The Pride of Vallekas

Before I start I must talk about today's piece. It's a random collection of thoughts and stories that I tried desperately to piece together into a story about how forgotten Vallecas is. The end result? A random collection of thoughts and stories. So apologies if you were looking for a coherent story - all I have to offer is a collage... It lies in Vallecas. On the Av. del Ensanche de Vallecas, to be exact. It's a club whose president's middle name is Martín. No titles to its name. In the shadow of Real Madrid. No, not Rayo. Or Rayo B. Stand on the Av. del Ensanche de Vallecas and look right - you see the Ciudad Deportiva Rayo Vallecano, shared by Rayo B and Rayo Vallecano Femenino. Look left, and you see the Estadio Nuestra Señora de la Torre. Home of Vallecas CF, a club whose president is Manuel Martín Piedra. In the 2008-09 season, as Rayo emerged from the Segunda B and shocked the second division by coming fifth, Vallecas CF emerged from the fifth t...

Fran Beltrán renewed his contract! The former Getafe youth academy player signed an extension until 2020, making him a professionally paid player. Any club that wants him will now have to pay his release clause of eight million euros. Is he still a bargain? Yes. Absolutely. On a small football field in Madrid, Alfredo Di Stefano stepped on for a veterans match. He was retiring, and this was his sendoff.  Used to large crowds and noisy football stadiums, he probably was thinking - where am I?  Spain's districts are divided into neighborhoods, or barrios . South west to Puente de Vallecas is the working class district of Villaverde, where a small barrio  of about 18,000 inhabitants resides. It has historically been isolated, from the north and east by the railroad, to the south by the old Army Car Park and to the west by the old highway to Andalusia (A-4). 40% of the population is made up of immigrants - in the 1960s, immigrants from Extremadura, An...