The contrasts between the categories of football in Spain have become more evident than ever as a result of the coronavirus. The teams no professionals they came out unscathed once again, after the statement issued last Monday by the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) with the start of the season on the air until there are no “health and safety guarantees”. We need a “plan endorsed by the public authorities”, which has remained in the hands of the authorities of each autonomous community and only multiplies the uncertainties in the clubs. In Second B the majority response was to postpone the start of the preseason, a trend that has also spread to Third.
The ball is now in the hands of the Catalan Football Federation (FCF). For now, the date that sounds loudest to start the new campaign is the weekend of October 10-11. It is the reference, although until it is unofficial no one can start working with the highest conditions. That is why Banyoles, Peralada, Figueres and Girona B are waiting, making hands and sleeves to define their roadmap.
banyoles
Once the 2019-20 season came to an end, Banyoles moved quickly to choose Pitu Batlle as their new coach. Its release, however, is getting longer than expected due to this “uncertainty” situation. “We wanted to start training today and now we find that we have to wait to act. We can’t go ahead because the rules of the game have to be set for us … It’s difficult. We keep marking the individual work and as soon as they tell us when we can start and how, we will do it “, points out Batlle. The technician calls for “calm and patience”, aware that “it is necessary to mark how to act if something happens that we do not want” as it would be a positive for coronavirus. “It seems that the RFEF has passed the ball because we have stopped for a long time and we did not have to wait until August 10 to make this resolution. I think it could have been done with more foresight because there is now very little room. They knew the situation could be complicated and a strategy could have been set sooner. We will have to live with that, ”he says.
“The players ask us a lot, but unfortunately we have the same information as them. It doesn’t reach us much. We continue to adapt to what is there to arrive in the best conditions, and when we are told what to do, we will prepare to do the best we can. We don’t want to rush, “he said. Batlle has not yet been able to direct any training session for Banyoles and it is “a handicap, but we will have to learn to adapt. We have to adjust to the new situation, which is complicated for everyone. We don’t have to complain, we have to adapt.
peralada
The Peralada also remains in expectation. Albert Carbó’s team “intended to start training the day before yesterday, but when the statement came out, everything slowed down a bit until more news came out.” The coach explains that the immediate solution that the champagners have found is to “plan a new season, which could start next week if we take the date of October 10.” In the face of so much uncertainty, we need to have “several options on the table because without a start date there can be nothing clear and we must be prepared, with everything in order, to get through a good preseason.” In this sense, “tying friends and squaring the content of the weeks becomes almost impossible.”
“The situation is worrying. The club will follow all measures. We need and want to get back to work. It’s been many months of inactivity and the longer it takes, the harder it will be to get back on the pitch, “he said. Unemployed since last March, “there are players who have had to get to work because one has to look for life. They are too questioning and we are the ones harmed. It is still a job that everyone has. This will affect many families, but we try to be positive. We keep the staff informed because we want to avoid telling them overnight that we are rejoining.
figueres
At Figueres they also demand an immediate response. Coach Javi Salamero states that the RFEF statement “is a lack of respect because it calls the players and coaching staff non-professionals.” “Inviting the territorial federations to establish health security protocols, when they have been more than five months old, is another lack of respect. Many clubs rely on logistics to design and plan workouts. Starting blind can be detrimental to footballers, who can even end up injured. There is a chaos that is difficult to resolve “, he adds.
Considering that the RFEF has given a margin of 30 days to announce the official start of the season, the people of Figueres consider that “we cannot stand idly by”. Salamero explains that “from the 17th, when the PROCICAT restrictions in Figueres end, we will do physical tests in small groups to know exactly how we are and so on the 24th we can start a pre-season with full activity that will depend on the decisions that are taken ”. Of course, “always ensuring health security and knowing that until there is a vaccine the risk of coronavirus infection exists.”
girona b
Despite being the subsidiary of a Second A team, Girona B also suffers the consequences that the rest of the Girona clubs of Third. “We have the uncertainty that everyone has. We do not have clear information, but we must live with doubts. We have already postponed the start of the pre-season while waiting for the RFEF meeting and we will finally start it today “, says Albert Siria, sports director of the subsidiary and of the white-and-red Academy. The people of Girona are clear that “we have to control that depends on us with the utmost precautions. We will return to training gradually until we know the decision.
“In exceptional cases, we must try to be as normal as possible and be very flexible. We have to adapt to constant situations of change and that is why a clear competition plan is needed “, he comments.
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