One of the voices of the Palau Blaugrana left the public address system of the mythical pavilion this season after almost 20 years at the club. Gabi La Veu Ribera, English teacher by day and speaker by night, will have to try to make up with her students for the longing for the shouts, encouragement and sighs of the blaugrana fans, with whom she has shared some of the historic days of the sections of the blaugrana club
“More than 30 years ago a microphone fell into my hand and I did it the best I knew how,” explains Ribera. His first experience as a master of ceremonies was in the sport he played at the time, American football. He stayed as the starting speaker after his sister abandoned him in front of the megaphone moments before a game.
La Veu was leaving its mark and its decibels for the Catalan Federation, the Barcelona Dragons, the Marfil Santa Coloma until it landed at Barcelona. He has also had time to fulfill one of the dreams that he had had since his childhood: to comment on Wrestling, a show that he admired thanks to Hulk Hogan.
His opportunity with the club of his loves came thanks to the relationship between Barça and the Dragons, although the head of the cheerleaders in the basketball section also had something to do with it, who recommended him. Thanks to her, he was able to sign with the entity on September 15, 2004, a date that he remembers marked by fire in her mind, from which he began to comment on basketball, encouraging the almost 8,000 fans that the pavilion can accommodate. .
You can still feel in your flesh that first day at the hands of the Palau Blaugrana bus. “I went from seeing Dejan Bodiroga on TV to having to introduce him, he was shaking my hand and the paper while he was talking,” he recalls with a smile. Some latent nerves the first day in front of the fans, which calmed down over time, although they have continued to be there throughout all these years, he adds, to "not lose concentration."
Five years later they told him from the club that he could not continue as speaker of the basketball section, but not because of a bad performance, since other sections such as futsal, hockey or handball immediately offered themselves as a new home for Ribera. "It's not the same to be cheering on 7,000 people in basketball than 500 in hockey," he pointed out.
He fearlessly embarked on this new adventure of which he is more than proud. “I have seen and narrated how these sections have grown over the years,” he says. He learned to adapt to the public, to the situations and to the environment, trying to tame and revive the 'beast' of the Palau depending on the moment.
His decibels were complemented by the animation clubs, coming to make friends among their members. The Meritxell, Sang Culé and the Dracs supporters club are the ones that have the most presence in the Blaugrana fort. The latter in particular are the ones that have made him most emotional. "When your voice doesn't reach you, you have a hundred people behind you who don't stop cheering from the first minute," he explains excitedly.
A large number of experiences and memories have marked him. The Lanxess Arena in Cologne is very present in many of these, possibly for having experienced three Champions League victories in various sections. He especially remembers the first handball Champions League, a sport about which he affirms that "if he could comment on just one more game, he would choose it without a doubt."
All the enthusiasm that spread to the fans with the microphone fades when he thinks of returning to the Palau as one more fan. It will not be the first time that he experiences the mixture of feelings, since he went from calling Navarro's three-pointers to celebrating them in his seat, but as he says: "I would have paid to watch games that I could have narrated."
"The magic of the Palau exists," he affirms emphatically. A mystic that although "appears in a couple of games a year" is capable of attracting and making all those fans who have come to the stands fall in love. An emotion that has taken its toll on her coming out of matches with such a level of emotion that she seemed exhausted, but which she longed for during the pandemic and matches without an audience.
Gabi closes this exciting stage with the thorn in her head of not being able to take the bus to the new Palau Blaugrana that will be built, which she hopes will be on a par with the O2 in London or the Lances Arena in Cologne and become a world benchmark as It was the current one at the end of the 20th century.
The speaker bids farewell to the club of his life, just like some of the athletes whose names have echoed over the public address system at the Palau. Futsal players Adolfo and Didac Plana have been the most heartfelt due to previous experiences at Marfil Santa Coloma, coming to present the former in his professional debut at just 16 years of age.
"At Barça there are the best and when the best remember you you have nothing to say", he explains excitedly. He leaves behind dreams fulfilled during these 18 years and leaves the Palau turning off his microphone, but with the certainty that he will return as a fan to continue cheering, this time with the scarf.
