MadridThe song “Take, go away!“It’s already a ritual in the 13th minute of the match at the Vallecas stadium. The president and owner of the club – with almost 98% of the shares – since 2011, Raúl Martín Presa, has been accustomed to it. He prefers to remain anonymous, whether he likes it or not, the general feeling of the fans is that he doesn’t care at all. Ángel, who this Wednesday attended the King’s Cup semi-final against Betis.
For the second time in the last year, he also witnessed the party Rocío Monasterio, leader of Vox in the Community of Madrid. The first was last spring and she was accompanied by the party’s president, Santiago Abascal, in an episode that outraged fans. He rayism is characterized by the defense of left-wing ideals such as anti-capitalism, anti-fascism and anti-racism, which clash not only with the guests at the box office, but with a management of the company – the club – that only looks the results account, all subscribers and followers consulted agree.
The vast majority are neighborhood and working class people, sensitive to issues such as housing: in 2014 the Bukaneros got the staff to pay the new rent for an evicted elderly woman. In the area occupied by the field, behind one of the gates, you can sometimes see Alfon’s mother, a bukanero arrested in the general strike of November 14, 2012 and sentenced to four years in prison for possession of explosives. The Madrid left has always denounced that it was a police assembly and now the young man lives in Catalonia.
In the market square of Numancia, next to the football field, the Bukaneros and the younger fans usually concentrate before and after the matches. Black clothes predominate, punk music is played and leeks are smoked, thus forming a very specific aesthetic and atmosphere where no one would have imagined Martín Presa. Neither did his predecessor, the businessman and Marquis of Olivar José María Ruiz-Mateos, who died in 2015. “We are water and oil”, underlines one of those who usually extend the pre- and post-match at this meeting point.
The coach of the women’s team
The latest scandal that has aggravated the division between the fans and the property is that of the new coach of the women’s team, Carlos Santiso, who defended group rape as a tool of cohesion for his staff, as they pick up some audios from last November. Neither he has resigned – the physical trainer has done so – nor has Presa been fired; on the contrary, he has opted to forgive him in spite of his words, which he has described as “despicable”. In fact, he assured that its continuity is defended by the players themselves, although they have not spoken directly. Only the Association of Spanish Footballers issued a statement rejecting that sectors of the Rayo fans see soft. They consider that the players should take a step forward for dignity, while others emphasize that Presa forbids footballers to talk to the media. “It would be worse. The more you face it, the more you fuck up,” says Susana, a fan.
In the vicinity of the stadium, it is inevitable that Santiso’s case will end up being compared to that of Roman Zozúlia, the Ukrainian footballer with neo-Nazi ties who was to arrive on loan at Rayo in 2017. The pressure from the fans made him not end up consuming the incorporation. Was there more force in the protests? Daniel thinks so: “If he had been the male coach, he would have ridden something.” La Vera believes there has been zero tolerance in both cases, but suspects Presa may have some “conflict of interest” with Santiso. There is a differentiating fact, which is that Zozulia herself wanted to leave when she saw the commotion.
The women’s team already focused the controversy this summer when they were a month without being registered with Social Security. “His only priority is male and everything else is abandoned,” says the small shareholder consulted. Describes a state of “laziness and negligence” of the club that, if the sports results do not accompany, could lead to extinction: in the store there are no shirts, in the lower categories children receive clothing months late, the female players are premia with turkey sandwiches after matches and with penalties if they take an AVE on their own instead of the club bus because they arrive late for other jobs that are compatible with football.
The infrastructure is also “terrible”, he complains, citing the fact that tickets cannot be bought online. That would explain why Presa decided on Wednesday that subscribers could go to the pitch for free – the Copa del Rey matches are not included – the club found 10,000 tickets to sell two days before the match and no resources to do so. . However, the prices of the general entrance for the general public did not fall below 50 euros. The “obstacles” are constant, complain the supporters clubs, in charge of organizing the days of the rayism and a popular race that reaches its third edition. Last year Presa did not allow him to finish inside the stadium and they fear that this time either. The “contempt” criticized by the chairman is also exemplified by the date of the convening of the shareholders’ meetings: 31 December.
“All we have to do is leave.”
Presa sets the rules and does as he pleases: last week in the quarterfinals of the Copa del Rey the Bukaneros saw how they were prevented from entering the stadium with shirts, scarves or banners with the name that defines them . This Wednesday, however, they had no problems. One more tug-of-war between the property and a hobby that lives with a general feeling of boredom, mixed with that of resignation. “The club is his fucking master, “sums up one follower, with a point of anger and another of realism.” All we have left is that [Presa] get tired and leave “, tries to console another. Meanwhile, Vallecas enjoys football and everything around Rayo.
