“The first game that we know of was held in Llanes, in July 1924, according to the press of the time (El Oriente de Llanes)”, says Ramón Hevia Castaño, former president of the historic Cánicas AC, who carried out an exhaustive research work to find out when the history of the representative football club of Cangas de Onís began, so that its centenary will take place in 2024 and not in 2023 as was initially erroneously anticipated. And it is that there are hardly any documents that prove the first founding steps of the Cánicas, just a photo, in the Llanesco field Malzapato, on that date.
“On November 13, 1923, Don Balbino García, parish priest of Cangas, asked the mayor, Don Javier Fernández Alonso, in a plenary session, to allow a soccer field to be built on the land next to the church – in the neighborhood of Cangas de Arriba-, owned by the Count of Vega del Sella, so that the boys from Cánicas could play….The request is not heeded”, recalls Hevia Castaño, president of the entity between 2007 and 2015. for kids like La Forestal, Caxidi or Gallinares to play, before the mythical Santa Cruz, this one at the confluence of the Güeña with the Sella.
The entity was a benchmark at the time of the “gold route”, at the end of the 40’s and beginning of the 50’s of the last century, experiencing frankly good moments and others not so much, because they led to the disappearance of the club for some seasons and in different periods. Of course, it was the year 1947 when the brand new Santa Cruz field was inaugurated -on land donated by Don Constantino González-, currently occupied by the municipal swimming pool and the children’s park, with a meeting between the Arenas de Villaviciosa and the host Cánicas, being the godmother of that event Catina Forés.
One of his great successes throughout history was winning the Federation Tournament of the Second Regional (1980), against CD Tineo, in the Villarrea field, in Valdesoto (Siero), with José de la Pola Martínez as the maximum club manager. Undoubtedly, a frankly successful era, the most successful of the entity, given that, in a short space of time, Cánicas was promoted to the 3rd Division, a milestone in Cangués soccer at that time. Of course, he was framed a single campaign in the Bronze category of Spanish football, holding the presidency of the entity Antonio Longo Ferrero, more popular as “El Chapi”.
After a series of ups and downs, the Cánicas AC settled down again years ago, already in the times of Ramón Hevia Castaño as “presi”, as a result of the commitment to grassroots football and with a very complete and innovative organization chart for the moment, already in the fiefdom of Nuevo Santa Cruz, this state-of-the-art artificial turf, located in the “Los Miyares” area. Today, with Arturo Redondo at the head of the historic sports entity, the first team hopes to get out of the “well” of the First Regional and fight for promotion to a higher category. In principle, the foundations are solid and it only remains to throw the rest in the search for new and ambitious sporting challenges.
Cangas de Onís can be proud of having a club that has made history, even if it has its troubles. Many have worn their shirts, according to the times, highlighting that “red” color of the elastic and the navy blue pants. Some of those beardless kids managed to succeed in professional football in this country, for example, Clemente Villaverde -former player of Atlético de Madrid and CD Málaga, currently manager of Getafe CF- or Pirri Mori -former of Real Oviedo and Atlético of Madrid, among other clubs. And even other kids also try it in the difficult world of the benches, such as Dani Mori, coach of Real Sporting de Gijón B.
¡¡Aúpa Canicas!!
