The dreams of greatness of the Regional clubs: "We are from the village, but here everyone is going crazy"
Almost eight years have had to pass since that fateful night of Real Madrid in Cádiz, with improper alignment of Denis Cherishev, for Rafa Benítez to direct again in the Copa del Rey. The veteran coach will guide Celta today against Turégano CF, a rival that plays in the sixth division of Spanish football, with an annual budget of 70,000 euros, approximately what he earns in a week. For its part, the Segovian club, pride of a town of 978 inhabitants, will mobilize 3,500 fans to the La Albuera stadium, in the provincial capital.. And the illusion of Turégano CF, like that of the other 15 modest teams that face First Division rivals, is not weighed with money.
«Our footballers do not get paid. Only when there is something in the box are they paid for the training mileage expense,” explains Luis Peromingo, president of Turégano, a club with 400 members.. Today, each of them will pay 10 euros for their location. The rest, until the capacity is full, will pay 20. These are figures in line with the simple nature of the team, promoted to Regional in June 2019, accustomed to playing on a field that does not now meet the minimum requirements demanded by the Federation.. From there the 35 km transfer to Segovia. A more than usual journey for Paco Maroto, his coach, who combines the board with his work as an official in the Provincial Council.
“My job in the last few hours has been to take the edge off the issue and convince my players to enjoy the game and not get stiff,” says the coach, aware that neither he nor his players can completely ignore the wave of affection that they have received for three weeks at home and at work. «Of course I have reviewed videos of Celta's last game in Girona. And out of respect for the people who follow us, we are going to try to compete, to try to tickle them,” Maroto advances.
Turégano, land of cereal and pig farms, will experience a massive displacement to the capital today. “I hope someone stays to watch,” Maroto jokes, before adopting a more solemn tone.. «Since we eliminated Santurtzi in the previous round I never thought that this would reach such a dimension, but the way in which the Cup puts modest football on the map is very beautiful. We know that the lights are going to go off on Thursday, but living this moment is beautiful. “I tell the kids to enjoy it, because they may not experience it again in their entire lives.”
30 hours from Bari
That same feeling of facing an unrepeatable experience was felt a few weeks ago by Diego Orihuela, Atlético de Lugones footballer.. A final year student of Teaching, the young winger found out about his team's classification in Bari, where he is studying an Erasmus. «I connected to an internet radio. My colleagues were also informing me through a WhatsApp group.. Shortly after the referee whistled, I already had the idea of how to square it so I could come,” Orihuela details.. Since then, his journey consisted of six hours by bus from Bari to Rome, a night sleeping on the floor of the Fiumicino airport, a stopover in Palma de Mallorca, where he still had to wait 11 hours and the long-awaited landing in Oviedo, last Saturday at eleven at night.
«In total, 30 hours since I left home, with 110 euros for the flight, plus another 25 for the buses. In short, a somewhat bizarre experience,” he concedes, with a smile.. «In addition, the coach never told me that he was going to give me minutes. I suppose that the rest of my colleagues who work daily deserve it more than me,” concludes Orihuela, who only played in the first three days of the league.
The tie against Rayo Vallecano will be lived intensely in Lugones, a dormitory city of 17,000 inhabitants, on the outskirts of Oviedo. “These are frenetic hours, on the verge of overflowing,” acknowledges Daniel Álvarez, vice president of Atlético. «I work as a commercial agent, but since we entered the Cup I have not been able to make a single visit. The president, who runs a transport company, also spends almost 12 hours a day with the club. All for the rewarding amount of zero euros. Although you already know: scabies gladly doesn't itch..
The Atlético de Lugones changing room tunnel.
