La Repla

All neighbourhoods have some emblematic enclaves where the history of this community and many of its inhabitants has developed. But on too many occasions there comes a day when this place disappears physically to remain alive only in our memory. One such place is La Repla, our own Rellena. Demolished in the summer of 1998.

The Repla will be much more than a multi-sports court for the neighbourhood, especially for its kids. There, they used to spend the afternoon or the weekends having a Pachanga or chatting about any topic. This was the place to witness unforgettable matches of indoor soccer and handball, both male and female. And it was here that real friendships were forged: those of childhood in the street.

In this issue of Esencia Barceloneta we wanted to recall the futsal games that were played at the Rellena. Those leagues or 24-hour tournaments in which most of the neighbourhood kids participated.

Because -as the younger ones know- at that time we didn’t have a PlayStation, but we never lacked an old ball. Nor did we communicate through cell phones or social networks; it was enough to say “this afternoon at the court”.

1932: A new square in Barceloneta

Every city, every town, every neighbourhood has its central square, where people meet, and where important things happen. And so do we, we have the Rellena.

It is the meeting place of social interaction, where we have played, skated, bought things at the market, enjoyed the fair during the festival, competed in futsal or handball, gone to school, and fallen in love, and it is part of our collective history.

The square, baptized with the official name of the Poet Boscà, and surrounded by the streets Baluarte, San Carlos, San Antonio and Alegria, according to the nomenclature of the time, was to be liberated in 1931, when the Republican City Council decided to free it from the barracks of San Carlos. It is the time when a new square was planned for social and neighbourhood use. 

In July 1932, in the magazine Barcelona Atracció, one could read “The ample lot that occupied the old barracks, and the four houses that surrounded it, form today a clear and extensive square (…) an important improvement for the Barceloneta”. And it closes explaining the act of inauguration ” scared that, the town was associated to the act demonstrating the jubilation with which it received the urban improvement “, another sign of own identity: the celebration to the genuinely Barceloneta style.

Genís Arnás

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