If it is not remedied soon, it will end up being a losing battle. Castellfollit has been claiming for years to stop being one of the three clubs in Girona that still have a field of sand along with La Pera and Camós. From the entity of La Garrotxa they fear that if the situation is much longer their case will have the same end as that of Gualta, who has been left without a team. With more than 60 dwarfs for a town of just over 900 inhabitants, the main concern of Castellfollit is that the competent bodies help them find a solution to take care of their grassroots and amateur football with a grass field. Competing with inequality of facilities with respect to other neighboring clubs endangers the future of the entity, which last weekend once again denounced the seriousness of its problem with the dispute of the second edition of the Tournament of the Cinglera -in 2020 was not celebrated due to the pandemic- which had the participation of 24 teams from 14 different clubs.
“Despite being a small, honest and resource-poor club with the facilities we have, we are also able to put together a tournament of this magnitude. We want children to enjoy playing football and at the same time outsiders to realize the conditions with which we compete throughout the season. It has been possible to see first hand what situation we are in “, explains the president of Castellfollit, Miquel Andújar. To solve their problem and put grass in the field, they come across a fish that bites its tail: “Our field is not municipal, but private. This means that we cannot receive subsidies from the Provincial Council, the Federation, the CSD … The Federation, for example, tells us that we are the first on the list to have it but the work must be finished. Without money, it is unfeasible. We feel left out of the hand of God by all entities and tired. We no longer want good words, we want deeds ».
This season Castellfollit has four teams competing and the nursery. “We are sorry not to be able to offer the same as the other clubs. If we do not change the field, sooner or later it will lead to the disappearance of Castellfollit. How do you convince a dwarf to come and play if two miles away he has a club with a field in condition? It would be a shame “, he reflects.
Florentino’s call is still not coming
Last year Castellfollit was on everyone’s lips following an ironic tweet offering Florentino Pérez to play in the Superliga and, at the same time, expose his delicate situation. “Florentino didn’t call us. We also received no calls from anyone else, none. And that we have been fighting for many years, but to see that you are constantly crushing stone and that there is no solution, is exhausting “, he says.
When Andújar was “tricked” in 2017 into being president of Castellfollit, he promised to solve the problem of the sand field before the end of his term. You will have to leave it for the next one. One way to get the grass field would be for the property to cede the land to the City Council and for the City Council to buy it with a “margin of time”. The downside is that the property wants to “charge it all at once and we can’t afford it in any way”. The other solution would be for the council to “hit the table and expropriate it.”
Without companies in the municipality, Castellfollit has not considered asking for help abroad because “if there are entities that can afford 60,000 euros to put grass, it would not be fair for potential patrons who want to help us.”
.
