Let’s take a trip to the past. Specifically, until 1955. “Fixar pel Girona it was a joy, it is the team of my heart», he explains Enrique Serrat (Olot, 1933), who turns ninety today. A brief presentation with the president Pablo Garcia del Amo it was enough for a yes that was not made to pray. The coach was legendary Emily Aldecoa. “I remember the day of my debut,” he recounts, making an extraordinary memory lesson. “It was in the field of Jupiter, and we won. I, who arrived after hearing that they didn’t want me at Barça in any way, because whoever was in charge thought he was bad, I saw that he was not, that he was still useful for something, because in Ribera in a Coll they feasted on scoring goals thanks to my assists”. A laugh accompanies the narration. Serrat breathes pride and happiness. He was a midfielder.
He receives us in the dining room of his home, in which a portrait of his era as a red-and-white footballer immortalizes a goal on the field of theArenaswhen Girona went up to Second Division. The TV is off. “This is where I watch the games, now. From the armchair I’m too old to go to Montilivi. But when I went there in the previous stage a First and I saw the atmosphere that was being lived, I would have jumped in the field, already». Serrat turns the pages of a photo album that hides many stories. He explains some of them. They all accompany him. “Many things have changed in these years. Society is not the same, values are different, even the respect we used to have for those who knew more than us has been lost, even if it was only through experience. But football is played identically: with the head, to think, and with the feet, to make it possible. What is not the same is the people who take care of it”, he says.
The magic of Vista Alegre
“It was a very special stadium, Good views. You walked in and felt it. You had people to touch and you even knew someone just by listening to their voice. A beautiful climate was created in favor of Girona”, he says, knowingly. After the promotion season to Segona, he played there one more year, in which the team remained in the category. Serrat left some good goalscoring records. Without going any further, he scored eight goals in the Second year: “I had a good shot, with the right. But the left one only had it for walking. Aldecoa trained us very well and he didn’t let his hair down, he had personality.’
Serrat, who every morning, when he gets up, spends a good amount of time doing mobility exercises to stay in shape, confesses what habits footballers used to follow. “You should have seen the breakfasts, lunches and dinners we had. We ate well! But then we hung out, eh!” It is a well of wisdom. “Street football and mischief have been lost. Now everything is controlled to the extreme and it is not good. A player can only grow when he tries, makes mistakes and tries again until he gets it right. I think that today there is not as much freedom as there was.”
Historically, Girona has always had problems with the economy. “In the fifties they had no money to do almost anything. They didn’t owe me, but they said they didn’t pay anyone. That they offered a lot, but fulfilled little. This was the atmosphere I found when I got there. But together we raised it”, points out Serrat, who is officially a “matricer”. Not just any matrix, eh. I’m a good molder”, he makes it clear, before continuing: “Before we went to work at 14 years old. I had done my apprenticeship and at eighteen I was very well regarded. But when football took on more importance, I left it.” Once the boots were hung up and together with two partners, they opened their own company and sold trucks.
A united family
The olotí has not had an easy life. “I was left without a father at the age of 11. He was the head of a gang of masons, he had five or six workers. We were in awe.” Later on I would also lose a son. The dining room cannot miss his memory. “Look at him, it was a tragedy.” What stands out the most in the living room, however, is a painting in which all her grandchildren appear: “She who is so small can study whatever she wants because she is very intelligent; this is a teacher; this one, nurse; the other is a food engineer; The other; a business advisor; this one is also a teacher and the last one is a tax inspector. I have them all placed. I love them very much, all of them; they come to see us every day. It is very nice to have them. And I’m great grandfather! They sit her on my lap and she falls asleep, the baby.”
He can brag, when he looks back. “I have had, and have, a happy life. In Girona I met the Roses, in 1955, whom I married immediately. She is a wonderful woman. And here we go, together. Our kids are great and what about the babysitter, she is beautiful. I can’t ask for more. Well, yes, I don’t want to die yet. I want to stay a little longer, with mine. I’m in no rush to leave” he concludes. If Girona is in Primera today, it is thanks to the efforts of all those who have defended their colors. People like Serrat are worth a lot.
