The Pride of Vallekas

When I sent Elizabeth the questions via email, she responded: "Good grief. Are you doing a PhD in Rayo fans?" Ladies and gentlemen, we have a new subtitle of the Rayo aficionado project. She is @LizzieCarrEllis on Twitter - give her a follow! A bit about yourself and your background I’m a journalist living and working in south-east England, but I’m originally from Newcastle. I lived eight years in Scotland, where I supported Hibs (Hibernian), and then eight years in Madrid. How long have you been a fan of Rayo and what made you support them in the first place? I thought I’d be an Atléti fan at first but they never grabbed me. My husband was reading up about Rayo and we both really liked the ethos: anti-fascista, etc. and the strong sense of community. Plus the tickets were affordable - and you could get them - and one day we just really wanted to see a live football game so we went, we won and that was it. Describe your first visit ever to Vallecas and the sta...

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...

Tapani writes about Spanish and English football, including Huddersfield and Rayo, on his Finnish blog Mania Fútbol. You can read it here . Also, you can follow Tapani on Twitter here . A bit about yourself and your background I'm your average Joe, living in Finland, aged 35, having watched football since Italia 90. I watch a lot of local football, but have also always followed the English game (Huddersfield being my club in England since mid-90s). Football in Spain was, for a long time, something I had an interest in but didn't really see too much of. I always liked the national team but didn't really get to grips with the league until 2014 when I got to spend the spring in Madrid as part of my study leave from work. How long have you been a fan of Rayo and what made you support them in the first place? One distinction has to be made first: I don't think I can really call myself a "fan". I see the Bukaneros, and all the others, supporting Rayo, follow...

Follow Edyta on Twitter here . A bit about yourself and your background I’m from Poland, born and raised in Cracow and a Rayo fan since the 2012-13 season. I'm an active commentator of Rayo in social networks, and also a fan of Spanish football, Spanish language, and the culture of Spanish-speaking countries. I’m an IT graduate but my passion is journalism. I’ve been cooperating with goldeplata.com and timejust.es, occasionally I have a column in Rayo Total. I’ve just been accepted at the Spanish Philology department. How long have you been a fan of Rayo and what made you support them in the first place? I’ve been supporting Rayo since the 2012-13 season. It was the first season of Paco Jémez as Rayo’s coach, and finished with the historical eighth place in the ranking, which would have advanced us to Europe had we been given the licence. I was impressed by the team’s ultra offensive style of play, but most of all I was amazed by how combative they were, especially in a gam...

A travel blogger's perspective on Vallekas! Andrew Gillan is the founder of "Mis Viajes En Fútbol", a travel blog that explores stadiums ranging from popular to obscure. His blog can be found here . You can follow the blog on Twitter here , and follow Andrew here . A little bit about yourself and your background I'm from Northern Ireland, but for the last few years I've been living in Spain and working as an English teacher, firstly in Galicia, but now in Andalucía. Previously I worked in sports journalism and did a lot of media work for my local club Coleraine FC. What made you become interested in visiting football stadiums around Spain? Really just a love of live football and seeing it in different places. If I travel somewhere for a weekend, I'll make those plans based around a match (or two if possible!) What was the idea behind the blog Mis Viajes En Fútbol ? It's basically just an outlet for me to do a little bit of creative football...

"I have only good words for the Bukaneros, I have been in Vallecas with so many different people (friends, family, coworkers...) and all of them were amazed by the way the Bukaneros transmit their support both the team and the rest of the crowd. They are the real supporters, they are always singing and cheering. It doesn't matter if the team is winning or losing.... Also, it's incredible how they support all the categories, you can go to a game from Rayo’s female team and they will be there with you, the same with the youth teams, if the alevín (10 and 11 years old kids) are playing a tournament, the Bukaneros will be there supporting - it's really amazing how they live and breathe Rayo Vallecano. The Bukaneros are not only a hooligan group, they fight for something, they are committed with a lot of social actions and they have all my respect. Life is not just about football." That was an interview with Daniel Kobe in yesterday's piece (read it here ) as p...

That's right! Give the Facebook page a like here for updates on blog posts and sneak peaks on future posts! A while back  I spoke to NUFCBlog.co.uk about Mohamed Diamé and how at Rayo he developed into the most sought-after prospect in world football: "They had Danny Drinkwater – we had 33-year-old club legend and pass master Míchel. They had Christian Fuchs and we had 39-year-old left-back Carles Llorens. They had Kasper Schmeichel and we had David Cobeño. They had Mark Albrighton and we had Jofre. They had Riyad Mahrez and we had Miguel Albiol. They had N’Golo Kanté, and we had Mohamed Diamé. And while each of those players have stories that are worth sharing, the last one sticks out the most." Now that I've spoken about Mo Diamé, it's time. Here are the other stories. "It was an agreement between clubs. What happened was that I did not want to leave, I was very comfortable at Rayo; we were going to play in Europe and I wanted ...

Yesterday, I talked about Granada taking Rayo players away, but I actually didn't mention one of Granada's biggest signings from the club - Paco Jémez. So here it is. Paco refused to hear the scores when Rayo were 1-0 down. Nor when Rayo were 2-0 down. Nor when Rayo were 2-1 down. He turned to his bench, to the coaches who had supported him all season when criticism was at its zenith, to the coaches who had seen their players pull out for the season one by one, to the coaches who couldn’t hide their emotions as they responded. Granada? Safe. Getafe-Sporting? Draw. His head hung low, his eyes lost - searching for reason in a season that has been unreasonable to Rayo - his mind made up: "We are dead". We were dead. There was no hope - Sporting were playing Villarreal, who were coached by a Sporting fan, and Getafe were playing Betis, a team whose fan base has been friendly to Sporting for years. Out of Getafe, Rayo and Sporting, only Sporting were goi...