The center’s director, Sonia Peña, introduced me to the residents who will be in the TV room when the ball starts rolling for La Cartuja, but warned me that more than one person would have to watch the game from their room, like José. … Garcia – absent due to injury – or Jaime Alarcón Montero, who sleeps out of focus. The fans are so popular among the population that Pedro Vasquez – the artistic director of Fondomar – told me how some prisoners who have had strokes only remember that they were peticos or civilistas. But the exception that confirmed the rule was the great Manuel Conradie, who jokingly raised 6 fingers and mentioned the six European Union Cups. “And say that I am a fan of Elvis and Monchi.”
Older fans – like old rockers – never forget their greatest hits, so it was a pleasure to listen to Sevilla’s José Martín Capello, as he also reminisced about the six UEFA European Championships and the building of the Sanchez Pizjuan (“I saw how they stole cement. They took it in trucks to resell”). Betis player Javier Roldan raised his voice to emphasize the 2-4 derby match played at the opening of Sevilla’s new stadium in 1958, but Sevilla player Manuel Alemany corrected him to specify that “the derby started in 1959, when Sevilla signed Luis Miro, because until then Betis only played in the third position, and sometimes in the second.” “There, there!” exclaimed Salud Mignes, who had come up with that “sometimes” that Manuel Alemany was hanging like flags.
Salud is the most cheerful of the fans gathered to watch the derby. “I have a name like Al-Attas,” I repeated to myself, “my whole family is Ashbelista, all of them. I am also Aryapattu’s cousin. My name is Salud Migins Labandon. “How good Alabanda was!” – Jose Castillo of Betis suddenly shouted: “The duo he played with Cardenosa is the best I have ever seen.” Salud jumped up: “Not Alabanda, Alabandon. So you can see I had nothing against them, I also liked Luis del Sol.
It appears that competition has eased in housing, with the majority of residents admitting to enjoying the good things that happen to the eternal competitor. Above all, to them. “They both look good to me,” Petek Flora Barriga told me. Carmen Martinez confirmed: “I am 70% from Sevilla, but 30% from Betica, and that is why I feel that I am with Sevilla.” Friendship is so important in a seniors’ center that Joaquín Torreglosa admitted to being “a Seville socialite, like a social drinker.” Rosario Ostos was honest: “I am Sevilla because of my friends, because what I love is El Rocio.” “And I’m a Cádiz fan!” -Encarna Cremo jumped up- “But my friends are from Seville.” Here I noticed the geographic and color importance, as José Enrique Castro was a fan of Cordoba, but he chose Betis “because of Gordillo and because of the colors.”
The names of players and coaches begin to fly like birds. For Javier Roldan, the best footballers were Gordillo and Luis del Sol, and the coaches Carega and Luis del Sol. Jose Castillo was very clear that the best coach for Betis is Juande Ramos, then Serra Ferrer and then Pellegrini. Speaking of experience, Betis’ non-agency players Manuel Lara and Manuel Martinez said they considered Pellegrini “very young”. In fact, Manuel Lara stated that Betis performed better with older coaches, and lamented the short time Carlos Timoteo Grijol had, “even though he was a 65-year-old kid.” In the stands of Sevilla, José Martín Capello declared that he was a fan of Campanal II and Peri Peri; Manuel Alemany wanted to stand up to talk about Kubo and Enrique; Mercedes Pérez took the opportunity to quote centre-back Antonio Alvarez (“He’s my brother-in-law, you know?”), and Salud Mignes didn’t mince words: “I loved Pablo Alvaro!” But the consensus was resounding when I asked who Sevilla’s best coach was: Argentine Helenio Herrera, who won with a landslide.
Women of Betic and Seville
I cannot end these chronicles without emphasizing that there were 11 women among Betika and Civilistas, some of whom were admired by family affections. For Francesca Ortiz, her father forced her to watch Betis matches on television (“I don’t know any names, but I know I feel for Betis”); Mª Ángeles Durán sympathized with Betis as a resident of Heliópolis, but thanks to her grandson she was already a fan (“He’s a professor in the States and would love to see me on ABC”) and Salud Migens never stopped boasting about her Seville lineage (“Did I tell you I’m Arrebato’s cousin?”). Only in this way can you understand how Charry Castro lived the derby: “I am the only Sevilla in the family. I have 5 children and they all left your home. Not a Sevilla player. Not even the smallest one! And one, making sandwiches for the derby. “But after losing,” Salud said, “they’ll come home not hungry, and that way you won’t have to serve them dinner.”