ANDThis story will try to be well ‘cont’, unlike the popular Taiger song, which is heard on Sunday morning over the loudspeaker at the El Paso Municipal, in La Palma, at the foot of Cumbre Vieja, the volcano with five mouths that did not stop spitting magma between September 19 and December 13when he went to sleep after having razed the homes of 6,000 people, a sixth of the population that adds up this town plus the neighboring ones of Los Llanos de Aridane, Fuencaliente and Mazo.
Among the victims is Aitor, the physical trainer of the teamwho today returns to his lair, after having had to postpone five games due to circumstances and because the stadium became a supply center. “It is not only what has been lost materially, it is the memories”Be the Sergio Rodríguez, the mayor. He warms up with one of the players who is doubtful, with his head oblivious to what the house where he lived is now buried several meters in jet-black ash. In the belt The contribution of disasters to popular vocabulary is curious: tar, coronavirus. Now, sash.
It is no longer only what has been lost materially, it is the memories
The town has dawned today with another color. “Today the town is all green,” says the waitress as she serves two toasts. Green hope, green ‘passismo’in support of a team that is the backbone of many of the outbreaks of illusion of these people that the lava could not start. In the midst of misfortune, the group led by Jorge Muozplainsman and outstanding student of Juanma Lillo, with whom he shared experience in Colombia and Japan, he has wandered around the island of La Palma looking for a training place. He visited “Brea Alta, Brea Baja, Los Llanos, Tazacorte, Barlovento and Miraflores”, as Vctor, the speaker, and the one who directs the previous typho, lists, thanking the neighbors for their selfless welcome. Thanks are also due to the visiting team, Buzanada, who donated the box office for the first leg.
They boast in this high place, more than 600 meters, of La Palma of being the club with the third largest fans in the Canary Islands, after the Las Palmas Sports Union and Tenerife. This time there are not so many. The volcano has made an economic hole the size of its crater. The club has waived many fees. Part of the balance was compensated with the loss of some soccer players voluntarily. But you live on the edge. T-shirts have been made to raise funds; there are raffles, the staff now take the caa in the club’s canteen they know that helps. The heartbeat of this town is football. “He is a super soccer fan,” recalls President William Nazco, with whom Luis Rubiales has spoken on several occasions to find out how things are going.
88 tons of ash
The previous days have been hard work. There are almost a hundred bags full of ash on the outskirts of the field, showing everything that has been removed from the grass. “About 88 tons”, corroborates Dani, the Councilor for Sports. And in six days, because the rain prevented two from working. still remains. All the bounces of the ball raise a black dust with the same forcefulness with which the bulls raise the sand in the alberos.
The team, which always stays as a ritual to drink coffee to walk down to the field, arrives an hour and a half before the start. Two smoke canisters are lit and a guy with a tuba, accompanied by drums, greets their arrival. They are ball nomads. Many throughout his career, like Edu Cruz, who has played in 15 teams, in Iceland and Hong Kong, too. Or Armiche, a footballer who does not correspond to the fifth category of Spanish football (Third RFEF). He has played in Las Palmas, OFI Crete and Lamia, in Greece; in Poland, Cyprus and Bolivia. Others recent. On Friday they trained in Los Llanos, on Saturday in Brea Alta. The strange thing is that they hit the site every day.
Muoz he activates the levers on his boys’ heads before leaving. Appeal to the heart. To a lap where many have lost everything. He sets the good old Aitor as an example. in 6 minutes, Brian Martinwho like Cristo Dáz, midfielder, played in the Second Division with Tenerife, returns the sound that Municipal missed. “Goooooal!”. Then come the scores of agoneya fine winger who spent part of his career in the Real Madrid academy with Hermoso, Marcos Llorente… and who was cut short by injuries at Borussia Dortmund B, Adrin Hernndez -Armiche gave him a push- and the young Michelangelo.
The 4-0 puts Atltico Paso on course for the first positions. Now it remains to recover dates. They play the derby on Wednesday and Sunday with Tenisca, transferred to the Heliodoro Rodriguez de Tenerife so that more people can go and they can raise funds. Even if back home, the first step, never better said, is taken.
Discussion about this post