barça fans but they did meet up at a pub down the road funnily enough.

Think the Midlands has quite a lot of clubs in Villa, Small Heath, Baggies, Wolves, Stoke, Derby, Nottingham (Forest & County), Leicester - so fans are divided up between them with probably not that big of a following of Barça or people do, just not to the higher level that us lot have if that makes sense. I'll no doubt check though and still keep on the hunt.

Will most likely be going to the Penya in London to join them & watch CdR final. Had a look at flights for 24th May time to catch the last game of the season and unfortunately I think it's holiday season or something cause tickets are in the hundreds each way which. Not feasible. If I was a millionaire maybe (mind I'd be living over there haha). Train tickets are reasonable though so may travel in style and have a chilled day =)

Yeah you could look into going by train. Always thought that might be a cool idea and I plan to do it one day. You would take Eurostar to Paris and then high speed train from Paris to BCN. Heres a link that I used to read about it:

http://www.seat61.com/Paris-to-Barcelona-by-TGV-train.htm#.VP6tzrlyZdg

Looks like it would be an awesome day going like that. No airports and you get to see views across the length of France, the Pyrenees and Catalunya.

The Euro is weak right now, so good time to go

pacp_96 said:

Yeah you could look into going by train. Always thought that might be a cool idea and I plan to do it one day. You would take Eurostar to Paris and then high speed train from Paris to BCN. Heres a link that I used to read about it:

http://www.seat61.com/Paris-to-Barcelona-by-TGV-train.htm#.VP6tzrlyZdg

Looks like it would be an awesome day going like that. No airports and you get to see views across the length of France, the Pyrenees and Catalunya.

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Sounds awesome indeed.

Andrew M said:

The Euro is weak right now, so good time to go

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Playing the financial markets? I like it

If you guys are seriously considering taking the train to Barcelona, book your tickets NOW. I bought my two first class tickets from Madrid to Barcelona from the Renfe website, I was able to get the discount, so all in all less than 100 euros for two first class high-speed train tickets!

Luftstalag14 said:

If you guys are seriously considering taking the train to Barcelona, book your tickets NOW. I bought my two first class tickets from Madrid to Barcelona from the Renfe website, I was able to get the discount, so all in all less than 100 euros for two first class high-speed train tickets!

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I wish. Being the broke college student that I am, I can't afford to go to Europe.