Victories in extremis, constant distribution of points, a tight classification, fights for permanence, matches suffered for promotion... These are the main ingredients of the silver category of Spanish football. This season is no exception: the table is very close and anything - or almost anything - can happen. Each match is a waste of intensity and tension - the good kind - that has made it one of the most followed and acclaimed competitions on the sporting scene.
Now, LaLiga SmartBank is not only synonymous with equality and strong emotions, but it is also the stage where some historic clubs of our professional football that dream of returning to the top category coexist with emerging sports projects seeking to establish themselves in the elite. . This is the case of SD Ponferradina and CD Tenerife, who met last Sunday in one of the most attractive matches of matchday 25.
Bercianos and Tenerife residents have become, on their own merit, two of the sensations of a season in which they aspire to put the finishing touch in the form of promotion to LaLiga Santander, in the year of their respective centenaries.
The El Toralín stadium has witnessed good football and although the victory has been on this occasion for CD Tenerife (1-2). Both clubs have, despite the geographical distance, a special union, especially in their most recent history. “We have lived through very particular moments, we were promoted in Tenerife in 2012,” recalls the CEO of SD Ponferradina, Eduardo Domínguez Garnelo. Hence they always consider the visit of the Tenerife people as “a special game”. Even more so, in the season of a centenary that is already beginning to breathe throughout the region.
From the islands they come together in the run-up to the celebration of a rival, for whom they profess "great respect", mainly because of "the value of the long survival of a sports structure", in the words of the club's vice president, Milagros. Luis Brito. Rooting in the community is, without a doubt, one of the secrets that have allowed both Deportiva (or Ponfe) and Tete to reach one hundred years of life.
“We are not only the Ponferrada team, we are the team of all Bercians,” Domínguez Garnelo states, not without pride. “We have always been the El Bierzo club and we have taken actions to extend to all corners of the region.” A historic region, located between Galicia, Asturias and León, in which the club wanted to participate in the numerous events planned for its centenary: “For the anthem we have invited groups and groups of local artists, and also “We have designed a replica of the 1922 t-shirt and to present it to the public we have hidden it in historical or relevant places in the Bercian orography, encouraging excursions through the region,” he adds.
Unlike other disciplines such as basketball or futsal, the regional dimension of a club is a phenomenon that is not very common in professional football. Thus, and in the same way that the BAXI Manresa is a source of pride for all of Bages (Barcelona), and the CD Burela FS represents A Mariña (Lugo) throughout the national geography, the Ponfe has also become an emblem of their land beyond its borders.
They are a reference and example. Also when talking about well-understood rivalry. A type of competitiveness that in the case of CD Tenerife, leads us to think of UD Las Palmas. The club is also part of a centenary that, curiously, they inaugurated with a confrontation against the eternal island rival. The latest chapter in a story of rivalry and healthy competition, which has fueled the fans of one island and the other: “When Tenerife is doing well, the excitement is palpable in the streets of the island. The fans are the history of CD Tenerife”, they maintain from the entity.
These types of matches are proof that emotion and intensity are part of any LaLiga SmartBank match -with the permission of the derbies and ElClásico-. Competition is usually synonymous with tight rankings and meager incomes. This is demonstrated by the 11 points distance between the relegation places and the Play-Off for promotion to LaLiga Santander in the 2013/14 season, or the 10 just two seasons ago. These are some recent examples that everything is unpredictable and that is, in Milagros' opinion, “one of the great attractions of football and LaLiga SmartBank, where large budgets can help, but they do not guarantee success.”
This is also how Domínguez Garnelo sees it, adding: “LaLiga has managed to ensure that, thanks to financial fair play, LaLiga SmartBank is very competitive, hard-fought and attractive to watch, covering large, medium and small cities throughout Spain.” And the fact is that, despite the club's undeniable upward trajectory at a sporting level, they prefer to continue displaying the label of a modest club: “Dreaming about a promotion would be something wonderful for all Bercians, but of course, if we become obsessed, we still end up having a nightmare. We have to keep our feet on the ground and be aware that we are very small, we have to work and dream just enough,” confesses Eduardo.