Founded in 1905, decades before Real Oviedo, Atlético Lugones is currently active in the Primera AsturFutbol, formerly Regional Preferente. It has 250 registered members, with an annual fee of 75 euros, plus another 200 subscribers, a group made up of the parents of the kids from the quarry.. Its annual budget is around 190,000 euros, although this opportunity to measure forces against Radamel Falcao or Raúl de Tomás has tightened its balance sheet even more.. «We are going to be able to use our artificial grass for the first time, but if it is not done by the City Council we would have to have gone outside. There are a multitude of logistical requirements, from the power of the lights to the conditioning of the locker rooms, not to mention the extra stands, which will cost around 12,000 euros,” says Álvarez.. Students, bank employees and electricians share a locker in their booth.. None of them have a payroll or a federation contract.. Only an aid of 100 euros per month for travel. «Whoever scores more goals earns a little more, I'm not going to lie to you. We are a youth club, like there are so many,” confesses the manager.
Working with children is much more difficult in Tardienta, a town in Huesca with 960 inhabitants, due to a strict demographic issue.. And according to data from the Aragonese Institute of Statistics, corresponding to 2022, 28.5% of its population is 65 years old or older. Six points above the average in Aragon. «We are a village team, where one year some footballers leave us and the next another come. There are four guys who hit the ball and that's it,” summarizes José Luis Herrero, president of Getafe's rival.
We finished third in the league, but our entire team left.
Life is simple in Tardienta, where the Cinca canal embraces the Monegros canal. Its neighbors, farmers and modest self-employed people, live oblivious to that hustle and bustle of half a century ago, when the railway electrification industry and a flour company attracted workers from other regions.. Since then, its population has decreased by up to half.. Today, at least, they have a doctor's office, a pharmacy, two shops, four bars…. And a team that honorably raises the banner of the modest.
«Last year was incredible. We finished third in the league, but our entire team left. The coach had already warned us that it would be his last year and we asked the players until the last minute about their intentions.. Finally, except for two, the rest left for Robres,” explains Herrero, in reference to the exodus to the neighboring town.. «The games are exhausted by the arbitration expenses and the salaries of the technicians, which are around 600 euros per month, plus the physio who is separate. “We give the boys 10 euros per point,” the manager says.. Today, after eight league days, Robres leads the table and Tardienta occupies the red lantern of Group 1 of the Aragonese Preferred Regional. With only one victory, each footballer has barely earned 50 euros.
The extra stands, in the Municipal of Chiclana.
Without a heated locker room, without a press room, without facilities for anti-doping control, without a distance of three and a half meters between the side line and the fence, the Santa Quiteria Municipal Field could not host the visit of the azulones either.. For this reason, today's duel will be played in El Alcoraz, home of SD Huesca. The transfer, barely 25 km, will be a party for the 219 club members, who will pay 10 euros at the box office, five less than a conventional location. «Since we achieved the pass, the town has been going crazy, revolutionized by so much emotion. “I have been saying for years that we are going to be late,” Herrero predicts.
A different idiosyncrasy
This wave of enthusiasm runs through the rest of the geography. From Lepe, where its San Roque crosses Girona today at noon, to Hernán Cortés, a town in Badajoz that will focus on the tie against Betis. However, in terms of enthusiasm, it is difficult to compare with what is happening in Chiclana, which celebrates its 75th anniversary by hosting Villarreal. “We have always defined ourselves as very humble, playing in the Third Division, but we are also a club with a lot of tradition,” says Juan Luis Rojo, its president.
Since its founding, names of a certain tronio have paraded through the small city of Cádiz.. “David Vidal played his last years here,” Rojo begins, referring to the former Cádiz and Logroñés coach.. The list of illustrious figures also includes Manolito, former striker for the yellow club, Jesús Casas, current Iraq coach and former assistant to Luis Enrique in the national team, and Moisés Arteaga, whose left foot fell in love with Espanyol fans.. «Both Vidal and Arteaga live here most of the year. Moisés has confirmed to us that he will watch the game live.”
On the margins of the salt flats, faith in the future must be added to the richness of the past. «Our idiosyncrasy is different. Since we started the project we decided to grow with people from the quarry. Now we have about 1,000 children,” emphasizes the manager.. To date, only three members of the first team have not trained in the youth teams. «Our rivals recruit more people from outside and have very few from home. We are going the other way around, like Athletic Bilbao,” he concludes.