Unfortunately, Idriss Carlos Kameni's high hopes that racism had been overcome in Spain proved premature.1 The Barcelona derby was an emotive affair as always, but serious errors were made that resulted in entirely preventable clashes. Barcelona's President Joan Laporta ensured that his club was the first of the giants of Spanish football to tackle their ultras by banning Boixos Nois from the Camp Nou. It resulted in Laporta being targeted for reprisals, but the planned attack at a basketball match was thwarted by the police. It is therefore ironic and tragic that the unacceptable scenes in the most recent derby were facilitated by those who should have stopped it.

Boixos Nois were escorted to Espanyol's Montjuic Stadium, the site of Barcelona's Olympic Games in 1992, by the police. They carried flares with them and managed to take them into the ground. They let the flares off at Espanyol supporters – an outrageous act as memories had not faded of a recent incident where similar actions at the Barcelona derby had cost a young girl her life. In this context it defied belief that Boixos Nois were allowed into Espanyol's stadium with banners and tools at the ready to spark trouble when they are banned from Barcelona's home matches. They achieved their aim. Afterwards some members of Boixos Nois were jailed and others were fined, but the damage had been done.

The following day's headlines were understandably dominated by the behaviour of Boixos Nois a group of thugs whose disgraceful behaviour put decent Barcelona fans safety at risk. Boixos Nois must have known that Espanyol's ultras – Brigadas Blanquiazulas – would retaliate, but they didn't care. Their aim was to provoke a fight and they got their wish. It also offered politicians an opportunity to score some points. Sadly the target of that exercise was the person who had done most to restore the good reputation of Spanish sport off the pitch – Sports Secretary Jaime Lissavetzky.

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Last year Lissavetzky introduced an initiative to confront the ultras. It secured cross-party support and won the respect of UEFA's Director of Communications William Gaillard, who is also a Special Advisor to UEFA's President, Michel Platini. Gaillard believes that UEFA has taken its responsibilities very seriously regarding racism and violence in the sport. “If there are games under our responsibility we usually take the necessary measure whenever we have a problem,” says Gaillard. “Sometimes there is a bit of confusion. For example, international friendlies are FIFA’s responsibility, even involving European teams and domestic games are not under our responsibility, but whenever we have problems in our competitions you can rest assured that we do the necessary steps and we take it very seriously.” Earlier this season UEFA ordered Atlético de Madrid to play their next match in the Champion League behind closed doors. The Madrid club is not the only club in Spain to have a problem with violent ultras – it is an international .

The derby of Barcelona is an important example as nobody emerges with credit from it. The police accompanied Boixos Nois to Espanyol's ground, but the security there failed to prevent them entering with flares, which according to some reports were let off on the journey on their way to the stadium as well. Inside the Montjuic Stadium Boixos Nois directed their flares at supporters of Espanyol and Barcelona players further inflamed a volatile situation by going to celebrate their goals with Boixos Nois. Laporta was unfairly criticised and the opposition Popular Party sought to gain political capital from the incident by summoning Lissavetzky to explain how effective his initiative could be after this.

“We ended the last legislature approving of a law by a wide margin in order to stop violence, xenophobia, and racism and we now begin the current one with a spectacular show of blatant discrimination,” said the Popular Party's spokesperson on sport, Francisco Antonio González. “We have asked that proper procedure was used appropriately. We are not accusing anyone, and we ask that we all accept our responsibilities: the coaches would take the necessary steps to prevent this from recurring and we, the politicians, present those laws that need to be applied. If it becomes necessary, we will amend the law to remove the authority of these incompetent coaches.” There is plenty of blame to go round, but it should be remembered that Lissavetzky is not responsible for the incompetence that occurred here. Boixos Nois should never have been allowed into the stadium, especially as police should have known that they had come spoiling for a confrontation. Espanyol's security failed miserably. Boixos Nois should not have been allowed into the ground armed with flares and Barcelona players should not have celebrated with them. What could the club's coaches have been expected to do and what could Lissavetzky have done. The Popular Part supported Lissavetzky's law last year and it was effective. It should be reviewed and lessons learned, but the acts of a few moronic thugs should not be blamed on Lissavetzky, a man whose stand against the ultras and racism in football has helped Spain to regain international respect after high profile incidents tarnished the country's image and brought it the approval of William Gaillard.

“In European competitions we have been very transparent and we work with FARE – you know Football Against Racism in Europe – they have their own observers,” says Gaillard. I think whatever we may have missed we have sanctions over the years, especially in Spain; it has improved in the last couple of years. We haven’t had any problems last year, but domestic leagues that is not our responsibility.”

While Boixos Nois were undoubtedly the main instigators of the disorder in the Montjuic Stadium during the recent Barcelona derby (the last Primera División clash between the bitter rivals before Espanyol move to their new stadium next year) Espanyol's ultras Brigadas Blanquiazulas were not blameless. Ordinary Barcelona supporters who had come only to support their team came close to being beaten up as they were leaving, even though they despise Boixos Nois. And lost in the headlines about the violence was the response of Brigadas Blanquiazulas. The great progress made by Spanish football authorities against racism, which had won the respect of Carlos Kameni, received a setback in the Montjuic Stadium. It as understandable that the behaviour of Boixos Nois hogged the headlines, but Brigadas Blanquiazulas, once again singled out Samuel Eto'o for monkey-chanting. Eric Abidal was also on the receiving end of the abuse, but despite it being heard clearly at least by some supporters it appears not to have been mentioned in the match reports.

Has racist abuse returned to plague Spanish football? It is far too early to say and while it doesn't excuse it the highly charged atmosphere in the Montjuic Stadium that night played a part in what happened. There have been no other reports of racist abuse in the Montjuic Stadium this season or last. Espanyol's goalkeeper, Idriss Carlos Kameni, has been on the receiving end of vile racist abuse Brigadas Blanquiazulas and demanded that the club investigate its own so-called fans, but he is now convinced that Spanish football is moving in the right direction. “I feel that they have been very effective in tackling this problem for quite a while and it has improved a lot,” he told us exclusively. “And that's some very good news for us. I used to receive that a lot, but I can see the improvement already. We're more at ease nowadays; I think they've made a lot of changes and for the time being it's all being stopped.” Kameni is far from soft on racism were it to resurface. “If something happens, the team must be relegated,” he says.

Last season there were no reported incidents of racist abuse in La Liga, but there was a major talking point in the Segunda División. During their match against Granada 74 racist sections of Málaga's supporters at La Rosaleda Stadium monkey-chanted Granada's Togolese player Ludovic Assemoassa, pointed accusingly at the culprits, but was persuaded to continue by referee Miranda Torres and later decided not to pursue the complaint. The vast majority of the Málaga faithful jeered the racists. It is unclear if Málaga was punished for racially abusing Assemoassa, especially as both he and his club declined to pursue a complaint. Málaga won promotion to the Primera División, but unfortunately the notorious ultras of Málaga, Malaka Hinchas, had a new target. While many media highlighted the dispute between Lionel Messi and Duda, the racist abuse could not be ignored. It remains to be seen if racism has reared its ugly head in Spanish football or whether these are isolated incidents.