114 years

This Tuesday 28th of October RCD Espanyol, my club, has celebrated its 114 anniversary. Wow! I really think it is incredible. A lot of clubs in Spain would like to be in our situation. Today I have been in a meeting with other clubs and we are the third oldest in the First Division behind Athletic Club and FC Barcelona. The third team in the First Division! I think that it is something incredible and that we have to feel proud of it.

114 years! Thanks to a group of students, RCD Espanyol became a reality. We have never been a winning team, we haven’t had the best players even though Zamora, Di Stefano or Kubala have played for us. Of course, we haven’t won many titles (four Spanish Cups) but I do think we have something different, something that makes us unique.

In a city like Barcelona where most people support FC Barcelona or even Real Madrid, for Espanyol’s supporters it is not easy. Normally at school you are the only one that supports RCD Espanyol. Usually, on Monday, when you go to work or to school you are unhappy because the team didn’t win. However, you still feel proud because is not everything about winning.

First rule: If you want to support a winning team don’t go for Espanyol. We normally finish the League with more defeats than victories, our best players have to live because the club needs to sell and we are not usually very lucky. But, as I wrote before, is not everything about winning.

I think that supporting RCD Espanyol gives you your own personality, it makes you stronger in front of those that think they have the power; we have to feel proud of what we are. A lot of clubs in Spain would like to have our stadium, our players, our history, and our professionals.
 

I don’t really know if the motto ‘Meravellosa Minoria’ (Marvelous minority) is the best to define us. I do know that we are different, that we are not millions like the big clubs but that is not something bad. The first thing to grow is have clear who we are, where we want to go and what makes so special.

In football you can win, lose or draw. A lot of teams are accustomed to lose; not many win titles but they have their unconditional fans that are always there. It looks like a lot of pericos have lost their passion; a lot look tired of losing... I can understand, but I would also ask them to remember, to have a look inside and see what makes us feel proud of supporting RCD Espanyol.
 

This Tuesday we have celebrated 114 years. It is not easy, because we find a lot of problems, of difficulties but we are still here and we want to stay forever. Obviously, we could do better, we could try to win more but I think that we have to insist in what makes us special. Not many clubs have lived what we have, not many of them would have survived. I know it is difficult I am 33 years old and I have lived FC Barcelona’s best performance. But that makes me stronger, prouder of being an Espanyol’s supporter. Pericos, remember, 114 years! Why don’t we celebrate and try to build a better future?

Congratulations, Eibar!

There are a few things in my life that are not subject of discussion. Everybody who knows me knows that I am an Espanyol supporter. It is one of the things that no one disputes me. I always have felt proud of it and I have always clearly shown it, even though we are not a team that wins tittles but we have other features.

However, I have to say that I like a few teams around the world. Athletic Club because my family is from Bilbao and my great grandfather was one of the presidents, Liverpool because my mom’s family is from there and last but not least, Eibar. And you will ask yourselves why I support Eibar. Here is the story.

Some of my best friends support FC Barcelona, but we all started to follow Eibar because we thought that it was worth while what they did. It was one of the smallest clubs in the Second Division but they have managed to stay in said category season after season becoming the team that more times have played in the so called silver division.

It appealed our attention that many of their matches finished drawing or winning by one goal. In Ipurua, their ground, it was very hard to win and even though the way they played wasn’t brilliant, they were able to achieve their aims.

Our interest for Eibar took us to go to Terrassa to watch a match between the two teams. Obviously, the match finished with a no goals draw. For my group of friends, Eibar is the team that put us together.

This weekend, for the first team in their history, Eibar has achieved their promotion to the first category. It is great news for this small team that has been able to fight with other clubs with more money and that have better players.

I think this great news deserve a celebration and my friends and I will have to start thinking in a trip to Ipurua to watch a match. Congratulations, Eibar!

10 years of the Tram

I remember when politicians decided to build the Tram. I think all Barcelonians thought it was a terrible idea. Most of us didn’t understand why they wanted to recover this old transport along Diagonal, when you could catch the underground or different buses to do the same journey. As usual, it looked like a bad idea and instead of using our money in something useful, the city consul decided to build the tram.

Honestly, I didn’t remember when exactly the Tram started to work in Barcelona and today when I was running I have seen a carriage stating the anniversary.  I have to say that it has become something popular in Barcelona and I think that now we all are OK with the Tram, in spite of how much you use it.

This year we are celebrating the 10^th anniversary, far more years than I ever thought it would last. However, I have to say that I have changed my opinion about the Tram. I have caught it a few times and I think it is not a bad transport system. My wife used it a lot, especially when we were dating and also my parents: my father to go to the RCDE Stadium and my mother when she goes to work. Actually, she caught it four times a day more or less. I am sure she never expected to use it so much.

I have to say that I was wrong. I never thought that the tram would become so successful and that the Barcelonians would be using it as much. I think, honestly, that nobody expected to use the tram, but now that is there; why not?

After these years I have to admit that the Tram is good for Barcelona. However, it could be better if the frequency of the tram were more often than at present. Sometimes you have to wait more than 20 minutes and that is too much time, especially when it is late and you want to get home. This is one of the things the city council should improve and give a better service to all citizens.

I enjoy penalties!

Last night Sevilla and Benfica played the Europa League Final. As the match advanced and as I didn’t really mind who won the match, I thought it would be a good entertainment watch a penalty shot. I know a lot of people consider that is unfair and that it is not the best solution to decide the winner, but I think that it is really interesting. I understand that if you are a supporter of one of the teams that is playing, it is a very tough moment and that it is difficult not to get nervous.

