The appearance of Iker Irribarria as a defender, he adds spice to the menu that the Masters Kutxabank cooks this afternoon in the Bizkaia of Bilbao. The manomanista champion joins his ingredients to those of Mikel Urrutikoetxea, another striker accustomed to these stoves, to measure himself to Iñaki Artola and Beñat Rezusta. Adding is always important, even if there are another thirteen days remaining. The festival, offered live by ETB1, starts at 17:30.
It is Irribarria’s fourth game as a defender in the professional field. The previous three have been together with Jokin Altuna. They lost the first two, one in Astelena and the other in Atano III, and they won the last one, again in the Donostia pediment, where Arama’s left-hander confirmed good manners and hit for that position.
The one that begins this Saturday is a challenge of greater caliber since it is a three-month experience instead of a sporadic change. Irribarria has ancestors, ball players to look at. Not only his partner today, Urrutikoetxea, capable of winning the Parejas txapela as a defender in the company of Olaizola II. Mikel Goñi, Aimar himself, his brother Asier or Ezkurdia have also made punctual incursions in the rear, more or less recent.
If we look back further we find diverse trajectories, some striking such as those of Julián Lajos, Fernando Tapia or Marcelino Vergara himself.
Lajos’ serve
One of the outstanding cases is that of Lajos, who developed his entire amateur career as a striker. The jump to professional pushed him to drastic change of position. People close to the mourned Navarrese pelotari point out that “he debuted as a professional in the Manomanista of 1966. At that time you signed up through your federation and as a result he signed for Empresas Unidas.”
Julián Lajos made the jump on February 2, 1966 in a tie against Juaristi at Labrit. Won 22-7. Then he beat Txo de Bermeo 22-6. Until Andueza III discharged him in Logroño by beating him 22-10 in a clash with anecdote. Someone recommended Larraintzar’s visit the sauna. What nobody told her is that ten minutes was enough. He spent an hour inside and when he jumped onto the Adarraga court he could barely stand up.
As a forward, Lajos possessed a lethal weapon. «He was able to put ten or twelve serve points to the best amateur defenders of the time. I had him very trained. He took advantage of any occasion to train. Julian I was driving a truck, a small Avia in which he had several balls. Passing through Urdaniz, he stopped by the pediment, made a lot of serves, rode again in the cabin and went back to work ».
He took Alfonso Etxeberria, former mayor of Eskulari and father of the former manager of Asegarce Rafa, as a defender, as well as Zamarreño, Eugi’s baseball player.
Even as a professional, Empresas Unidas resorted to Lajos on several occasions to program him as a forward in Labrit, in Bergara, in Astelena … He starred in numerous solo matches against a couple.
Fernando Tapia, the first from the Azkoitiar dynasty, also took his first steps on the ball as a striker. The pelota player from Zestoarra Xabier Iriondo recalls that he established his position as defender «when the two brothers began to play together. The premiere was on September 6, 1958 in Zestoa: Tapia anaiak, 22; Ibarguren-Sorazu, 12. So, Fernando was 18 years old and Juan Ramón, 13. It was such a boom that within two weeks they played four games, all in Zestoa. And on September 25 Fernando faced Sorazu hand to hand. That day he collected 1,000 pesetas. Many second-rate professional ballplayers did not reach that amount. Do you know how much they paid the operators of a workshop at that time? 250 pesetas weekly. Compare ».
They debuted together
The Tapia brothers They debuted together with Empresas Unidas at the Zarautz Cinema on July 30, 1961. They defeated Otxoa and Galarreta 22-14. Fernando worked in such a way as a defender who settled in that position and completed a great career.
The former material selector Atano XIII, another manista who made his debut as a striker to later become a defender, points out from Tapia I that “he was an artist. No one else has executed the two walls like this from the left wall and from so far away. In addition, as a young man he played soccer at Anaitasuna very well. They say he had class, vision of the game and a magnificent ball hitting. Several teams wanted him, but he opted for the ball ».
The list is long and it also includes Marcelino Vergara, the 1st of the Etxalar dynasty. His brother Salva points out that «we became a couple. We are facing, for example, Agirre and Lajos. ”When Salva Vergara sets memory in motion surprising facts emerge. «I’ve seen Antxon Maiz play as a striker. Yes, Maiz II. How can I not remember that game! We went against each other in a duel of the Cinco Villas Tournament between Etxalar and Arantza. It even got air. I also faced Iñaki Gorostiza as a forward, in Amurrio. We were youthful and I had Txoperena as a partner. Iñaki started the defender game and finished as a forward. They beat us ».
The reverse has also occurred. Zagueros like Fernando Arretxe, Abel Barriola sporadically and Ladis Galarza father in a Couples Championship proved as forwards with more or less fortune.
The commitment to Urrutikoetxea in 2016 ended in success
Asegarce bet heavily on Mikel Urrutikoetxea as a defender in the 2016 Couples Championship. His coaches risked and burned. Salva Vergara, sports manager of the Bilbao promoter in those years, knew that the man from Zaratamo could “offer a good performance in that position because we saw him in training. He held out the ball and was safe behind. On the other hand, Aspe already had a good list of defenders at the time and we tried to counter it with that change ». Olaizola II came from playing the Couples with Ibai Zabala in 2013, with Andoni Aretxabaleta in 2014 and with Mikel Beroiz in 2015. Although he reached the final with Markina’s defender, the title resisted him and the company chose to reinforce his options through of a peculiar formula. It worked for them because they won the txapela. In fact, they have repeated experience this year, although with greater difficulties than four editions ago. They had a hard time starting, the injuries have haunted Urrutikoetxea and it has been a more defensive couple than that of its first version. Now, they were more before the break.
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