The scene seemed perfectly rehearsed, studied in detail. On the pitch, the bagpipe band played the chords of the Real Oviedo anthem while the players burst in from the changing room tunnel. “Oviedo is a city of ancestry…”. The fans raised the 20,000 cards distributed to cover the stadium with a blue and white blanket. And in the North Fund, an XXL-size Alfonso II, with shield and sword, gave a royal welcome to the main actors. This last aspect, that of the typhus that prevailed in the North Fund, an idea carried out by the Symmachiarii Group, was the result of 318 hours of work that began a month and a half before the derby dispute.
First thing, the idea. “It was born, as always, from a ‘brain storming'”, says Nacho Suárez, representative of Symmachiari, who was in charge of coordinating a group of six or seven people who carried the weight of the entire creative process. The reason so few took on all the work is clear: “We wanted to avoid leaks.”
Two elements governed the mural: Alfonso II and the Cathedral. “Last year was the 1,200th anniversary of the Oviedo Cathedral and we thought that it could fit perfectly into the typhus,” says Suárez. In addition, Alfonso II, the Chaste, King of Asturias in 783 and between 791 and 842, ruled the stands with his eyes on the pitch. He was chosen for obvious reasons: “Alfonso II made Oviedo the capital and, against Sporting, it seemed like the best possible moment to remember him. We wanted an idea that transcended football.”
Work began a month and a half before the crash. All the ideas were put together and discussed with the person in charge of shaping them into a digital sketch. That is where the proposals are taking shape. “We wanted it to imitate a ‘medieval codex’, hence the rim and the forms used”, clarifies Suárez.
The group spent 1,200 euros on fabrics that were bonded with silicone (the mural measured 60×20 meters, plus a complementary banner of 62×3 meters with the slogan “Oviedo, eternal capital”) and almost 2,000 on paint. To which must be added the cost of other materials. In total, “close to 4,000 euros of investment”, Suárez figure.
In addition to the two elements that presided over the drawing, there were more details. Like the Cruz de los Ángeles on the shield of Alfonso II, the rose window of the Cathedral after the Asturian king or the football stadium on one of the flanks. Also some detail that did not pass the filter. The North Fund had to present the design to the Police a couple of weeks before the crash to see if it fit the parameters of those considered non-offensive. In that initial script there was a jester in red and white colors and a dog “Patán” (symbol of the Symmachiarii, an emblem prohibited by LaLiga) located discreetly. They did not pass the previous control and could not be included in the final edition.
After the presentation in the derby, the same fate awaits the tifo as all its predecessors: garbage. His ephemeral fame, created for an impact of about five minutes, his success, however, was resounding as a presentation from the blue side of the Asturian derby.
