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'How can you go to a stadium when there is so much tragedy?'

3 November 2024Last Update :
'How can you go to a stadium when there is so much tragedy?'

As Spain continues to deal with the tragic consequences of this week’s horrific flooding in Valencia and other regions, many in football are wondering whether the game has done enough to help those who have been most affected.

By Saturday, it was confirmed more than 200 people have died, while hundreds more were still missing after more than a year’s amount of rain fell on the worst-impacted cities and towns in less than 24 hours last Tuesday and Wednesday.

Among those killed in the resulting floods was Jose Castillejo, 28, who was at Valencia’s academy as a teenager and then played in midfield for local teams Paterna, Eldense, Bunol, Recambios Colon, Roda, Torre Levante and Vilamarxant.

Many current and former players for leading professional teams also had family members who were badly affected by the tragedy, which has seen thousands of homes and businesses destroyed. Storm warnings have continued through the week in other regions of Spain including Castilla-La Mancha, Andalucia, Catalonia and the Balearic Islands.

Osasuna manager Vicente Moreno is from the town of Massanassa, just six miles south of Valencia city centre in the Horta Sud region which has suffered the worst of the tragedy.

Valencia

Moreno began his Friday press conference ahead of Saturday’s La Liga game against Valladolid by saying, “We can speak about football later if you want, but first, I’m sorry…”

After taking a moment to compose himself, Moreno continued.

“I want to send all my support and solidarity to those people who have been cursed by this disaster. All those who have lost loved ones. Allow me to have some special words for my land, for Valencia, and all those Valencianos and those who live in Valencia.

“I was lucky in that I knew my kids were at home, my family was home, but from 10pm we lost communication, there was no way to communicate with anybody. You just watched the news. I spent all night listening to the radio. I couldn’t speak with them until 1pm lunchtime the following day.”

There was a minute’s silence before Alaves played Mallorca in La Liga on Friday night, as at all Primera and Segunda games taking place this weekend. There were two first-division matches on Saturday, with four scheduled for Sunday, although all games in the Valencia region have been cancelled.

Alaves coach Luis Garcia Plaza said after his team’s 1-0 victory on Friday that he would have preferred the game had not gone ahead.

“I’m really happy to win, but really, I don’t know how this game fits with all that’s happened,” said Garcia Plaza, whose former clubs include Levante and Villarreal. “With so many people having died, so many people suffering. I’ve family members and many friends in the Valencia region, and other regions have been affected too. We all just want to help — clubs, politicians, big business, everyone — as this is a catastrophe.”

Various La Liga coaches speaking on Saturday were also in agreement. “It makes no sense for us to play this weekend,” said Atletico Madrid’s Diego Simeone at his press conference before Atletico’s game at home to Las Palmas on Sunday. Barcelona’s Hansi Flick echoed that sentiment, saying, “If it were up to me, we would not play.”

La Liga president Javier Tebas responded to these calls with a message on X saying that: “We believe that the best reaction to the terrible situation we are experiencing in Spain is not to stop, apart from the affected zones. The best message is to be in the first line in our jobs, like workers in all other sectors, giving visibility, generate resources and explaining to everyone that we have to all get to work to move forward.”

Recent days have also seen many other figures from Spanish football speak about what they have been through. Former Valencia defender Juan Sanchez is from the suburb of Aldaya, six miles from the city centre, and among the areas most affected by the flooding.

“My parents live in Aldaya and they have no water or electricity,” Sanchez told local media on Friday. “They are OK, they live on the third floor, but I have to go each day to help them.

“The people on the ground floor suffered terribly. A drainage channel just overflowed completely. Many neighbours have lost their business, lost their cars. We know people who have lost family members. It is like a horror movie. One thing is to see it on television, but seeing it in the flesh is terrible. This will take a long time. People were trapped in their garages, it seemed like a war. It’s a tragedy without precedent.”

Current Valencia defender Yarek Gasiorowski spoke to his club’s media about his experiences in his home town of Polinya de Xuquer, an hour’s drive to the south of Valencia city.

“I got home from training and there were many people coming to the river to look at the situation,” said the 19-year-old. “The river was filling up with all that was coming down from above, and at about 5am water began to spill onto the streets and there was a lot of flooding. The water entered into houses, garages, it was all flooded.

“You saw the tension on the streets, you heard many people running home, but my family were fine. The towns close by were affected much worse, the exits to the motorway were blocked. You see people having a really hard time, it’s a disaster. We all have to come together to help out.”

Another young Valencia defender Cesar Tarrega, 22, is from nearby Aldaia.

“My parents called me at 10.30pm (on Tuesday) and told me that everything was being flooded,” Tarrega said. “They live on the third floor, but the garage where their cars were parked was completely flooded, they couldn’t access it.

“I’ve seen videos of the flood arriving in an instant with cars in the middle of the street, people killed…. A disaster. Material things are secondary, what matters are human lives. It is very hard, many people are affected in many areas, people we know, family members who have had a bad time, but thankfully, most are OK.”