 

I know this sentence will sound funny from a person who stands for a team RCD Espanyol that has lost the two UEFA finals. In 1988, against Bayer Leverkusen and in 2007, precisely, against Sevilla. They were two of our great opportunities and after being one of the best teams of the competition, we lost.

In 1988 I was only 7 years and I don’t remember much but I have seen the penalty kicks a lot of times on TV. In 2007, I was at Hampden Park watching that match. We drew with 10 players in the extra time and when it look that we were going to win, three of our players missed their penalties.

I know it is a very though moment and that you have a lot of pressure. But doctors also have pressure when they have to operate and they can’t do mistakes in those moments. Today, everybody is saying that Beto was great. The goalkeeper did his job, but I think that Cardozo and Rodrigo didn’t do their best. As they were running to the ball you could see that they didn’t have any confidence and that they were scared. Of course, the two of them missed their penalties. 

I do feel sorry for them, because I am sure they will never forget. They will always be remembered as the players who missed the penalties. It is not fair, but this is how football works. But I feel really sorry for the supporters, who travelled from Lisboan and have turned sad because of their teams defeat.

Personally, I enjoyed a lot. I liked how some players took their penalties. I like to see the faces, the way the goalkeeper looks the shooters, how this one decides to take the penalty. It is a moment where it is very important to be confidence, to believe in one.  As my father says, the ‘sillonball’ is very easy and that you have to be down there, in front of the goalkeeper, with millions of people watching and hoping that you score the goal. You miss, you fail. You score, you win.

Happy anniversary, EFE!

Today, 13th of February, the main news agency in Spanish, EFE, celebrates its 75th anniversary. This post is very special for me because I had the honour to work for EFE a few years ago.

I am not going to write about the story of EFE along the years. If you search on the Internet, you can find a lot of information. This time I am going to write about my experience.

In 2002 I was still studying and I decided to do further practice. They gave me the opportunity to work for EFE as an intern for the Financial section. I remember I was scared because I thought I wasn’t ready to work for this section. I also have to say that I really wasn’t very interested, but everything changed when I started working there.

They were only four months, but they were great. I learnt a lot, specially from Marcos Lamelas, a great journalist who is always after the news. In the end I really enjoyed my time there and many times I wondered what would have happened had I accepted the offer they made me when I finished my university career. I will never know.

After a few years working for Blanc i Blau, on November 2005 I received a phone call from Javier Giraldo, who was working for EFE at the time, asking me to have a meeting with Paco Ávila, the sport division manager. I became RCD Espanyol correspondent and I helped with everything I could (Barcelona, handball, basketball...).

I worked for them until July 2010. It was really great. I wrote about some of the best stories of the team even though they left me out of important moments like the Spanish Cup final or the UEFA final. I worked hard and I think I did quite well. My time there was very important in my career.

If I could, I would like to work for EFE again. The news agency gives you the opportunity to explain stories and even though times are changing, you don’t have the same pressure. When you write in a newspaper you have to empty full pages; there is no negotiation and, a lot of times, you finish writing about stupid stories to fill up the empty page. In a news agency you can really write about those piece of news interesting; it is different.

I will never forget my experience at the Agencia EFE. I really enjoyed my time with Paco, Jesús, Ginés, Alex, Javi and all the people that made possible that the sports section worked so well. I know that now things are difficult and they have their problems, but who doesn’t?

Happy anniversary!

These things can’t happen

On Saturday I woke up and read this piece of news. Once I finished, I really felt sorry for that eight year old child. Children can be very cruel and they don’t have any problem to go against that person who is different or has different ideas. I really think it is terrible that kind of behaviour, and I am sure parents are responsible because children of that age usually repeat what they listen at home or hear from their parents.

Poor girl! Espanyol supporters are used to these type of things, but when you get to an age, it doesn’t affect you too much. However, I imagine that for an eight year old girl it has to be really terrible.

There are few things I would like to point out. First of all, I think it will not be fair that we say that in Catalonia Espanyol supporters live apartheid. Some of my best friends are FC Barcelona supporters and I don’t have any problems with them. I have always been the only perico supporter until I got to University and I didn’t have any problem.

It is true that Barcelona supporters are not able to understand what we feel and some of the situations that we live are totally unfair, but I do believe in respect. The good thing of being perico is that you grow stronger and, in a way, you become special but I also think that you can find stupid persons irrelevant which team they support.

What I really think that is disappointing and terrible is the teacher’s reaction. “They are only kids”. How can a teacher say that? He should address to all the class and explain that people are free to support any team they want, that it doesn’t make you worst or better and he should tell them that in life there are different opinions and feelings and all of them are respectable.

In this case, we are talking about football, but this is an example for many situations in life. I know that they are young; however, we have to build a society where everybody respects the other. What will these children think about someone gay? Or someone that doesn’t believe in a independent Catalonia?

As I said I haven’t had any problem for being an Espanyol supporter. It is something I am proud of and I always say when I talk about football. However, I am worried because I think that many times the big majorities forget that there are a lot of people that do not think alike and, in this sense, parents and teachers have a very important rol because they have to teach and explain that one of the best things in life is to find people who have other feelings thoughts or views.

It is true that lately if you are not with the majority you feel alone and IT shouldn’t be like that. In a world that is getting more and more global, people should be more open minded and respect the other. As you can read in the article, we have a lot of work to do.