The Pride of Vallekas

Two days back, I wrote a piece titled The "other" Las Palmas: 5 promotions in 6 seasons - Universidad de Las Palmas (Part 1). This is part 2 - and the final part. With a similar squad compared to the year before, along with players like Alexis Trujillo, Alberto Hernández, José Luis Padrón and Óscar Luis Celada, David Amaral led the team, for the second year in a row, to the promotion playoffs. They also won the Segunda B, and the Segunda B playoffs, reaching professional football within six years of being founded as a club. They became the third Canarian team to reach a professional league, after Las Palmas and Tenerife. The celebration was held at the Fuente Luminosa in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Now, there was another team in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, challenging for local supremacy, and creating a new rivalry. For some, it was a sign that football in Gran Canaria had advanced significantly. For others, it was a ruffle of feathers... Las Palmas and Universid...

If you remember, a few days back, I wrote a piece titled The "other" Oviedo: CD Universidad de Oviedo - A historic university with a historic football team , talking about the football team of the Universidad de Oviedo. This story is similar - it's about the football team of Universidad de Las Palmas...but that's part 1. Part 2 is a continuation of that piece. Well, not so much continuation as nostalgia, as I wondered if there was anyone who has played for both the "Real" Oviedo (pun intended) and the "other" Oviedo? As it turns out, there are two. One of them is Real Oviedo legend Oli. The other is Alfonso Artabe... The rise and fall of Universidad de Las Palmas (Part 1) In 1994, a group of friends (university students, lawyers and former footballers), who used to play football on weekends, decided to register as a team in the Interinsular Federation of Las Palmas. This idea, which developed in meetings in the neighborhood of Vegueta,...