Roller Hockey

Liceo 0 Barcelona 3

I attended my first ever roller hockey match yesterday. The match was a Spanish top of the table clash in La Coruña. The visitors handed Liceo their first defeat of the season with a surprisingly comfortable win. Obviously a newcomer to the sport does not see it through the same eyes as a seasoned fan, but it looked to me as if Egurrola, the Barça goalkeeper (if that's the right term) had an outstanding game, while Liceo spurned too many chances.

Roller hockey is a sport that’s particularly popular in Catalonia. Most of the best teams in the Ok Liga are Catalan and many cities there have their own club. Surprisingly, a little research tells me that Great Britain played a leading role in founding the sport and were once regarded as the best in the world. But since the Second World War they have been very much overtaken by Spain, Portugal and Italy. Roller hockey is also quite popular in South American countries like Argentina and Chile.

A game consists of two halves of 25 minutes. However, the clock stops between plays so the duration is roughly the same as a football match.

Advantages over football? Well, it’s reasonably priced for a start. I paid 7 Euros for my ticket. The cold slab seating may not be up to the standard you expect at top class football these days, but it’s a comfortable indoor environment where you don’t get really cold or wet.

The atmosphere was good with nearly three thousand in the stands and drummers backing their team throughout, while a few “Ultra” fanatics with a megaphone ensured the crowd didn't get too sedate. It was also pleasing to see the home fans accept defeat in a gracious away. Some applauded the victors off the court while the Liceo players were also given praise for their sterling effort – not something I could envisage taking place in the “beautiful game” after a 3-0 home defeat.

Homage in Vigo

Around a hundred people congregated in Pereiró Cemetery in Vigo this summer to pay homage to Emilio Martínez Garrido and seven other socialists and Republicans who were lined up against the cemetery walls and shot on 27th August 1936.

A spokesman for the Vigo collective 'Memoria do 36' said: "We are here without political colours* in defence of democracy and freedom. This was the date when the Fascist hordes tried to murder us, which they did for forty years."

The group held up a placard displaying photos of the victims along with the words "Non esquecemos" - Galician for "Don't Forget Us".

* A Spanish Republican flag was centre stage at the event.

Loosely translated from an article in El País, 28th Aug. 2008

Depor in Europe

Deportivo La Coruña enter the group stages of the UEFA tonight with a tough tie in Moscow against CSKA. Next month they face Feyenoord in Coruña on 27th November. The third match will be a trip to play Lech Poznan in Poland in the first week in December before rounding things off against Nancy in Riazor a week before Xmas.

Galician Tartan

Santiago Bernárdez, a designer from Cangas de Morrezo, has started selling Galician kilts. Although Santiago lived in Scotland for five years, the idea occured to him while attending the Ortigueira Celtic Music Festival on the northern coast of Galicia.

He designed a tartan, signed up with the Tartan World Register (at a cost of €400) and called a Scottish friend to order thirty kilts. They sold quickly. He has now ordered another hundred, which are on the market for €27.99 each. The kilt is a combination of cobalt blue and navy blue with a touch of white.

Galicia is not the first foreign land to register its own tartan by any means. The likes of Germany, The Netherlands and Australia already have their own.

http://www.galicianshop.com/

Info from Galician supplement in El País, 30th July, 2008.

The Lusophone Commonwealth

The Xunta will have to come to an agreement with the Spanish central government in order to obtain permission to become an associate observer of the Comunidade dos Países de Língua Portuguesa (CPLP), whose full members are the Portuguese speaking countries of Brazil, Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, São Tomé and Príncipe, East Timor and Portugal itself.

CPLP Executive Secretary, Luis Fonseca, has advised Galicia to request permission from Madrid to join as the CPLP does not want get embroiled in diplomatic conflicts with central governments.

He pointed out that the body is made up of countries and not regions, so Galicia could only hope to become an associate observer like the former Portuguese colonies of Goa (India), Macao (China) and Malay (Malaysia).

Fonseca added that if Galicia applied through the Spanish central government it would have every chance of gaining the statute thanks to its shared values and similarities with the Portuguese and Lusophone culture.

Paulo Coelho St.

"I embarked on the pilgrimage thinking mainly of the personal quest but I discovered the Way is simplicity, contact with the people." - Paulo Coelho

The Brazilian writer was in Santiago this week where he was met by the news that he will have a street named in his honour there. His first published book, 'O Diário dum mago' was about the Way and had the Spanish title 'El peregrino a Compostela'.

Football Round Up

It has not been a great season for Galician football in all honesty. Celta Vigo’s new coach, Alejandro Menéndez, is their fourth of the season. Having given up hope of promotion to La Primera a few weeks ago, the club still needs a few more points to ensure they do not suffer consecutive relegations. Celta are just above fellow Galicians, Racing Ferrol, who have enjoyed a better second half to the season. If Racing stay up it will be a satisfactory achievement considering they were promoted last season.

Deportivo La Coruña have been in excellent form recently after a disastrous start to the season. Read my thoughts on the main reasons for the turnaround at Goal.com.