The Pride of Vallekas

The Rayo aficionado series was intended to interviewing Rayo fans from various backgrounds, and so far this blog has been privileged to feature fans who are born and bred in Vallekas. But the international reach that this small club has had is amazing - Finland and Oslo were surprising, but Washington DC might be the hardest to beat. Nevertheless, given the number of Rayo fans in the UK - and given that a Newcastle and Lancashire based fan have already contributed to this series - it's with great delight that I can announce that I'm joining forces with Carl Harper in setting up a UK based Rayo Vallecano supporters group . We are in our infancy, and you can find more details on social media below. Moreover, we will try and give some English coverage of Rayo Vallecano as well - I'll try my best to increase my coverage on this blog too, but forgive me if I go back to writing about a Segunda B player no one has heard of. I'll resist that temptation - sometimes. Finall...

Follow Mark Rickling on Twitter: @mrickling A bit about yourself and your background I'm an American living in the nation's capital, Washington DC. In addition to supporting Rayo, I'm a season ticket holder for the local MLS team, D.C. United. ¡Vamos United! How long have you been a fan of Rayo and what made you support them in the first place? Good question. I first started supporting Rayo in the 2011-12 season. As fan of soccer in a country where this sport is an also-ran in relation to other, more popular, team sports like American football and baseball, you're constantly told by the soccer media that you need to pick a foreign side to support. There are innumerable articles and even books devoted to this very subject -- what non-U.S. team is for you the American fan. Invariably the suggestion turns out to be some Premier League side, and as a result the streets of DC are littered every Saturday and Sunday morning with people walking to their local soccer b...

Juan Sánchez is a lifelong Rayo fan...and is @MitaADRV24 on Twitter, give him a follow! A bit about yourself and your background I am a rayista through and through, I have tattooed the shield of Rayo on my skin, am very eager to see Rayo at all times...if you ever have the chance to travel to Spain and Madrid, I invite you to go and see a match in Vallecas. It is incredible, you will really like it! I am a subscriber of the club and I love it. How long have you been a fan of Rayo and what made you support them in the first place? I supported the club since I was 5, since Rayo was in the Segunda B (similar to the English 3rd division), my father took me from a very young age, and I loved to go and enjoy the team play. Describe your first visit ever to Vallecas and the stadium? How would you describe the fans in the stadium, and how intimidating is the stadium for opposition fans and players? It was great! As I said, it was when I was very small and I saw so much madness for...

Oscar has been a lifelong Rayo fan, and is  @salto_acevedo on Twitter - give him a follow! A bit about yourself and your background My name is Oscar, I am 37 years old. I am married thanks to the promotion - of the last promotion - to La Liga and the celebration that we had. I am the father of two twin girls who do not know who Cristiano, Messi or Griezmann are. We carry rayismo in our DNA. How long have you been a fan of Rayo and what made you support them in the first place? I have been a fan of Rayo for more than 30 years, specifically since 1984, because of my grandfather's heritage. Describe your first visit ever to Vallecas and the stadium? How would you describe the fans in the stadium, and how intimidating is the stadium for opposition fans and players? My first time in the stadium was a long time ago - I think it was against Valencia C.F who at that time competed in the second division. The stadium was a "pass" mark, as the phrase says: this i...

You can follow Daniel Kobe on Twitter here . A bit about yourself and your background I'm 29 years old, I was born and raised in Aluche, a neighborhood in the south of Madrid. I work in IT support in a French company. I do like football since I can remember, also I do like to watch NFL games (Jets fan here) and play video games on my free time. How long have you been a fan of Rayo and what made you support them in the first place? In my family, everybody supports Real Madrid, so when I was a kid I did too. Anyway, one day I was in the car with my father listening to this famous sport program on the radio (Carrusel Deportivo), they were talking about the 2nd Spanish division and I heard the coolest name I have ever heard in my life - Rayo Vallecano. From that moment I always wanted to know about this team. At first, I only had information about the results, then I started reading the columns on the sports papers, watching televised games and so on… Describe your first visi...