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Tears, tributes and unity as football returns to Valencia after the floods

25 November 2024Last Update :
Tears, tributes and unity as football returns to Valencia after the floods

There was absolute silence at Valencia’s Mestalla stadium at 1.59pm on Saturday, as a crowd of 43,975 remembered the victims of the horrific flooding that struck the region last month.

An incredibly emotional pre-game ceremony began with people from the areas most affected by the flooding bringing a huge Senyera, the Valencian regional flag, donated by Real Madrid, onto the pitch.

Valencia and visitors Real Betis were led from the tunnel by kids wearing the shirts of clubs in the Horta Sud district, which was hardest hit. Players and match officials carried a giant black ribbon as a tribute to the 221 people who died in the worst natural disaster in Spain’s recent history.

The Valencian regional anthem was played on two traditional local instruments, the dolcaina (akin to an oboe) and the tabalet (drum). More and more voices around the stadium began to sing the words, as a black banner was unfurled showing the names of the many different municipalities where people died.

Supporters all around the stadium held up red, yellow and blue squares in a collective tifo forming the Senyera. In the stands, on the pitch and watching from home, there was an awareness of those who should have been there.

Another unofficial banner read ‘Solo el pueblo salva el pueblo’ (‘Only the people can save themselves’), a reference to how the initial response to the disaster was led by volunteers as regional and national politicians blamed each other for a slow official reaction.

It was Valencia’s first game since Sunday, October 27. Two days later, storms in the region saw some areas receive a whole year’s worth of rain in less than 24 hours.

An area of more than 500 square kilometres was flooded, fatally trapping people in cars, underground parking lots and ground-floor apartments. More than 60,000 homes and businesses were destroyed or seriously damaged, as were dozens of local football club stadiums and installations.

From two hours before Saturday’s lunchtime kick-off, fans started to congregate on the streets around the Mestalla, many wearing black clothing as a mark of respect to those who had died in the flooding. These included Jose Castillejo, a 28-year-old who had been a player in Valencia’s Paterna academy as a teenager.

With more than 100,000 vehicles destroyed or damaged by the flooding, Valencia organised buses from the affected areas for 8,000 of their season-ticket holders. Four hundred of Seville-based Betis’ official supporters club members who live locally were also present, some who lost possessions in the floods.

Valencia’s players wore specially designed black jerseys with the phrase ‘UNITS COM SEMPRE’ (‘United as always’). Those will now be auctioned off, with all of the proceeds going to children affected by the disaster.

With just eight minutes played, Valencia worked a short corner and, after a scramble, the ball was knocked home by young defender Cesar Tarrega — whose parents’ family home in Aldaia was among those flooded, and who could be seen in tears during the pre-game tributes.

Celebrating his goal, the 22-year-old held up a jersey with the slogan ‘Tots Junts Eixirem’ (‘We’ll come through it together’ in the Valencian language).

Betis soon equalised when home forward Hugo Duro directed an Aitor Ruibal free kick into his own net. The celebrations were muted, with Betis players going to the sidelines to hold up another Senyera flag as their tribute.

As the game progressed, the names of the towns affected by the flooding were flashed on the pitchside advertising hoardings.

Nerves on and off the pitch increased and play was stopped twice during the first half because supporters in different parts of the stadium required medical attention.

The tension lifted when Valencia took control of the game after half-time. Duro scored two quick, well-taken goals, then winger Diego Lopez hammered an effort in to make it 4-1 with less than an hour played. The cheers were especially loud for Duro, who was among the players to join the volunteer clean-up effort in the days following the disaster.

Valencia’s very unpopular Singaporean owner Peter Lim was not forgotten, with regular chants of “Peter. Vete ya” (Peter. Go now), as there always are at Mestalla. Lim was not present on Saturday — he has not been seen in the city for five years — although the billionaire is to personally match Saturday’s gate income, with the total sum to be donated to the relief funds.

Betis substitute Chimy Avila got a goal back and strong tackles flew in from both teams. But during the final moments, supporters around the stadium again started spontaneously singing the Valencian anthem.

The final whistle brought another collective outpouring of emotion. Home players stayed on the pitch a long while afterwards to applaud all four corners of the ground.

“It could be the most emotional game of my career,” Valencia coach Ruben Baraja told the post-game news conference.

“When we came out of the dressing room, the atmosphere gave you goosebumps. We were able to pay tribute to the victims, those who have suffered, so that the people know we are with them, we will help them. The victory is for them, no doubt, it was very special.”

The region is still in the very early stages of dealing with the disaster.

At least four individuals remain missing, many people are still unable to return to their homes and signs of the devastation are clear throughout the region. The Athletic’s train down from Madrid on Saturday morning passed through kilometres of badly-affected areas, including wrecked cars strewn across agricultural land.

“We really wanted to get playing, as these have been very tough weeks for Valencia,” Duro said. “The tribute was incredible, and the game lived up to it. I knew I would cry (during the pre-game ceremony), but our best tribute was to win the game in this way.”

It was only football, but the Valencia team had at least given 90 minutes of relief to so many people who had suffered so much over the past month.

Many other Spanish clubs have supported those within football most affected by the disaster.

Atletico Madrid, Leganes, Sevilla, Betis and Mallorca were among those to use their stadiums as collection points for materials donated by supporters, with food, blankets, nappies and water sent by road to those who badly needed them.