The same caution reigns at Heliodoro Rodríguez López, who do not forget the football classic that the seasons are very long. Of course, since politeness does not take away courage, its vice president does not miss the opportunity to recognize the current coach, Luis Miguel Ramis, "for the excellent performance he is getting from the squad and his leading role in the development of the season because he knows the mentality , he knew where he landed having been part of the club. He is not someone who fell into the project by chance,” Milagros emphasizes.
In the same way as the people of Tenerife, trust in Jon Pérez Bolo is one of the compelling reasons that justify the “exponential growth in the sporting part” of the Ponfe. Coming from the historic Arenas Club of Getxo - one of the ten teams that participated in the inaugural season of LaLiga Santander in 1929 -, the commitment to Bolo has been a decision "with a very positive effect" for the Bercian club, from where they return to emphasize that their presence represents “added value” that “gives color” to LaLiga SmartBank, by demonstrating that “others” can also “reach great heights.”
The first promotion in history to LaLiga Santander would be the maximum culmination in the centenary of Deportiva. However, and in addition to the organization of the centenary meetings, a series of monthly talks in which the history of the club is reviewed; the publication of a commemorative magazine and book; and new acts yet to be confirmed, Ponfe is already preparing its future well beyond June 7, the date on which it will turn 100 years old. Thanks to the financial injection that the recent agreement with CVC has brought to LaLiga clubs, the Bercian entity will be able to renew its facilities and infrastructure, in addition to undertaking “an important work” – in the words of Domínguez – in El Toralín.
For its part, the review of the 100 years of the islanders leads us to remember two of the most exciting and unrepeatable episodes in the history of the competition, such as the famous Tenerife leagues. Of course, from the island entity they admit that, although "facing Real Madrid gave us a projection, 100 years of football provide many milestones and memories such as the promotions in 1961 to the top category and in 1971 to the silver category and participation in the UEFA Cup.”
However, despite the moments of glory, they also do not lose perspective of how much it has cost them to establish themselves in the elite of professional football. "It's a long career, we are a team that has gone through many difficulties, let's not forget that we are in an archipelago, and that has the handicaps of travel," admits Luis Brito who, in addition to his usual duties at the club, has been the in charge of coordinating all the events of a centenary that arrives at an “exciting moment” above all the obstacles derived from the pandemic, which are providing “a motivational element for the fans.”
In addition to the premiere of a centenary anthem and the comic Club Deportivo Tenerife, a century of football (the latter also translated into English, German and French), the institution has promoted the Ángel Arocha forum, a space for dissemination and debate on the history of the club, organized in collaboration with the island's Press Association. Because, precisely, if one objective has moved the team led by Luis Brito in the organization of the centenary events, it has been the vindication of history and the recovery of the club's documentary heritage, destroyed in a fire in 1945.
Despite having been deprived of the official recognition act, the generosity of some of the oldest members and the families who have donated their private archives has allowed the club to “recover that history eliminated by the flames and that was considered lost”: “We have a large volume of oral testimonies, documents and audiovisual sources available to everyone in the club's history section.”
A good part of them can already be enjoyed in the series Centenario de una Pasión, which in twelve episodes interviews some of the personalities who best represent the feeling of belonging of a part of the Canary Islands to Tete: from former soccer players like Alberto Molina, to the former prop man Juan Figueroa, through the architect of Heliodoro, Carlos Schwartz, among others.
“When I went to the stadium, I removed myself from my role as an architect to become an absolute fan and supporter of Tenerife: the Madrid games, the two consecutive league championships… to the point that I have become a sports editor,” explains Schwartz. “The players were like they were my family. When they saw me in a bad way, which I didn't care for, they always helped me and told me: “Figueroa, do you need something?”...sometimes they even told me about their sorrows and everything,” recalls the endearing first team equipment manager. for more than 30 years. “I love CD Tenerife as if it were a son,” summarizes the footballer who has worn the Tenerife jersey the most times. A collection of anecdotes and testimonies collected in the 'Centenary of a Passion' series that will remain indelible for the knowledge and enjoyment of any football fan.
