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Domingo Gutiérrez, beat of the Guanarteme

«To me this almost makes me blush, honestly. It is a huge pride, but not for me but for the club and for the Canarian fight. It is something that exposes and recognizes our sport, but I repeat: the work of this club belongs to a lot of people, not just mine, not even a whole lot less. My grace is to have been president for so many years, “says Domingo Gutiérrez with a smile on the stairs of La Gallera del López Socas, home of his Guanarteme.

Club fighter since 1972, assumed the management of the team in the board 35 years ago



A history with the club that began almost half a century ago in the neighborhood that gave the team its name. The fault that he entered the battle and the sand had a legend of the terreros: Miguel Ángel Tejera. «He was my neighbor. We are talking about April ’72. They were setting up a youth team for Guanarteme, which had been created in part with the basis of Rumbo. An amateur gave us a lot in Guanarteme and there we set up the field: about 10 meters wide and 15 or 20 deep. The showers were a stream in a block house and the hangers were studded sticks, ”he laughs. He was 17 years old and since then he has stayed at the club.

The legacy of Rafael Alvarado

That got him hooked. «The first time I caught I think it was against Maninidra in Ingenio. They had Tonono and Del Toro and we had Falo Oramas. They were kids, but people went to see them and it was full, “he says. And it is that the atmosphere that was lived in the CL Guanarteme penetrated in him.

Something that he has tried to maintain since he became president 35 years ago. «I learned a lot from Rafael Alvarado when he was president. He put people in great discipline, great seriousness and respect. I’ve always tried to keep that philosophy at the club, “he says. An aspect that Domingo Gutiérrez explains under the multidisciplinary nature of the club. «People came and did Olympic wrestling, Greco-Roman, judo, sambo … That made us different. They even laughed at us when we warmed up before we went out to fight. While the other was smoking a cigarette on the bench, we were warming up. Although later they could hit you two ‘cartuchazos’ and they would send you home, ”he says with a clean laugh.

Those Olympic sports such as Greco-Roman wrestling or judo set the tone for Guanarteme. “They forced themselves to do physical training, the discipline of those days was copied and that is what we wanted to maintain,” continues Domingo Gutiérrez, a squire from a period legacy. Remembering those years when Guanarteme collected national wrestling or judo titles makes Domingo Gutiérrez’s eyes shine without stopping.

“We feel that we have done our bit in society,” he says.


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His transition from the arena to the board was natural. “What I did best in the team was to carry the clothes sack”, he narrates in a humorous tone. An inheritance that he gladly collected and that today the club keeps in La Gallera. And beyond the difficult moments, Domingo Gutiérrez is left with the satisfaction of being able to keep the spirit of the club alive with his different directors. “We feel that we have given our grain of sand to society as people educators before athletes. A lot of. If I started to give names, I would leave someone behind and I don’t want to … Now I start to remember things and even the moments where everything has been uphill and has been removed leave you satisfied », he says.

Because the Guanarteme is in his being. «The club has marked my life. I owe even my work in the world of security to the club, since I got into it thanks to Jesús Gómez – linked to the Cabildo de Gran since the 50s and regional director of the Central Bank in the Canary Islands – who was looking for fighters for the company Brinks ”, he points out. “It is my neighborhood team and I identified with it from the beginning. Guanarteme always generated young and good people. The priority was the quarry and it continues to be to this day, “explains Domingo Gutiérrez, at a time when the Canarian struggle is in the process of reactivating into a pandemic. And there he will be and his CL Guanarteme.

A multidisciplinary character

  • Half a century of life: Anniversary to celebrate

Although the club celebrates 50 years of life in 2021, since it was founded in 1971, it did not celebrate its first fight until February 26, 1972, when it faced Unión Gáldar. With the return to normality gradually, the club is confident of being able to celebrate these 50 years in los terreros. An event that will have your recognition.

  • Proper names: Four Olympians

The club has had among its most illustrious athletes four Olympians: Santiago Ojeda in judo (1972) and in Olympic wrestling Santiago Morales (Seoul 1980), Suso Montesdeoca (Seoul 1980) and Vicente Cáceres (1988 in Seoul and Barcelona 1992). The list of great props in the sand is endless, with Miguel Ángel Tejera as the symbol of the club. But also national or international champions such as Antonio Coruña, Francisco Javier Alejandro and Sixto Lorenzo.

  • Quarry: Zero cost for children

Training is the element that moves the club. For this reason, none of the boys and girls who want to try the Canarian fight in their schools have to pay any fee. Men like Juan Espino or Joan Lajo have come out of Guanarteme. Now he is looking for the formula to attract boys and girls who want to get closer to the vernacular sport or other forms of struggle that are lived in La Gallera. These months of hiatus have been hard for a fight that is awakening from lethargy.

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