Real Madrid quickly announced a donation of €1million ($1m; £831,000) through the Spanish Red Cross. Villarreal, another La Liga side based in the Valencia region, donated €500,000 through the Red Cross and humanitarian aid network Caritas. Second-division team Castellon raised €410,000, including a personal donation of €250,000 from their Greek-Canadian president Bob Voulgaris.

Leganes donated €110,000 — €100 for each kilometre their players ran during their game against Sevilla on November 9. The shirts worn by Las Palmas players in last Saturday’s home game against Mallorca will be auctioned online, with proceeds to be donated via Caritas, along with a portion of ticket revenue from the match. Atletico Madrid made a financial contribution equal to the value of the 55 tonnes of material their fans collected, to be distributed in affected areas.

Betis donated €230,000 — €100,000 from club funds, €100,000 from the players and €30,000 collected by fans — to help football clubs and youth clubs in Valencia buy items to replace what they lost.

Before Saturday’s game, Betis’ team bus brought the first load of these goods to an infants and primary school in the municipality of Alfafar — with their foundation president Rafael Gordillo and former Betis and Valencia player Joaquin meeting school staff and volunteers, as well as members of the Spanish armed forces involved in the huge clean-up.

Athletic Club have also been very proactive in responding to the disaster. The Bilbao team are donating €110,000 in kits and equipment to 11 of the non-professional teams most affected by the tragedy, while asking their fans to become an amic (friend in Valenciano) by donating a minimum amount of €20 through a special website.

Osasuna coach Vicente Moreno was given time off work and travelled to Massanassa, where his family’s house had been flooded, to help with the clean-up in the days after the disaster. The Pamplona-based club have pledged to collaborate in the reconstruction of infrastructure in Massanassa, which was among those towns most affected.

There were similarly emotional scenes to the ones in Mestalla when second-division Levante returned to action last weekend at their Ciutat de Valencia stadium in the city’s southern suburbs.

Valencian region neighbours Elche were the visitors, as the 19,177 crowd paid homage to the victims with another impeccably observed minute’s silence and emotional rendition of the Valencian Community anthem by violinist Ruben Marques, of the Valencian regional orchestra.

Levante’s foundation president Maria Dolores Boluda left a wreath of flowers on the seat in the directors’ box which was previously occupied by the foundation’s patron Jose Luis Marin, who died during the disaster.

Among the 23,000 capacity crowd were 4,000 players, staff and family members from amateur teams including Discobolo La Torre, FBCD Catarroja, Inter Chiva and Algemesi CF — with 160 of these carrying onto the pitch pre-game the same huge ‘Senyera’ Valencian flag which was displayed at Mestalla on Saturday.

Before the game, Levante president Pablo Sanchez greeted a group of 300 of their season-ticket holders who had been affected by the floods and were brought to the match on club buses. And during the 1-1 draw, Levante’s players wore specially designed ‘muddy’ jerseys in tribute to the thousands of volunteers — with the phrase ‘Always with our people. More than you believe’ in place of the club sponsor’s name.

All 28 match-worn shirts were put up for auction — including that of captain Vicente Iborra, who spoke to The Athletic about volunteering in the clean-up. All money raised is to be donated to the disaster’s victims.

Further down the football ladder in regional Valencian leagues, the games also returned last weekend.

Where possible, teams from towns worst hit by the flooding used stadiums in areas which avoided serious damage. CD Bugarra, whose facilities were completely destroyed by the storms, are currently playing ‘at home’ in the nearby town of Pedralba.

Valencia are also offering support to the 12 local clubs in affected areas who are official partners at youth level. UD Aldaia, Racing Algemesi CF, CF Atletico Sedavi and FBCD Catarroja are among those whose installations have been partially or completely destroyed, and much of their equipment — including kits, ground-staff material, footballs, goalposts — will need to be replaced.

The Valencian football federation is compiling an inventory of damaged installations and clubs in need of support. Its president Salva Gomar has put the cost of the operation at €20million. The ‘crisis committee’ of La Liga, the Spanish football federation (RFEF), Liga F (the top-flight women’s league) and the Valencian and Castilla La Mancha regional federations is due to meet for a second time this week.

Among the clubs whose stadiums were destroyed were seventh-tier CF Paiporta — from the badly-affected town where Spain’s King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia had mud thrown at them when they visited — and eighth-tier UDP Alfafar.

“The youth players have still not returned to training but we are working on it,” Paiporta’s Mari Carmen Sanchis told The Athletic last Thursday.

“The adult sides are training at (nearby club) Burjassot-Quart. We’ve received some money from other local clubs, who have held raffles and competitions. And we’ve opened a solidarity bank account for people who want to help.”

Alfafar’s youth and senior teams have restarted training using the facilities at neighbouring clubs Almussafes CF and Silla CF. They have a crowd-funding campaign underway to help rebuild their own setup, but president Manuel Visiedo says there is a long road ahead.

“Our stadium is still covered in rubble and debris,” Visiedo told The Athletic on Friday. “The federation wants to help to rebuild the stadiums, but they need to get agreement from the town halls. Athletic Club have given us a big hand, as have Levante, but it will be a long process.”

(Top photo: Ivan Terron/Europa Press via Getty Images)

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