Valencia’s Mestalla stadium and Levante’s Ciutat de Valencia have been opened as centres for collecting materials, food and clothes for people impacted by the tragedy. Dozens of people who have been left homeless by the floods have been sleeping at the city’s L’Alqueria basketball arena.

On Saturday morning, Valencia were using their social media to call for volunteers who could bring material such as forklifts, shovels, brushes, drainage pumps, generators and boots.

Los Che players including captain Jose Gaya, Pepelu, Jesus Vazquez, Thierry Randall, Dimitri Foulquier, Luis Rioja and Dani Gomez visited through recent days to help gather and organise material donated to be sent to where it was needed.

“Thanks to everyone who came here to help,” said forward Gomez on X. “Today we will be here from 10 to 19 — we need things like nappies, cleaning products, toilet paper, water, whatever you can bring. It all helps a lot. We are so impressed and moved by all the solidarity you are showing.”

Levante captain Vicente Iborra spent much of Friday at the Ciutat de Valencia helping with the organisation. Then he walked the six miles to the suburb of Paiporta, bringing a shovel and brush, to help with the clean-up.

“I saw a lot of chaos, people coming and going trying to help as much as they could,” Iborra said on the El Larguero radio show on Friday night. “It is tough to see some things, but in the end you feel proud of the society as in these moments nobody cares about teams or political parties. People’s human side comes out.”

Thousands of locals in Valencia city and the surrounding areas also volunteered for the massive clean-up now required. Los Che forward Hugo Duro went to the Chiva neighbourhood to help out, as did youth teamers Javi Navarro and Pedro Aleman in the nearby town of Guadassuar. In Aldaia, Sanchez’s former team-mates Roberto Soldado and Tino Costa took part, with ex-Argentina midfielder Costa sharing images on Instagram.

Spanish coaches in other countries also wanted to send their thoughts to those who were suffering back home.

“We had a tragedy in Valencia, I am very sad,” said former Valencia and Villarreal coach Unai Emery, now in charge at Aston Villa. “All my condolences for the people affected and to the families of the victims. Hopefully, they can recover again quickly with everything that happened there.“

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta also sent his best wishes at his press conference on Friday, and his team and Newcastle wore black armbands when they met in the Premier League on Saturday.

“Before we start to talk about football. I would like to talk about the terrible disaster that is affecting our country at the moment,” Arteta said. “I want to send from our side our thoughts, our full support and our sympathy to everyone being affected, all the individuals and obviously all the country that is pulling together to find the best possible solution in this difficult moment. From here I want to show my full support and ask everybody in the way that they can to show their support because it’s terrible what’s happening.”

There has been solidarity from clubs and players across La Liga. Real Madrid’s club foundation donated €1million (£840,000; $1.09m) to help victims of the disaster, through the Spanish Red Cross.

Among the other clubs to contribute were Villarreal, who gave €500,000 (£420,000, $544,000) through charities Caritas and the Red Cross, and urged fans to also donate. Sevilla gave a donation of clothing including raincoats and tracksuits via the Red Cross.

Espanyol supporters collected material at their RCDE Stadium, including shovels, towels and water, to bring to Valencia by truck. Barcelona’s club foundation said it was working on ways it could help, and also encouraged fans to donate money online.

Girona announced that the full gate proceeds of their game at home against Leganes on Saturday would be donated to those affected in the Valencia region. La Liga also encouraged fans around the world to give what they could through the Red Cross.

Valencia’s local government announced three days of mourning on Friday November 1 through Sunday November 3. No sporting activities are taking place in the region over the weekend.

La Liga and the Spanish federation postponed all games involving its teams in the region, including Valencia versus Real Madrid at Mestalla and Villarreal hosting Rayo Vallecano in the Primera Division, and Segunda division games involving Castellon, Eldense and Levante.

The Valencia MotoGP motorbike race, due to be held on November 15, has been cancelled.

But Levante captain Iborra told El Larguero he would have preferred for all football in Spain to have been off this weekend.

“You could ask why they have not stopped the competition,” Iborra said. “It’s difficult to go to a stadium and cheer for a goal, or be happy, when just some metres away there are people who need help and are going through a bad time. How can you go to a stadium when there is so much tragedy? In the end, it is shown that we are just products in the world of football. We could be giving a lesson of humanity, but we are not.”

Before their 1-0 win over Real Valladolid, Osasuna coach Moreno said he for one had found it difficult to keep going as normal, knowing all that was happening in the Valencia region.

“We’re not aware, nobody knows what is happening there,” Moreno said on Friday. “I’m in constant contact with my kids, and it’s chaos there. A chaos we cannot imagine.

“Obviously, there are more important things in life than football. Maybe football helps to distract people, I don’t know, but I do know I would prefer to be there with them. You try to be strong and be professional, but it’s very difficult. And you’re not sure it’s worth it.”

(Top photo: Cesar Ortiz/Soccrates/Getty Images)

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