Tuesday, November 12, 2024, 9:45 p.m.
Valladolid is a few hours away from reaching one of those dates that it marked with a red marker on its sports calendar, the Spain-Fiji rugby match at the José Zorrilla stadium. If the visit of the Oceanic fifteen, ninth in the world ranking and which has just beaten Wales 19-24 in Cardiff, is already attractive in itself, the city is gambling on the possibility of hosting the most important match of the century for the Lions, the that will face the Netherlands on the first weekend of February with tickets at stake to travel to the 2027 World Cup in Australia.
A good part of the response that Valladolid gives this Saturday will depend on Zorrilla changing the football goals for rugby goals again within three months, not in a ‘test match’ in an autumn window, but in a crucial match to heal. the injuries caused by the disqualifications that left Spain out of the 2019 and 2023 World Cups. It is the thesis that Juan Carlos Martín ‘Hansen’, president of the Spanish Federation, from Valladolid and former player from El Salvador, has defended before the media. and José Antonio Barrio ‘Yunque’, sports director of the FER.
“So far we have sold 13,100 tickets,” was the phrase with which Hansen started, before acknowledging that “they are less than I expected,” a lukewarm response that he justified by the lack of habit of the Valladolid public in selling their seats online. and not through the usual physical points of sale; so trust in the pull of the last few days to surpass that half entry that the virtual box office has reached so far.
Hansen sells that Spain-Fiji is much more than the eighty-minute match and is the highlight of a rugby festival that lasts from morning to night, with a fan zone open to the public where there will be music with DJs. , local bands like Los Pichas or The Jam One’s, tents with food and drinks in the food trucks and at the bars, games and inflatables for children and merchandising stands with oval sports products. Auvasa will charter buses from various points as a shuttle to the surroundings of the Zorrilla stadium. The president of the FER announced as a novelty that Valladolid clubs of any sport will be able to access their seats with a 10% discount and that all rugby clubs, from any part of Spain, will enjoy a 20% discount.
It does not seem that there is a real alternative to Zorrilla for that Spain-Netherlands in February, especially if we take into account that a few days ago the Central de la Complutense, temple of national rugby, only brought together 3,800 fans in the first test of the window against Uruguay. The memory of the legendary 2016 Copa del Rey final, which hung the no tickets sign with the 26,500 seats occupied, must be a beacon to illuminate the entrance to the port, even at the risk of dazzling the helmsman and causing the ship to crash against the rocks.
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